Granada Trip, or OH MY GOD THE HOTEL HAS A BUFFET

I apologize, my dear readers, I've fallen about a week behind on blog updates. To be fair, though, I've been traveling like mad lately and am Lili Von Schtupp-level tired as a result. Now that I think about it, over the past two weeks I've been in six cities, three countries, two continents, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Mediterranean Sea. Wow. But since I'm keeping them chronological, let's talk Granada!

FUN FACT #1: Did you know that in Spanish, "granada" means both "pomegranate" and "grenade"?

This past weekend my study abroad program took us to Granada, a mountainous city in southern Spain. On Saturday morning, less than 12 hours after getting back from Gibraltar, we left Seville by bus. We arrived at the hotel around noon and descended like locusts upon the buffet. After two months living with our host families and eating unusual foods at unusual times, everyone in the program was giddy with excitement. As for me, I took the "all you can eat" label seriously. I not only had to unbutton my pants, but also I think my stomach may have reached a size where it displaced some other organs. I regret nothing!




















My friend Emme, thoroughly enjoying the ice cream. This is actually the only picture I have of the buffet area because it was the only time I pried myself away from the food. They had pork ribs, how can you blame me?

After lunch, we split up into small groups and were assigned tour guides. The first Granada attraction that we visited was the Alhambra, a tremendous palace and fortress complex constructed in the mid-14th century by the Muslim rulers of Andalusia.















One of the many, many elaborate gardens in the Alhambra. The hedges are so thick that they are actually sound-proof.

Fun fact #2: Muslims believe that paradise is a giant garden. Probably because they never visited our hotel's buffet AM I RIGHT?




















A patio that was used in the 14th century as a waiting area for those wanting an audience with the king. Beautiful! If there's one thing that Muslim architects could do, it's patios.















Another palace in the Alhambra, built during the Renaissance. (As we all know, one palace is never enough. They're like potato chips.) There's a wide variety of architectural styles in the Alhambra, which is very cool to see up close.















This is the ceiling of one of the rooms. It isn't even the coolest ceiling there. Everything in the Alhambra is this detailed-- ceilings, floors, walls, etc. You name it, it's covered in intricate geometric shapes.

Next we walked over to El Generalife (pronounced hen-er-al-LEE-fay), a nearby palace also built during the 14th century. It's right next to the Alhambra, is filled with fountains and gardens, and was mainly used by the monarchy while hunting and during the hot summer months.















Yeah, you see that tremendous palace/fortress complex right over there? Hate to break it to you, but it's just too darn TOASTY. Build me another palace like 50 yards away, slaves!















A view of the city from the Generalife. Classic Spanish architecture-- tile roofs, white houses with random spots of color, and a lack of basic city planning. Come on, they have streets that are like 15 feet long and two feet wide!

After finishing our visit to the Generalife, we had a few hours of free time. Most people went to get Arabic tea, but seeing as I don't like tea I went to the Granada Cathedral instead. I've seen quite a few cathedrals in my time here and was expecting to be bored, but it turned out to be one of the most interesting cathedrals I've seen. It's smaller than the cathedral in Seville, but also less overwhelming.




















The space above the altar. As always, pictures cannot capture the grand scale of the cathedral-- it's GIGANTIC. I sat in the front row of the pews just trying to take everything in for about 15 minutes.















I really like this organ as well-- it looks like it has wings.

After leaving the cathedral, we still had about an hour to kill before dinner at the hotel (ALSO A BUFFET GOD YES). Ramya and I decided to hit up the Museum of Contemporary Art because it was close and our program guides recommended it. Huge mistake. It was essentially three floors of weird, nonsensical videos. In one, a man painted a room different colors. In another, a man painted himself different colors. In one, there were just random geometric shapes. The worst was epileptic seizure fuel, and the best was still hilariously terrible.















See the one second to the right? I decided to watch it because it had headphones and I thought sound would make it more interesting. Nope, it's a man going through a bunch of paint swatches and occasionally reading a name in a monotone voice.

"Seafoam Blue.............. Deep Blue.............. Oceanside.......................... Marine Blue......................."

The next day, we did three main activities:
1. Walking through the historical neighborhood of Albaicin
2. Visiting the Capilla Real, where the Catholic Monarchs are buried
3. Shopping in the traditional Muslim market















Hanging out outside the Church of Saint Nicolas (yes, that's right, Santa!) with the Alhambra in the background. Also, this picture serves as proof that I have friends here.















