Okay! So here is Part 2 of what I have been up to: Our second tour of the city with one of our soon to be professors. Once again, the story is better if told through photos... so enjoy!
So this was the first hotel in Granada! Granada was built on a silk industry when the Arabs were the dominant power and merchants from all over the world would stay here while trading and doing business. It housed people as well as animals and the center was a common gathering place. Eventually, this type of housing became housing for the poor as Granada expanded, and at one point it was the location of the first plays witnessed in the city.
Just a fun fact: Everywhere in the city orange and lemon trees line the streets. It is amazing to see because I never expected to see these types of trees in an urban area! Our host mom did tell us the fruit was no good however. I guess they are kind of like crab apple trees in the U.S.
Lemon Tree!
We went to the Basilica de San Juan de Dios...decorated in the Baroque style, the entire place literally sparkled. You can't really tell from this picture, but everything was covered in gold...it was actually somewhat overwhelming.
These are actual bones...there was also a mummy...soooooo strange but very interesting. They were all relics of some kind and there were also random parts of bones or teeth mounted on the walls. This is in the room above the alter that you see in the first picture.
Inside this urn are the remains of San Juan himself. He dedicated his life to helping the poor and sick after spending some time as a soldier. I have a little book on him and I think the history is cool, but I won't bore you all too much with the details...
This is La Puerta Elvira. The last remaining door into Granada. Granted, now it is in the center of the city, but is used to be that Granada was completely surrounded by a wall with only a certain number of doors in and out. Parts of the wall still exist all around the city and this is the last of the doors that made it. Pretty cool!
What day in Spain is complete with out cafe con leche and churros y chocolate? Churros y chocolate are the best thing ever invented and they are exactly the reason I am going to be about 5 sizes bigger when I get back home! They just give you so much! Not to mention the fact that when we got pastries the other day the owner of the shop realized we were students and gave us free cakes! He told us that we had to promise to speak in Spanish and come back to his shop. Obviously we will :) The cakes were piononos...apparently native to Granada and the best in the world!
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