La Alhambra

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Dear Travel Journal,

Today I finally visited the Alhambra, one of the seven wonders of the world! I had heard it was impressive, but I didn’t think it would be as great as it was. Every picture I took there was good. When we got there, the sky was so blue and full of puffy little clouds, there were remnants of snow on the hedges, and the air was really clear. We met up with the tour guide and as I was listening to him and sipping my Coca Light (Spanish version of Diet Coke except way better… I have started drinking soda again because of it) and standing on a castle terrace I thought that things couldn’t get much better than that. One of the first rooms we went into was the one in which Christopher Columbus asked Queen Isabella for money to finance his trip to India (the tour guide joked that America was born in that room). The palace was built by the Moors, who took over all of Spain in just seven years (it took the Spaniards 800 years to drive them out). Back then, all of the ornate woodwork in the Alhambra was actually painted with vivid reds, blues, greens, and gold, so the tour guide kept telling us to imagine it as it was back then, and you should too as you look at some of the pictures. He said that the walls looked like brightly colored Persian rugs. Speaking of rugs, the Spanish word for “rug” is “alfombra”, which is an Arabic word. Apparently many Spanish words are actually derived from Arabic words because of all the time the Moors lived in Spain. I thought that was interesting.

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              Last night it was my friend Leila’s 21^st birthday so we went to the American bar and that was fun and I didn’t lose anything – I even remembered my scarf! I have been so good about not losing things, Pa! Sarah and I have been looking around for shirts here that say things in Spanish (oddly enough, all the shirts here have English sayings on them) and we finally found one that I am going to buy soon. It says something like “Donde esta mi cerveza? Donde esta mi tapito? Donde esta mi jamon? (Where is my beer? Where is my little tapa? Where is my ham?) Hahaha oh ham.

              Tonight I might do any number of the following things: start packing for Italy (!!!!), book a hostel for Rome, get a train from Milan to Venice, research deals for spring break travel (plan is to spend a few days in Athens and then in Cairo… how great would that be), do laundry, find out how to take the bus to the Malaga airport, go to Al Pan Pan Y Vino Vino (the best tapas place in the world), finish The Glass Castle (I love it) and recharge my appliances.

the room in which christopher colombus asked queen isabella for money to finance his journey to find a new trade route to india. before the king and queen took over, this room was where the sultan sat

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              Since I wrote that last paragraph 10 minutes ago it has been decided to go to tapas so I will probably not do any of the other things.

              I hope you are doing well wherever in the world you are!