The Capilla Real is absolutely stunning and looks much like the cathedral, but pictures are forbidden and there are guards milling around keeping watch. I managed to get this one picture of the actual tombs, which are underground.

Fun Fact #3: Did you know that both of the Reyes Catolicos (Isabel and Fernando) were apparently EXTREMELY unattractive?















Decorative pillowcases in one of the shops. Many of the shops in Granada were practically identical to the shops we visited in Morocco, probably because Granada was the last Muslim capital city in Spain. I don't think haggling is typical there, however, which makes shopping at least 40% less fun.















There were also lots of people selling Arabic goods on the street.

After finishing our shopping, we returned to the hotel for one last buffet lunch (oh, how I miss thee) and boarded the bus to head back to Seville. All in all, a very enjoyable trip despite the occasional steep hill we had to climb. Although the weather wasn't great, I still give Granada an A -- if you get the opportunity to go, you absolutely should.

This blog post is dedicated to Aunt Anne, because she sent me an e-mail as I was finishing this post. Glad you like it!

COMING SOON: "Things I Hate About Spain" and "Malaga Trip"

Gibraltar Trip: Bloody Brilliant, Mate!

As most of you know, I'm going to be traveling around Europe for a month after my study abroad program ends in May. I'm hitting up nine or so countries, but I don't have the time or the money to make it to the United Kingdom. Luckily for me, Spain has a little chunk of the UK in its lower-right corner called Gibraltar. Double luckily for me, a day trip to Gibraltar was included as part of my study abroad program. That's simply smashing, love!

Note: I highly recommend reading this entire entry to yourself in a British accent.

Note 2: One of my goals for this blog post is to avoid using the pun "Gibraltar ROCKS". We will see if I can make it through without succumbing.

This past Friday, we loaded onto a bus and made the three-hour drive to Gibraltar. After going through the most laid-back customs procedure ever (wave your passport in the general direction of a guard who's barely paying attention), we crossed the runway* and headed to the Gibraltar Chamber of Commerce. There, we were given a PowerPoint presentation about the history and economy of Gibraltar from a very jolly British man. Delightful!












The rock of Gibraltar is incredibly impressive/foreboding in real life. I want to know who first saw that looming mountain and was like, "Yeah that looks like a great place to live!"















This overhead view of Gibraltar is a picture of a picture in the Gibraltar customs office. The population of Gibraltar is about 28,000 people and they live in about four square kilometers of land. As you can imagine, traffic is terrible.















*To get to the main part of Gibraltar, you have to walk across a runway. Yes, a functioning airport runway. You have to stop and wait for about ten minutes every time a plane takes off or lands. There are signs everywhere warning you not to drop anything because you could cause the plane to crash. Who designed this stupid island?















Not the best picture, but this is the delightful chap who gave us the information session. Even when he was talking about the volume of freighters that come through Gibraltar's port every year, I was still hanging onto every word because that accent is AMAZING!

A VERY Brief History of Gibraltar
In the early 1700s, some British sailors were returning from a very unsuccessful trip to Italy. Not wanting to come home empty-handed, they stopped at Gibraltar and claimed it for England. Though Spain technically ceded the territory in a 1713 treaty, they've been trying to get it back ever since, and neither side will shut the hell up about whose it is. Right now it is officially a "British overseas territory", and most Gibraltarians prefer that it stays that way.

After the information session, we had a bit of free time to explore the city. Unfortunately, our bus was late arriving that morning and there wasn't quite enough time to go up to the top of the Rock of Gibraltar. (So no monkeys on this trip, but don't fret as I've already scheduled a return trip in April. I'll hang out with some dang monkeys if it's the last thing I do!) Instead, we went to some museums and wandered around taking pictures.

Have you noticed a theme yet? Basically every place I go my initial plans don't work out, so I just mill around taking photos of everything. Hey, I'm not complaining, it's still awesome!















A dilapidated building built into the side of the rock. I don't know why, but this picture reminds me of Jurassic Park.




















We went to a glass-blowing museum and watched the workers there make a vase. Amazing! Considering that I can barely make a sandwich properly, watching someone craft molten hot glass into something useful was particularly impressive.















After the glass-blowing museum, we visited a small art gallery.















