Un día fantástico

Today was such a fun day! The day started at 9am at la estatua de Reina Isabella y Colon.  We then walked to the bus stop where our guide for the day, a literature professor at the CLM, Maria Carmen met us.  We got on the bus and then drove for about an hour to  Almuñécar, which is a small town on the coast.  There, we visited el Castillo de San Miguel.  We had to walk up a big hill to get to the castle, but the view from the top was amazing! It’s incredible to think that during the XI-XV centuries, people were able to make such massive buildings that still remain today.  The ruins overlook the ocean and the town so there were plenty of opportunities for some great photos.  

            After el Castillo, we got back on the bus to go visit Las Cuevas (the caves) in Nerja, a neighboring town.  The caves have these HUGE stalactites and stalagmites and it was so cool to walk through the cave and take some photos (sin flash, por supuesto).  Maria Carmen told us that during the summer, there are arias and flamencos performed in the cave…the acoustics must be insane in there and I’m sure it is a once-in-a lifetime thing to see a performance under the natural beauty of the cave.

             After our little trek, we had a buffet stlye lunch at the Restaurante de Las Cuevas.  We were with other Universidad de Granada students from UCONN so we all split up and sat each other’s tables.  Claudine and I met 4 girls who have been here since last Saturday and we spent lunch exchanging stories about our trips thus far. Lunch was a little strange because I didn’t know the names of any of the food I was eating, but I had a salad, some beef dish with peppers, a little chicken with saffron (I think!) and some pasta salad. For dessert, I had an apple and a taste of Claudine’s flan.  She also tried the pudding which had some shortbread-like cookie in it.  We had a beautiful view of the ocean and the town from our inclosed seating area so I enjoyed myself.  After lunch, it was time for… LA PLAYA!

                   I was skeptical that it would be warm enough to go on the beach but I was so wrong. The beach that we visited is called Calahonda, and it has a lot of tourists who visit.  Hopefully in a month or two, we will be able to go back when it is actually beach weather.  But today wasn't bad either! The sun really warmed everything up and there was a nice breeze that still kept us cool.  Some of the brave (or loco) souls attempted the water, but it was too cold for me.  I just put my feet in and was the resident photographer for the kids in the water.  After we spent some time just sitting on the beach with our toes in the warm sand (or in some cases, drying off), we walked back up the center of the town to get some postres.  I had a gelato limon because they didn’t have coffe.  (Actually, I thought there was a coffee gelato, but it turned out to be …RAISINS! [Mary, I almost died from laughter]) We walked down towards the water and ate our gelato overlooking the Mediterranean...it was perfection. 

                 Then, it was back to the bus for the hour & 15 minute ride home.  Thankfully, I was able to sleep almost the whole time and when we got back to the Granada, we went straight to nuestra casa. We have a prueba de nivel (placement test) tomorrow, so it is going to be an early night for everyone. Dinner will be ready soon, so I’ll leave with ¡chao!