For my second excursion, my program took us to Granada. It was our first overnight excursion, and we had a lot of fun. We stayed in a very nice hotel close to the city center and on the first day we took a tour of the Alhambra, this is the crown jewel of Granada (outside of its beautiful natural landmarks). It was originally built as a small fortress, but was later rebuilt and renovated in the 13th century, eventually it became a palace for sultans until the Christian reconquest. It then became a palace for Ferdinand and Isabella, and its the same place where Christopher Columbus received an endorsement for his expedition for the new world. The wall décor has been so well preserved it looked ceramic, but it was actually made of plaster. There was also incredibly intricate geometric detail put into the ceilings. The architecture of the Alhambra showed how much more advanced humans where. Steel poles and flexible discs were used to support the palace in earthquakes and other natural disasters. Also every part of the Alhambra was done in very intricate geometric detail, it made for incredibly aesthetic architecture.

The second day we were taken back up to the top of Granada where the Alhambra was located, and allowed to walk around the old city. The old city was beautiful, you could really feel and see the history and much like the masque in Cordoba there was a mixture of the Arabic past and the Christian reconquest. From the Alhambra you could see the hills and caves where gypsies used to live. It is one of the best places to ski and it where the Sierra Nevada in America is based off of. We stopped at a restaurant at the top of the mountain that had a view of the mountains. We then walked around the city and enjoyed different stores, we were able to get a small painting from someone on the street that depicted the Alhambra.