Obviously I was going to try honest-to-goodness UK fish and chips! It was everything I had ever hoped for. Note that the fish there, the one that is over a foot long, is a "medium". What's the large, a dolphin?




















The red phone booths actually exist in real life! How positively charming! (Also, can I just say that I'm looking forward to the weather improving? I'm so pale it looks like I'm emitting light in this picture.)















It's like they're just BRAGGING about how British they are, seriously.















This storefront is essentially a giant wall of alcohol (an "alco-wall", if you will). Since Spaniards tend to come here to buy cheap booze and cigarettes, the city is absolutely full of liquor stores. They have monstrous bottles of Jack Daniels that are the size of a fire hydrant, it's unbelievable.




















After spending a good amount of time in tourist shops, I can say with complete certainty that Gibraltar wins the award for most ape-related merchandise.

Overall, our day trip to Gibraltar was a lot of fun and I can't wait to go back and see everything I didn't have time for. I give it a solid B+, with the option of grade revision once I see the monkeys and all of the other tourist attractions on the rock. Oh, and this blog post is dedicated to Ramya's parents. I'm really excited to meet you both!

Visiting Coastal Spain (It's Tarif-ic!)

Ok, as you may remember from my most recent post about Morocco, Ramya and I spent a few hours in a Spanish city named Tarifa before taking the ferry to Tangier. (On second thought, if you remember all of that without me reminding you then that's pretty weird.) I neglected to describe our adventures in Tarifa in my last post because it was already practically novel-length, but the time has come!

We arrived at Tarifa and spent about three hours wandering around downtown before heading to Tangier. We quickly realized that the trip would not go as planned, seeing as everything that we planned to visit was closed. For once I'm not exaggerating. There were three things we wanted to do in Tarifa: two castles and a museum. The first castle was technically open that day but closed for siesta the entire time we were there (Spaniards avoid working at all costs), the museum didn't exist anymore, and the other castle wasn't open at all. Luckily, we improvised and managed to have an excellent time. (This turned out to be a good warm-up for Morocco.)















This is a statue of Guzman el Bueno outside his castle. He must have been a pretty cool dude to get the title "el Bueno" because there are a bunch of people in Spanish history with names like "La Loca" (the crazy) and "El Bajo" (the short). Unfortunately, since we couldn't actually go inside all I know about him is that he's blue... da ba dee da ba dai. Late 90s song reference, anyone?




















Undeterred, we then visited the ayuntamiento (Tarifa's main government building), mainly because it was close to the castle and there were signs showing where it was. As you'd expect from a Spanish government building, it was cool-looking but not terribly exciting. We quickly moved on.















This lovely work of architecture is Tarifa's public library. Oh, come on! Add this to the list of "libraries in Spain that are infinitely cooler than Old Quarry". There's even a small movie theater inside of it!















I think these are supposed to be candy representations of Spongebob Squarepants (aka Bob Esponja) but all they do is give me nightmares. Yeesh.




















It just wouldn't be Spain without a humongous, ornate church surrounded by bars.















The ancient Puerta de Jerez, sandwiched between normal buildings on a busy street.




















I'm hanging out in the middle of the Puerta de Jerez. Behind me: the most inappropriate depiction of Jesus I've ever seen. My body is obscuring all of the business, don't worry.















An aerial shot of the awesome plaza we stumbled upon. To take this picture, we climbed on top of a dilapidated old building that I'm fairly sure we weren't supposed to be climbing on. REBELS WITHOUT A CAUSE.















The aforementioned building.















On our way back to Sevilla, the weather was even nicer. Unfortunately, it was a Sunday so everything was still closed. We took the opportunity to take lots of pictures of the outside of the Castle of Santa Catalina.

Ok, that's about it for Tarifa. Next up: Gibraltar and Granada.

Hey, Africa! : Trip to Morocco (PT 2)

Without further ado, here's part two of our Moroccan adventure.

On Saturday, we woke up bright and early because we wanted to spend as much time as possible exploring the city. But before we left, we made sure to take advantage of the hotel's complimentary breakfast. After almost two months of nothing but toast and unsweetened corn flakes for breakfast in Spain, I was really looking forward to eggs and/or meat.















The hotel breakfast: four different kinds of bread. OH, COME ON!

