20/01/2013

I went to the Parque de las Ciencias today. Very close to my house and full of some really awesome things, although a lot of it was closed for Sunday, including the planetarium. They had a huge exhibit on bodies, so here are a blue whale heart (GIANT! and real!), a lion heart, a something-else heart, and a human heart.

Woo! Science and brains and stuff

Einstein and I would have made a great team

the Discovery astronauts visited the Park and left handprints. John Glenn's were surprisingly close to mine!

They had a tower we climbed ha

There was a puppet exhibit. So cool! There were shadow puppets and marionettes and everything in between ha these were some of my favorites though, they were GIANT! I came up to almost the bottom of the one guys hat

17 / 01 / 2013

Off the river path there is a trail that goes up into the mountains that I have been wanting to check out. The climb up to here was a real killer, but the view was so worth it!

The Sierra Nevadas

I am 98% sure these are olive trees ha. I tried to take a couple pictures off the edge of the city (which is behind me from this view) and of proof the climb to get up here,  but that also was looking directly into the sun and my poor iPod just couldn't handle it. I'll have to trek back with a real camera someday. 

Carmen (my host mother's granddaughter) and Nicola (my roommate) and I . Carmen looooves the special effects on my computer's webcam, hence the hearts ha and we love when Carmen comes over. 

The garbage workers are still on strike!! this is just one side of the MOUNTAIN of trash that lines the streets. I really hope they make a deal soon. . . . 

12/ 01/ 2013

I went for a run along the "river" and I was pleased to see that once you get out of downtown it looks a little bit more like an actual river. There is a path alongside the river for biking/walking/running that goes for a long ways. I made it to here, Presa Real (Real Dam), but I'll have to explore further.

This is the "river" near our apartment that I cross everyday. I say "river" because it is manmade and all concrete and there is very little water in it. In general the rivers here have very little water, water is scarce and also very expensive. However, in the early summer, when it rains in the Sierra Nevadas, the rivers often flood.

Granada and much of the Iberian Peninsula was for centuries part of the medieval Muslim state of Al-Andalus (hence, Andalusia). There are 2 (I think??) remaining Arab Baths in Granada from the days of the caliphate (many were destroyed during the Reconquista, when the Catholic monarchy of Spain tried to eliminate/convert all the Muslims. . . religious tolerance isn't often found in Spanish history ha) This chamber was for a 'warm bath', there were two others for cold and hot (basically a sauna) baths.

The Sacromonte is a neighborhood, one of the oldest, in Granada built on the highest point in the city.  'Sacromonte' is "sacred mountain", referring to the Sacromonte Abbey on the mountain near it that houses the relics of martyrs burned at the stake including Granada's patron saint: San Cecilio. The festival of San Cecilio is held in the Sacromonte the first weekend of February and is supposed to be pretty awesome. Many of the houses, restaurants, etc. are built into the mountain like caves. (It reminds me of hobbits - "In a hole in the ground there lived many Spaniards.. . ")The Sacromonte also has some of the greatest views of the city and of the Alhambra, the many buildings up on the hill. . .

. . . and of the surrounding mountains and in the distance the Sierra Nevadas

The streets of the Sacromonte are all stone and are very narrow (no sidewalks), but it doesn't slow anyone down, driving in Granada is an art form.

The Alhambra. . .. 

. . . .and again . . .

. . . and one more. I'm sure by the end of the 5 months I will have a few thousand pictures, but none of them really do justice to how impressive it is, lording over the city from its perch on the hill.

If I don't post a picture of myself people will start wondering if I really even am in Spain, so here y'all are. Proof!!

Spain has a love affair with churches, and they all are beautiful. This is  Iglesia Santo Domingo  in the Realejo, the barrio where the Center for Modern Languages is located. It has an interesting history as a monastery and also as a church built in the Jewish neighborhood by the "Catholic Monarchs" (Ferdinand and Isabelle of Columbus-backing fame) in order to 'encourage' (if you want to remain breathing) conversion to Christianity.

The fountain next to the river next to our apartment. I'm sure it has a name, as does the river, but I 'm not positive what it is. My host mother calls it La Fuenta de Granadas (Fountain of Granadas (Granada=pomegranate) ) but honestly that could be a description instead of a name as it has pomegranates carved all over it. It is only lit and running at night.

The windows in the ceiling of the Arab bath house were all geometric shapes. Very cool.