Granada

Granada - I'd never really been familiar with the place. When you think of Spain the first towns that pop in your head are usually Madrid, or Barcelona, Seville, etc. Not some random town that's passed over.

Why did I pick Granada of all the places in Spain to see? It is a bit of a random pic, even for me. I knew I wanted to see a city I haven't been to before but was undecided on what it should be.

Then one night I watched one of my favorite BBC miniseries called North and South (not the one about the Civil War with Patrick Swayze. This takes place in England and stars Richard Armitage - swoon. No one does brooding and moody like he does).

In one of the scenes,  two women are discussing traveling, and one mentions that her dream has always been to visit the Alhambra. Huh. I knew it was in Spain, because of this movie, but I've never heard of this place other than North and South. Curious, I searched it on Wikipedia. Wow.

Why don't more people know about this place? It was built sometime around the ninth century as a giant fortress castle in the mountains. Plus it apparently had a combination of Spanish and Moorish influence. After staring at the amazing pictures Wikipedia had, I was decided - the Alhambra I would go to see.  Awesome random find!
So essentially the purpose of going to Granada is to see the Alhambra - that's about the only attraction that's there. The actual town was quaint and had some fun things that I would have loved to see, but as always I ran out of time. If you ever go here, I recommend spending a full two days. One full day to wander the Alhambra - because it's huge and will take you all day to see it - and then one more day to actually see the town.

What I loved about this place was how the beautifully tended gardens and courtyards flowed so effortless into the castle, and the castle flowed effortless back outside to nature. Just amazing. And there's water everywhere - fountains, streams, ponds, etc. Everywhere you wander you hear the soothing sounds of moving water.

On top of the shear beauty of the place was the fascinating architectural design - such a beautiful mix of Spanish and Arabic that I don't quite know how o explain. In the end it's worth the trip if you ever have the opportunity. Though I would recommend going in the fall. There were crowds, but they were extremely manageable. And for mid October it was pretty hot - like mid 80's. Doesn't sound bad, but when you are standing or walking in the sun all day it feels pretty hot. Very cool place to see and dirt cheap compared to England and Paris.