After stuffing ourselves with carbs, we took a taxi to the Gran Socco and began walking. The sky was blue, the weather was great, and everything was very peaceful. After a few minutes, we began to ask ourselves, "Wait... where the heck is everyone?" The city was nearly completely empty, save for an occasional passerby.















In this picture: no one. Did the Rapture happen last night or something?

Undeterred, we decided that Morocco must be like Spain (not a nation of morning-persons, to say the least). We continued on into the main part of the medina. Most of the stores were still closed! I'll save you the suspense-- later on in the trip, we found out two important facts:
1. Despite being directly below Spain, Moroccan time is an hour off (we thought it was 8:00 a.m., it was actually 7:00 a.m.)
2. That Saturday happened to be a Muslim religious holiday, The Prophet's Birthday

Since it was a weekend AND a holiday, many of the biggest museums and attractions were closed. However, being the laid-back travelers that we are, we still managed to have an excellent time.

What did we do?















We trekked up a giant hill and visited the Kasbah, an ancient castle that now houses a museum of Moroccan art. And before you ask, yes, I rocked it.















We found a small art gallery that appeared to be open. Turns out that it wasn't, but the owner was extremely nice and let us look around regardless.















We also made a point to visit St. Andrew's Church, an Anglican church built in the 1800s. Not because it's a popular tourist attraction (it is), but because we were desperate for some English.















We weren't allowed to go inside this palace (or at least, I think we weren't? Neither of us could understand the guards' French), but the outside is beautiful!















We also spent a lot of time exploring the food market area, even though we knew we weren't going to eat anything there. It's not so much sanitary (there are bugs everywhere and refrigeration is unheard of), but it is definitely photogenic.















We spent some time in "Tangier's Beverly Hills" but we also spent a lot of time exploring small, less-wealthy neighborhoods.















On one of our maps, there was a tourist attraction labeled "Phoenician Tombs" (actually the map was in French so it said "Tombeaux Phénicien" or something equally ridiculous). We wandered to where we thought it was located and found these. We weren't sure if they were actually the real thing, but later research confirms!















We spent the majority of our time in the medina (market), haggling for random souvenirs. Being foreign is a major detriment, but I think we did pretty well. By the way, if you are looking for scarves, jewelry, pottery, slippers, rugs, knockoff Converse shoes, or fake Louis Vuitton bags, this is the place to go!















Inside one of the many shops in the medina. Note: it was in this shop that Ramya got the storeowner to reduce the price of a necklace by 50% (18 dirhams to 9 dirhams) and then promptly left without buying anything. That girl can haggle, let me tell you.















Look, I am actually here and not just stealing these pictures from Google Images! We spent a lot of time on the beach as well. Here I am hanging out on a weird rock formation on the coast.




















We also took the occasional break from PBJs to sample the local cuisine. This is harira, aka Moroccan Soup. It is delicious and sold everywhere for about $0.50. If you ever go to Morocco, I highly recommend it.




















Further proof that McDonald's is literally everywhere. In fact, the McDonald's in Tanger (you can see a bit of it behind the poster) was the nicest McDonald's I've ever seen. Two stories, tasteful color scheme, the works.

Overall, I give Morocco an A. We had lots of laughs, we met a bunch of incredibly nice people, we had some interesting experiences, we bought lots of cool knick-knacks, and we didn't feel as though we were in danger at any point. Also, we were able to spend an entire weekend there for less than $150. Great success! Though I must admit, I'm a little offended no one tried to buy my hand in marriage with camels.















Before you think I'm a total idiot, "Tanger" is the Spanish spelling for "Tangier". I wanted to keep it to as few letters as possible.

For many more pictures, check out my Facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/laura.j.arnold?ref=profile
For Ramya's side of the story, check out her blog here: http://semester-in-sevilla.blogspot.com/2010/03/my-independence-day.html

Hey, Africa! : Trip to Morocco (PT 1)

Remember how I predicted that Morocco would be my least favorite country to visit before I left the States? Well, looks like I'm going to have to find a new least favorite because Morocco and the people there are excellent.

(France, I'm looking at you.)

Before I start the tale of the actual trip, I should probably provide a little backstory. When I signed up for the study abroad program in Spain last year, I mistakenly got the impression that a trip to Morocco was included. When we found out that it wasn't, my friend Ramya and I decided to plan our own trip. I mean, when else were we going to be a scant three hours from Africa? We started doing some research and found that students who visit Morocco usually go with one of three expensive tour groups designed for Americans. Being the intrepid adventurers that we are (read: poor), we decided to go it alone. Tour groups are for babies! Guides are overrated! Who cares that we speak neither French nor Arabic, we're going to experience REAL MOROCCO!

