Overnight Tuesday into Wednesday we took the train to Grenada.  It took awhile to find our hostel and get buzzed up, but eventually we got into the room and got a very detailed summary of the city's sites from the hotel owner.  After a nap we went out to a couple of spots that we were told had great views of the city and the Alhambra and checked out some of the cave buildings that are up in the hills.

We then got some lunch where we made the mistake of getting the Gazpacho.  It sounds good in theory, but neither of us were a fan.

The cathedral and Royal Chapel opened back up at 4 after closing for the siesta, so we headed over there after lunch.  The Royal Chapel was definitely the highlight.  That is where Ferdinand and Isabella are buried and where some of their personal objects are on display (Isabella's crown, Ferdinand's sword, etc.).

Early in the morning on Tuesday we checked out of our hostel, stored our luggage and caught the train to Montserrat.  It was about an hour ride and then we had to catch a cable car to the top.  The cable car was pretty much terrifying, but I survived.

We walked up to the church when we arrived, but the mass started in 15 minutes so we decided to wait until it opened up again to go inside.  Montserrat is a pilgrimage type site where people go to see a statue of a black Mary that was saved by the monks when the monastary was destroyed by the French in 1811.  There were many people that were taking off their shoes and holding both their hands to the sky in front of the church- I'm still not entirely sure what that was about.

To pass the time we grabbed some lunch (looks like yesterday's, no?) and took a walk down one of the hiking paths.

We did end up going into the church after standing in a very long line we didn't actually get to go into.  It was a pretty impressive interior, but none of my pictures came out very well.  In order to beat the rush to get back into the city we left after going to the church.  Once back in the city we walked over to see some of the famous Gaudi architecture.

Monday morning we went to Sagadra Familia. It is still being constructed and will be until at least 2024, but that actually added to the interest.  Seeing one of these huge cathedrals being built is really fascinating.  After walking around for awhile inside the cathedral we took an elevator to the top.

After coming down from the top of Sagadra Familia we decided to get some lunch: ham and cheese and patata tortilla bocadillos.  Most of our meals in Spain have looked like this:

We then walked over to the Barcelona Cathedral which is a very old medieval section of the city.



Saturday morning I went by train to Barcelona.  It was one of the super fast trains and only took about 2.75 hours.  I got kind of lost getting to the hostal because two street names were very similar.  So by the time I got to the room, I just felt like resting awhile.  After talking to home and hanging in the room for a bit, I went out and explored Las Rambalas, had dinner, and walked down to the waterfront.  I ended up going back to my room early as the road that I had to walk down to get back to my room was kind of seedy and I didn't want to walk there alone at night.

Columbus

Christian arrived on Sunday.  I met him outside the metro stop closest to our room.  That afternoon we went to the beach where I mostly didn't get sunburned except for some strange patches where I missed the sunblock... oops.  After Christian took a nap we ventured out again to get our train tickets to Granada and walked to Placa Espanya.  There we took an elevator up to the top of this round building that looked like a Bull Ring (I'm still not sure exactly what the building is) for a euro where we got awesome views of the city.  There were two futbol games so we decided to catch the second half of the games and grab dinner at Museo Jamon (not to be confused with Museo DEL Jamon from Madrid).  After dinner we walked over to these amazing "Magic Fountatins" that rival the Bellagio Fountains.

Jamon and Futbol- sums up pretty well.

CJPF- Magic Fountatins

Monday I went to the Reina Sofia, the modern art museum where Picasso's Guernica is on display.  I only had 2 hours there because I decided to wait until it was free in the afternoon, but it was enough time for me.

No pictures allowed of Guernica- but here's another Picasso.

For the rest of the week, I have mostly been relaxing, doing laundry and watching football.  I've done most of the big sites in Madrid and want to relax a bit before Christian gets here and the sightseeing starts up again.  Some pictures from the week:

Laundry day

Dinner with some of my roommates

Protest in Puerto del Sol

Real Madrid Stadium

They set up a big screen outside the stadium to watch the Spain games

Spain/ Ireland

Spain wins!