Sports Nutrition and the Mediterranean Diet / May 26th: Granada weekend trip

Hanna, Griffin and I got up early so we could check out the Granada cathedral before heading back to Sevilla. It is smaller than the Sevilla cathedral but just as beautiful! We tried to go inside but it was closed until 10 am. So while we waited, we got breakfast and did some shopping. I had cafe con leche, and toast with tomato and olive oil. The tomato was delicious! It wasn’t tomato slices, but puréed tomatoes that I spread on my toast! We had fun wandering around the city of granada. We stumbled upon a gorgeous building that I found out was the city hall. There were some guards in uniform and many policemen. There wer many people setting up flowers and gathering into the city hall. I later looked up Granada holidays and found out that they were prepairing to celebrate Feria del Corpus de Granada. This event is is Granada’s biggest fair. It starts every year on a Saturday, at midnight, with the alumbrao, when thousands of lights are turned on the main entrance to the fairgrounds. The fair ends on the following Saturday with a fireworks display. There is a flamenco ambience and elegant carriages loaded with people dressed in typical regional costumes parading up and down the aisles between casetas, carefully decorated down to the smallest detail. After I we saw a beautiful fountain in the plaza de Bib-Rambla.

Then in Plaza Isabel La Catolica we saw a statue depicting Queen Isabel giving Columbus her permission to make his expedition to the new world. We also saw The Alcaiceria of Granada: a street that used to be an old silk training center that supported the city financially, but had been turned into tourist shops! After this we met back at the hotel for our 4 hour bus ride back to Sevilla. On the way back, we stopped at a shop to try a traditional Spanish dessert that was invented in Granada, called a pionono. It tasted like a mix between flan and a cinnamon roll and was sooo good! On the drive home, I read my spain tourism book. It was thrilling to read about all of the places I had just visited that morning! After the drive home, we took a nap and then met at the school to go see the championship futball game between Madrid and Liverpool. On the walk to the school, we heard a marching band, smelled incense and saw a parade of people following a palanquin being marched through the city. I asked Sean what it was and he wasn’t entirely sure. Thursday is the holiday: Corpus Christi, where Sevilla carries an incorruptible saint body through the city streets, but I the parade we saw today may or may not be connected to that. Sean said that Spain has many holidays and what we saw today may have been a small celebration that they have in May. To watch the futball game, Sean took us to an Irish pub and wow, Spaniards are crazy about their futball! The food at the pub was really good! I had falafel and loved it! The game was Madrid vs. Liverpool, Madrid won!It was fun to see all of the Spaniards in their element. But the pub was a little too loud and crowded for me!