A Glimpse of Granada

So I’m back in Salamanca after a lovely weekend with the amazing Anna Lawrence and all of her wonderful new friends in Granada.  The weather was beautiful, way better than it has been in Salamanca. It was quite obvious I wasn’t from the area because I was the only one without a coat on despite the nearly 80 degree weather. On Friday, Anna and I went to the Arab baths where we enjoyed a cold, warm, and hot pool, a steam room, a massage, and all the Moroccan tea we could have asked for; it was amazing. After that it was comida at Anna’s house thanks to her very loving and generous señora; who calls me Elena for lack of want to learn my name and how to correctly pronounce it.  After comida came siesta, and after siesta was a long walk by Granada’s “river” with Anna, watching the moon rise and talking about life (more specifically relationships, given my new single life and her new taken one). Here are some pictures:

 The moon when we first noticed it rising from behind the hill...

 Anna and Granada's beautiful "river"

 The moon just 5 minutes later...

 La Alhambra

Puerta Elvira

 "Let no man decide for you"

La Cathedral

All in all, it was a great day. Saturday was much the same (walking around, relaxing, talking, and reflecting on life) and Sunday was the trip back home to Salamanca. Random note on my travel experiences for the weekend: I made a travel buddy. This girl who is also studying in Salamanca had the same bus to and from Madrid as me, as well as a seat right next to me both times. What also makes this crazy and cool, aside from her being super nice: Our families’ vacation in the same place in North Carolina!!! Yay Topsail Island!!!

 Without getting into too much detail my reflections from the weekend are:

“Every time God closes the door, he opens a window.”

…and…

The Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen  

For those of you who have been following my blog, you know this isn’t the first time this prayer has come up. This weekend, however, my thoughts focused around the line “It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;” not only are there a few people in this world who I am still learning how to forgive, I realize I need to forgive myself of some things as well. I’m working on that.

More exciting news on my spiritual life, on Sunday when I got back to Salamanca, my package of Girl Scout cookies was waiting for me, with a Bible : ) Needless to say I was really excited about this package and can’t thank Sr. Mary Theresa enough for her thoughts and prayers, and the Bible. That’s it for now, I have some reading to catch up on…

A weekend walking adventure…

As there are no classes on Fridays, my weekends start with Thursday night : ) Last Thursday evening my walking adventuring started with a night time tour of the city given by my Brazilian friend from church. He knows a lot about the city and took me to a lot of really amazing and wonderful places, and all the photos I attempted to take didn’t turn out well. So, I promise to return to these places during the day for pictures. We went to a garden, which has an amazing view of the Cathedral, saw the old Roman wall, climbed an old tower (I forget the name), and visited the Cave of Salamanca; mentioned by Cervantes in El Quijote.  It was a nice nighttime walk and a good start to my weekend.

  Friday, most of my group decided to climb the Cathedral tower. The view is amazing of Salamanca, the churches architecture, and the snowcapped mountains in the distance.  After walking around the Cathedral a lot, climbing a lot of stairs, and then walking around the city, my legs were sufficiently tired. But Friday was far from the end of my weekend.

  Saturday I went to Toledo with my group. Something I did not realize before about Toledo….it’s one big hill. We walked up the hill from its Arabic style doors to the walled city to the Plaza Mayor and the Alcazar (fortified palace). From there we walked down the other side of the hill to go to the Cathedral. After walked around this MASSIVE Cathedral for a few ours, looking at some paintings, the altar, the chorus, and architecture in general, we walked back up the hill. With 2 hours of free time for lunch and shopping, I walked up and down this hill a few more times before meeting in the Plaza with the group, to walk back down the hill, pass by El Greco’s house, visit a synagogue, stop at another church with a famous painting by El Greco, see a convent, and walk over a bridge and to the bus. I think the best part of Toledo is the view of the city from the hill on the other side of the river (and I promise that’s not because I was sitting down when I saw it).

  Sunday was our day in Madrid. It started with the Reina Sofia. We saw Picasso’s “Guernica” and a few of Salvador Dali’s paintings. Then was a walk to Madrid Puerta del Sol, Plaza Mayor, and Palacio Real. We had a two hour lunch break, during which I did nothing overly exciting; then El Prado for paintings by Goya and Velázquez. So after a very long day of walking around and standing in museums, we returned home to Salamanca.

                                                                            It's good to be home...