These were the windmills which inspired Cervantes to write the climax of Don Quijote. These also inspired me to search out and begin to read the book in Spanish. (Something that wasn’t realized until our next week long trip to the university where Cervantes studied.) Anyways we stopped to take a bunch of pictures and it was a lot of fun. 
It was a pretty quick stop but long enough to get in a jumping picture. 
The top of the hill had an amazing view of the nearby city. 
I really like this picture that Amy took of us. 
Here is my awesome hat that I purchased that morning in Granada. 
We then got the coolest picture of the 4 men of Madrid. 
With the sun low in the West and our bus pulling away we all decided to take one last picture from one of the greatest weeks of my life.
We boarded the bus and were back in Alcala before we knew it. It was a lot of fun. Seriously, it was one of the greatest weeks ever. It was one of those defining moments on the trip where 90 % of what has happened since has been a direct result of what happened on that trip. At least in my life. Sorry that it took so long to “publish”.
The Alhambra was way cool and even the walk up was like falling back further and further with each step.
The Alhambra is this group of castles and buildings that were each built amazingly and awesomely. One was Moorish, one was from Carlos the 5th one was ...I don't know but it was really "fortressy". The whole thing is set on the top of a really large hill and the view from the top is amazing. 
The main part of the trip there was the Moorish one. We took a rather long tour of it and it was very elaborate. 
There was a really cool fish pond where we sat for a while and the Shumway boys tried to catch the fish with their bare hands. They didn’t succeed but we got a cool picture in the courtyard. 
I really was impressed with how detailed it was. 
The walls and doors were all really well carved and it’s really cool how they elaborately carved everything. 
So Kyte and I wandered a bit with the Shumway kids…
…but then when we got to the palace of Carlos V we found a museum that we would have had to pay for so they left but they lady liked me so she let Kyte and I in. Here are some pics before the Museum. 
The Museum was cool with a lot of art and such. 
From there we went to the Fortress part of the Alhambra and from the top of that there was a REALLY amazing view. 
From the top of the highest tower we were able to see out into the city and get a great overview of Granada. 
So we had spent so much time in the museum that it was already 6 pm and the Alhambra was closing so we didn’t get to go into the Gardens. People say they weren’t that good so I don’t feel too bad. I did get a picture by the locked gate. 
We found the cutest old couple wandering around. 
I want to be like that one day. From there we wandered around the city but we went in by an odd road because by then, everybody had left the Alhambra and we didn’t know where to go. We got into the city and just started going up. Kyte was a little nervous that we were trespassing or something but we weren’t. The roads reminded me a lot of Guarabira from my mission and so I felt right at home. All of a sudden we ran into one of the best views ever. 
The sun was setting so we sat there and we just looked out…across the city from our little spot on the hilltop. Oh, it was so pretty from way up there. We talked about how the lights from the buildings and cars seemed like reflections of the stars that shined out so pretty and bright. That night…It was daytime…The daytime, of the night. (ok that didn’t really happen to us but it could have.) We did however sit there and watch the sunset. It set behind the church and was pretty darn awesome. 
We went down to the church and it was pretty cool during the night.
The next morning we woke up and wandered the city again. I thought this would be a pretty cool model shot. 
We found an interesting little store. 
We then found an interesting intersection and some of us were torn as to where we wanted to go. 
We later found a very interesting donkey.
A quaint stream ran through the city and I decided it was photo worthy.
It was there that I bought my man bag and nifty hat. Afterwards we went looking for lunch and Kyte wanted bread and I wanted a Kebob and we ran into some other people so we split up and it took so long that had to ran to the bus and therefore didn’t get any other pictures until we had left for home. So…that’s Granada.
The city was showing itself to be beautiful from the first steps towards are hotel. 
Near are hotel was the Mesquita which is this massive mosque that had been transformed into a cathedral when the Christians took over. When the king saw what they had done, even though he had authorized it, he criticized them by saying something like, what you have done here could have been done by anyone anywhere but in so doing you have destroyed something unique to the world. And it was. It was a mosque with nearly 1000 columns and really ornate and elaborate carvings. Seriously, great. Here are some shots from the inside. 
In the middle of the Mosque they tore down the walls and built a Cathedral. 
There were still a lot of the old Mosque parts that had survived. 
There was one tablet that I am pretty sure is upside down. On the back had old western letters that were upside down and on the front had some Middle Eastern writing that looked upside down to me. I’m no expert but I wouldn’t put it past Spanish ignorance to make that mistake. I just can’t imagine where there would be a tablet with western on one side upside down compared to the Middle Eastern writing on the other. 
Here is my 1000th picture taken on my new camera. 
Thanks for the wonderful Christmas present Dad and Mom. Here is a creepy Catholic carving. 
Paige was our official tour guide for the Mesquita. 
More pics from inside. 
(Professor Shumway looked like Indiana Jones.) 
So, so many people have passed by with their oily hands over the many years that it has polished the columns. Hence the black and shiny middle.
While we were here the cathedral was under construction. 
Apparently Voldemort was the cousin a Catholic saint. 
Outside we found a cool fountain that we all took a drink out of. 
In that courtyard there was a really impressive Orange orchard within the walls.
We wandered around the city and found a cool photo op . 
Aren’t I always just so thoughtful? Sarah decided to become a genie. 
We walked by the Alcazar but it was free the next day so we decided to come back the next day. It was pretty though. 
We decided this cat had a pretty good life. Notice the awesome pad he’s got. Also notice the Hitler stash he’s got and the leg of lamb on his side. 
Leg of Laamb! (So I remember that line, but what is it off of) Here is a neat Roman Bridge. 
We were all wearing brown and sitting next to each other so we wanted a picture. 
Cool sunset pictures near the bridge: 
From there we saw more Roman ruins. 
More wandering led us to the city’s “” plaza mayor where a bunch of scroungey teens were getting their grove on to a violin and guitar. They were all probably stoners and I felt like it was a cut right out of the 70’s. 
I decided to join them in a crazy dance. I was oddly reminded of a neo rain dance. While we were just chilling their afterwards this guy came up to us and started chatting. He was from Oregon and had made a lot of money in the fishing industry and was now 40 and traveling 10 countries of the world for 3 or 4 months and just having fun. After a few words he asked us if we knew that Jack Johnson was coming that night to perform in that plaza. We were all shocked and then he was all, “No, I was asking you if you had heard because someone told me and they seemed sure but I don’t know.” We asked around and it was all a lie but it did get us really excited. After a bit we left and wandered the city in search of nifty gardens. We found another neat plaza. 
I found a tie that was 100 Euros. 
We took a neat picture in the northern park of the city. 
The next morning we went running again and here are a few pictures. 
Later that morning we went on another walk and found the famous flower street. 
We finally made it back to the Alcazar and the gardens were amazing. 
This was also a monument to Columbus. There were a lot of these places that were related to Columbus asking Ferdinand and Isabella for permission to go to America. I’m not sure which one is really important. The important thing is that I climbed up and took some cool pictures. 
We explored the castle a bit afterward and it was neat but were a bit rushed because we wanted to see the famous Jewish synagogue. I found a cool guy that is supposedly lucky if you get a picture touching his foot. 
The synagogue was pretty neat. 
And thus ended Cordoba.