here su & i sit at an internet cafe in granada. all but aileen missed the 1 oclock bus to granada from madrid, but caught the 2 and sona on the 3. i must be getting used to 6 hour bus rides because it seemed incredibly short and i slept through the entire thing. either that or because i did not sleep at all in the past 2 days. when our bus took a 20 minute pit stop, i walk into the restaurant and freakin "omg ive been here!" because thats where our bus stopped at on the way to algeceiras, on the way to morocco, in the middle of the night. i run to the bench like this is where we saw really big ants carrying really big sun flower seeds. full circle indeed. i must have been all over spain to recognize a random bus stop. anyway. we got here and went to check out the alhambra at night but missed the ticket window by 10 minutes because we were outside taking pictures with a sign for freakin ever. it was funny. then we ate incredible pizza and pasta, slept and were back at the alhambra at the top of this morning. the line took an hour or two and our reservation to go back is at 2. i was planning to leave for valencia on an overnight bus, then san sebastian and biarritz and bordeaux on another overnight bus, then mt st. michel on a train but the fact that 1) i dont know what im doing and 2) kind of terrified of travelling by myself and 3) my lugguage weights more than me so this way i can just leave it at a hotel and 4) wouldnt get to shower for like ever if i followed my plan, i decided to stay with the group and post in malaga and take day trips around south of spain, return to madrid for a minute and fly out to check out versaille. so, right now the rest of the group is at the bus station picking up our bus tickets to malaga, where we will be posted for the next few days, and im trying to book a flight out from madrid to paris, catching the "chunnel" train from paris to london and partying with my sisters gay best friend in london! woo hoo! im a little excited not going to lie. and i foudn some of the moroccan souvenirs here and might just repurchase my sisters gift because it was, oh so perfect. too bad its not from morocco anymore. :( i love you eva, im not scared anymore (because im not staying alone) and im finding my way!!
call me if you miss me and are worried!
I MISS MADRID!!! the last night was the saddest night ever.
FOR MORE PICTURES OF OUR LAST NIGHTS IN SPAIN
heres some pictures of the alhambra. for now! our hotel is awesome with free internet and its gorgeous!
summer palace
generalife garden
palacio nizares
alcazaba fortress
we went to the alhambra and fell in love with the delicious smelling garden where the sultan would enjoy his summers. the garden was the closest thing to heaven, as described in the quaran, on earth where water flows everywhere. (because the arabs came from the desert and have a great appreciation for water & the sound of water.) so, according to my new friend rick steves, if we believe and do good deeds, allah will now bless us with silk and pearls. yay! jordan tried to get oranges from the trees but they were much too high. then we went into the palace where every inch of walls and columns are engraved and carve. the words "only allah is victorious" is carved 9,000 times throughout the entire palace. thats devotion. i think thats what i love about arabic style that i saw here and in
morocco, they pay so much attention to every single tiny detail of a room, like even the
ceilings are fully hand carved with amazing elaborate patterns. i tried
to capture it as much as i could.
there is also a room where the kings father cut of 36 heads and stacked them in a fountain because he didnt want his son to be king, he wanted his new wife's son to be king. so he killed a bunch of his son's supporters and stacked their heads up in this fountain. yum.
and again, for some reason, we are told that this is where christopher columbus got permission from queen isabel to explore the new worlds. every castle we go to likes to tell us it happened in their city... i dont know what to believe anymore.
then we saw the alcazaba (fortress) where granada was the last city to fall to the catholics in 1492. they raised the castillan & aragon flags high as he cried and his mom said "cry like a woman because you couldnt defend like a man."
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