Photos from the first week in Granada

We’re getting pretty well settled here in Granada… Much easier to blend in a bit and feel more like a local. I’m learning the streets more and have a better sense of direction…

Today we went for a tour of the Albayzin - the historic Muslim quarter of town on a huge hill next to the Alhambra. It’s a beautiful, quieter part of town that has less roads and more footpaths. Very hilly, too. We saw a lot of great stuff and I got my first good look at the Alhambra, too.

Getting home from the tour was a bit difficult… There was a huge Gaza protest going on in the street. We wanted to check it out, but at the same time I knew that abroad, Americans can be seen as “OMG Israel can totally do whatever the hell they want.” So we tried to lie low walking through the enormous crowd, not wanting to look very American. Hopefully with the new presidency our foreign policy might come out of the sewers so we aren’t seen as supporters of genocide.

OK, I digress. The photos:

Granada, semana primera

Windmills in La Mancha

Pretty sure this is the tower upon which Gandalf killed the Balrog...

The CLM (our school) is in this plaza

Painting by Niño de las Pinturas

Spain = Very (hot)^2

Plaza nueva- The northernmost Catholic part of the city - to the north are the Albayzin (Muslim quarter) and Alhambra.

This used to be a mosque, but after the reconquista, Ferdinand and Isabel changed all of the mosques into churches. They kept the minarets, however, converting them into belltowers.