While staying at the El Granado Hostel, we were offered a free 2 hour walking tour around the city. Prior to leaving, the guide suggested we all wear appropriate footwear as the cobblestone streets could be slippery. As I had already picked the perfect outfit for the evening , I opted to ignore her suggestion and wear my stylish sandals. Dumb decision. She could have also mentioned that we would be walking quickly and mostly UP hill !!  Lesson learned.

Our tour guide was a lovely young lady from Russia that had been living in Spain for the past 6 years. Amazingly , she was fluent  English, Spanish, and French.  On a side note, we have met so many young people here who have travelled to dozens of countries and speak 3-5 languages!  It is so impressive to us!

As we trekked around the city with our group of 10 participants, she was quick to toss in trivia questions and humor along the way. We saw amazing sites and learned much about the history of Granada. As it was during the week long celebration of Fiesta Nacional de España, she also mentioned the history of Europe celebrating the discovery of Americas.

Christopher Columbus actually only discovered the Dominican Republic. History lesson 101: after waiting several years to get funding to make the voyage, the church ( not the King and Queen ) supplied him with the means to begin the journey. Truth be told, he was  actually searching for India, and stumbled across what we now know as the “Americas”.  I’m learning so much and history is so much more fun when you’re walking the same streets as people like Christopher Columbus instead of reading about it in a history textbook!

Spain seems to have so much pride for the adventurer and considers this to be a great conquest.  The irony is, most Americans don’t even know these facts.

As a child I remember the saying “in 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue”. That was what I remember being taught… no more , no less. Strange.

We learned that the houses titled “Carmen” were for the very wealthy and had been self-sufficient since being constructed. Each had there own gardens, irrigation systems, and livestock that could be utilized in case of famine or during war times.  Additionally, the homes were completely surrounded by 10-12 ft metal fences with locked gates to protect themselves. Today, some of these “carmens” are open to touring but are very costly.

The moorish markets were very lovely to walk through. I was overcome by all the bright clothing, jewelry, handbags, and keepsake trinkets of all sorts and sizes. Learning to barter was a first for me, as this is just something “you do not do” in the states. However, the store owners seemed to enjoy the chase and were more than willing to come down on their prices. One of my favorite things were the spice markets. OOHHH MMYY GGOOSSHHHH!! It was like heaven!!  I could have stood in the area for hours as my senses were overloaded with delicious smells from all sorts of herbs, spices, and dried fruits!

The tour ended on the top of a mountain with a sunset tour of the Alahambra. The magnitude and size is not realized until you view it from afar. It was absolutely breath- taking !! It wasn’t long after that, the huge fortress turned its lights on for all to see. What a beautiful scene to end the evening with!  We ended our tour with a walk up the hill to Sacramonte and had the most remarkable dinner inside an authentic Gypsy home…. in a cave!