We are officially on the home stretch of our time here in Spain. School is over, we are currently taking our final trip, and then we go home!?Since school is over, we have been using all of our free time to explore as much of Spain as we can! On Tuesday, we took a day trip to Girona and Tossa del Mar. Girona was a charming little town and we loved exploring the narrow streets and whole-in-the-wall shops. On our tour, we learned about the Jewish heritage of Girona and walked along the old walls of the city. We found a lovely ceramic shop and I bought a beautiful mosaic plate for my mom! For lunch, we ate at a traditional Spanish restaurant and had tapas, paella, and sorbet for dessert.
After Girona, we drove for about an hour to Tossa del Mar, which is a city on the coast. We loved Tossa del Mar?I could have stayed for longer than just a few hours! We hiked up to a beautiful lookout that had a great view of the city and the Mediterranean coast. After getting some delicious gelato, we explored all the different souvenir shops that are tucked away in the city.
On Wednesday, we took a much-needed day of rest. We had been traveling for the past four days and needed time to recover and regroup. We laid low at our apartment all morning and finished the day with an amazing cooking class at Easy Cooking Barcelona! We made a traditional Spanish meal of patatas bravas, ham croquettes, chorizo and onion soup, paella, and a caramelized apple dessert. It was so fun to help the chef chop the vegetables, peel the potatoes, and clean the fish. Not only did we learn about traditional Spanish cooking, but we learned cooking skills that I will use back at home! My favorite dish was the patatas bravas?I will definitely make those when I get back to College Station. We simply put salt, spices, and olive oil on chopped potatoes, roasted them in the oven, and then made a garlic aioli to go over the top. They were delicious!
The next morning we left for Granada, and we have been here ever since. Granada has been very different from Barcelona, Mallorca, and Madrid. We were surprised by the prominent Arab influence here! Granada was originally settled by Arabs and the biggest attraction in Granada, the Alhambra palace and Generalife Gardens, were built by the Arabs that lived here. The palace and gardens were beautiful, and it was interesting to learn how the Spanish took over during the Christian Reconquista. Alhambra is where King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella commissioned Christopher Columbus to sail to America!
Now that we have traveled to so many different places, it is interesting to see how cities in the same country can feel so different. Granada definitely has a unique feel that is distinct from Barcelona and Madrid, which are big, fast-paced cities. I am so thankful that we have been able to explore so many different parts of Spain, because it has given us the opportunity to get a taste of everything. We only have one more city to go- Seville!