Submitted by Meghan Bohny on the 2017 winter session program in Granada sponsored by the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures…
I can’t believe I have been living in the beautiful city of Granada for a little over a week! Since arriving, we have done a little bit of everything—exploring the streets, learning in an intimate classroom setting, visiting museums and historical sites and making time to enjoy the nightlife.
The highlight of my week was getting the opportunity to visit Albaicín, not once but twice. Albaicín is not one particular building, but it is a small neighborhood located higher up the mountain from the rest of the city of Granada. The roads are small and windy and the architectural styles of the houses and buildings up there are representative of the Moorish era of Andalusia—the region of Spain that encompasses Granada.
From the Mirador San Nicholas—a lookout spot located in the mountains of Albaicín—you can see the Alhambra (a castle from the Moorish era of Spain named for the color of the bricks from which it was built), the Sierra Nevada and the city of Granada. The view from Mirador San Nicholas is what one might picture when they hear “Granada, Spain.” It is absolutely breathtaking.
I cannot wrap my head around how one minute you can be standing in a city with modern stores and many people, but ancient architecture and the next you can be making your way up the steep mountain and into the neighborhood of the Albaicín. This is one of the things I have come to love most about Granada over the past week. It gives you the city feel, but just as easily you can have a relaxed afternoon at a café overlooking one of the most famous and beautiful sites in Granada, Spain.
After such an amazing week, I cannot wait for next week’s adventures, which includes a visit inside the Alhambra!