I was feeling excited and only mildly apprehensive about the trip until about two weeks before we left, when Ramya (who has a promising future as a professional worrier, by the way) sent me a link to a website listing all sorts of horrible things that travelers had experienced in Morocco. I'm talking high-pressure sales pitches, getting drugged, sexual harassment, food poisoning, getting mugged at knifepoint, you name it. After an hour on that site, I expected to leave Tangier at worst in a coffin and at best penniless and molested, with a suitcase packed full of overpriced rugs.

So, maybe the whole "two girls going to Morocco alone" thing wasn't such a good idea after all? Luckily I'm used to making terrible decisions, and plus we had already booked the hotel so there was no way in the world we were going to call off the trip. However, we decided that it would be a good idea to take some basic precautions to avoid disaster.

Our weapons of choice:
- Ramya's "personal safety alarm"- a small machine that hooks to your belt and makes a really loud noise if you're attacked

- Money belt- a pouch worn under clothing to prevent pickpocketing, kind of like the fanny pack's less ostentatious cousin

- Baggy, unattractive clothing that covered lots of skin- basically my regular wardrobe, now that I think about it

- Ingredients for 12 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches- because we simultaneously love PBJ and hate food poisoning

- Healthy mistrust of strangers- "Why are you talking to me, three-year-old girl? What's your angle?!"

- Gibberish- if anyone attempted to approach us to sell us something, we started speaking nonsense words in an Asian-sounding dialect (SO MUCH FUN)

We were going to also print out some basic terms in French and Arabic, but my senora assured me that everyone in Tangier speaks Spanish. Note to self: never, ever listen to my senora.

On Friday we took a bus to Tarifa, a coastal city in southern Spain, then a massive ferry to Tangier. We arrived, put our bags through a scanner, and walk outside the building with our guards up. We're both expecting huge crowds of screaming locals outside of the port insisting to show us around for a price. We're expecting to be jostled, pushed, and followed incessantly. Cars honking, smog, terrible smells, etc. In reality?There were maybe 13 people milling outside the port, and two offered to be our guide. When we said no, they stopped asking and didn't follow us. What the what?! Are we in the right country?!

We leave the port to head to our hotel and promptly get lost. This was due to three main problems:
1. The streets do not have names printed on them anywhere. ANYWHERE.
2. The address that Google Maps gave us for our hotel was not, in fact, our hotel. It was the address to some random restaurant that sold creepy olives.
3. Asking people for directions tended to be useless, as very few people spoke English or Spanish.

The very few people that we met who could understand us recommended strongly that we take a taxi. However, cabs in Morocco are notorious for cheating foreigners. Combine that with the general mistrust of strangers mentioned above, and we concluded that everyone was just trying to get more money out of us. We ignored the advice and continued wandering around, growing increasingly tired, hungry, and frustrated. After two hours of walking with heavy backpacks and getting stared at, we finally relented and hailed a cab.















The aforementioned taxi, also known as OUR SAVIOR.

Ten minutes later, we arrived at the hotel, checked in with no problems, and nearly passed out with relief. The hotel existed! We had somewhere to sleep! The probability we would be murdered that night decreased significantly! Plus Hotel Tarik was absolutely beautiful, with very nice rooms, a pool, a giant lounge area, and plenty of beachfront property to explore.















The view from our hotel room. The lights you see are downtown Tanger-- we were directly across the bay from the main part of town.

To be honest, Ramya and I were a bit shocked-- we hadn't paid much for the hotel and were expecting dirt floors, no bathroom, flies buzzing around, a mule chilling in the corner, etc. In reality, everything was very clean and neat. They had toilet paper, towels, and hot water in the bathroom. They even had a television! Granted, it was the size of a toaster and only had one channel (in Arabic) but it was nice nonetheless.















Our hotel room. Much more awesome-looking in real life.

Since we were told not to leave our hotel at night, we ate some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, took ridiculously long showers, and promptly fell asleep.

Rats, we've barely even gotten to Morocco but I have to go to class- I'll post the second half of this update later.