Granada and Salamanca

Hello class! It has been a while; Mr. Yandell told me you all have been busy taking exams. I have been busy here travelling all over the place! First, there was the exciting town of Granada. This was about a six hour bus ride from Madrid, and the oldest Arab town in Spain. It is home to the Alhambra, which is the most visited Monument in Spain, and one of the most gorgeous places I have ever seen. There is also a view of the city if you make a climb up the mountain in which Bill Clinton claimed to be the best sunset in the entire world. After this statement, a statue of his face was placed at the site, with an inscription of the quote. This only lasted for twenty-four hours though due to rowdy college students.

The Alhambra is a beautiful palace made in the 14th Century by Moorish kings. It was later created to a Christian palace. We were able to tour this HUGE place for a few hours. It was filled with beautiful gardens, pools, and rooms decorated with Muslim architecture. It used to be full of color, but over the years it has faded away. Some rooms have been restored.

This is the view of the city from the Alhambra. The view showed above is the one with the noted sunsets, but I think you would all agree that there are beautiful views throughout the entire palace.

Salamanca, known mostly as a college town, was not anything special to me. This could be attributed to the horrible weather, which prohibited us from doing much of anything. Although this was somewhat of a let down, we stopped at a place along the way which was exquisite. It is called El Valle de los Caidos and was created by the dictator, Franco, to honor the men lost in the Spanish Civil War. It is a huge monument that is absolutely breathtaking. One interesting fact I can tell you about Salamanca before leaving some pictures was that the University is home to 400 of the works produced from the original printing press. It is a beautiful library and I would love to show you pictures, but unfortunately, this was prohibited. I had an amazing time in Morocco and as soon as I can get pictures onto my computer I will send you all another post. ¡Hasta Luego!