Day 12, Saturday

We started off our day a little bit later and going directly to Granada. After the one and a half hour bus ride, we braced the cold and began to walk the streets of Granada. We first arrived at the plaza de La Bib-Rambla which is also commonly called the plaza de las Flores by the locals because of the abundance of flower shops in the area. The street that led to the plaza was also where the Christians anciently hung people as a sign of power and to instill fear. Next we went to La Plaza de las Pasiegas, where the main cathedral and the house of the bishops are held. This catherdral is the most gothic in Spain, and has the same name as the cathedral in Malaga, La Catedral de la Virgen de Incarnación. Like the synagogue in Toldeo, the interior is painted all white to increase the amount of light, something very unique in these two places. Connected to the cathedral was the chapel which holds the tombs of queen Isabel and king Ferdinand, and their successors queen Juana La Loca (the crazy one) and her husband king Felipe II el hermoso (the handsome one), and also the oldest daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, the original successor of the throne, but who died as a child. These nicknames were given to Juana and Felipe because many believe that Juana killed Felipe out of jealousy because of his many lovers. However, not all of Felipe's body is held in his tomb. His heart is in Brussels where he was born, and his body in Spain, where he ruled as king. Before entering the tomb, there were sculptures of the four rulers. After seeing their tombs, we later got to see the day to day crown that Isabelle wore, the royal septor, and the Kings sword. The most interesting thing, however, was the queen's mirror, which was very small considering her status. She was a very simple and religious woman, and was not bothered by material things or her appearance. After the church, we entered the small plaza del carbón, named for its use in ancient times as a place to hold carbon for fires. This is also the central point of Granada and ironically, there was barely any noise in it because it was walled in. Then we went to La Plaza de Isabel the Catholic, where we saw a large statue of Christopher Columbus showing her a map of the new world. Contrary to popular belief, Isabella was the only royal that backed Columbus and was the only to profit from the riches of the new world. Afterwards, we made our way into an Arab marketplace, where we were able to walk and see many items of that culture. We then made our way to La Plaza Nueva where we were able to walk along the Paseo de los Tristes, originally the procession of bodies up to the cemetery in the mountains. On the other side we could see the river that runs along and under Granada, the Rio Darro. Afterwards we had time to relax and shop a little. We then had a surprise activity, which was to see the Alhambra at night from a spectacular point high up in the mountains. We later went to a flamenco performance held in a Gipsy cave! It was the highlight of our day. We are all very tired from our long day, but very excited with all that we learned from Granada today!


Ashley Deutser & Ellee Dukes

King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella with their daughter Juana la Loca and her husband  Felipe II el hermoso