Playas, Cruces, y Piedra

Hi all, it's been a while since I wrote and now I have a decent amount of things to write about, so here we go.

Firstly, I went to a beach town last weekend called Nerja.  It's also known for its caves, but since this was a day trip, we didn't get a chance to see them.  Instead, we walked around the town and settled down on a beach.  Unfortunately, I fell asleep in the sun and got a pretty bad burn that has since healed.  It was still a lot of fun and it definitely has the best beaches within Granada's reach.  The sand was really fine and the weather and ocean were beautiful.  We actually took a minute and submerged ourselves in the Mediterranean.  All in all, it was a great beach day and I'm glad I can cross that off my bucket list.

Fast forward to this past week.  We had a half day on Thursday due to Día de la Cruz, a day dedicated to the cross that Jesus was hung on.  All over Granada were crosses decorated with red flowers.  Then, there would be scenes or objects or signs set up around it.  One common one was an apple, manzana, that was stabbed with tijeras, scissors.  The symbolism here is that apple is also known as pero in Andalucia, which is more commonly known as "but".  By stabbing it, the people of the church are saying that you shouldn't have anything bad to say on this day.  If you find yourself saying, es bueno pero-- you should cut yourself off.

Alhambra at night

This is also a big festival for the Albaicin, the originally Muslim area of Granada.  It feels like a big hike to get up there, but we made it up eventually and started Tapas Hopping, a term that is like bar hopping, but since tapas come with the beer we call it Tapas Hopping.  I wouldn't say that the food was better nor were the drinks cheaper, but it is something to say that you've been Tap-hopping in the Albaicin, ok I just made Tap-hopping up.

Friday, we are on the road to Cádiz, my favorite other Andalucian province besides Granada.  As you may recall, I went there for Carnaval back in February and I fell in love.  Since that's a blog post within itself, I'm going to save it for later.  However, I will talk about El Torcal, this interesting mountain range.  There is a legend that people from under the sea were banished by the sea god to live up in these mountains.  The scientific aspect is eerily similar.  Now, without going into tectonic plates, let's just say that he earth moved in such a way that pushed what used to be the sea floor up.   Since this material was softer than normal earth, the wind and rain carved a unique design that makes it appear as stacks of rock pancakes.  It was amazing and really fun to hike up.

At the end, we got to see the view of Málaga, and Andalucian province, from really high up.  We could see the capital, Málaga, and even the Mediterranean, though only faintly.  This is because the weather hadn't been too great.  We hit two patches of rain on the drive to El Torcal, but ultimately, the weather calmed itself while we were at the top.  There were a few people who slipped in the mud, me only barely, but it was still a hike worth doing.

So, that's all of the news I have for now, but expect the Cádiz post very, very soon.  It'll be worth the wait.