Granada

We took the bus from Madrid to Granada. Granada is much smaller than Madrid, but there are many narrow and twisty streets with tall buildings, so it is easy to loose direction. Our mission for day one was to find the laundromat- not an easy task!! We finally found it and left our tiny load in the hands of an old gentleman...we were to come back at 1930 that evening- 7 hours to do a load of laundry!! Yikes, and it cost 10euro (approx $17!) While we were having our laundry done we walked around the city. We walked through the “Albaicin” region (a world heritage site) where we had amazing views of the “Alhambra” and Granada. We were approached by some old women holding some kind of plants. They forced the plants in our palms and started telling our fortunes- of course we couldn’t understand anything they were saying and we were trying to get away but they were holding our hands- I gave the lady some coins and she said “quinto” and I said NO! I grabbed Steve and we took off...we think they were gypsies...

Today we went to the Alhambra- one of the most visited sites in Spain. It is a fortress and Palace built by the Sultans in the 1300’s and was the last Moorish hold to be conquered by the Christians. One of the rooms we visited was where Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand gave their support to Christopher Columbus to sail to the new world! The gardens, views, and architecture were amazing- unfortunately it is impossible to catch the beauty of it all in a picture..but I will post some anyway - considering I took 157 photos there:) The mountains behind us are the Sierra Nevada's...

Tomorrow we head to a town near Malaga- we are getting away from the city and volunteering at a horse rescue facility...we will let you know how it goes!