This past weekend, several of my friends and I visited the city of Granada in Spain. After five hours of travel from Madrid, our bus finally pulled into the station Friday evening. With luggage in hand, all of us made our way to the Airbnb we had booked for the weekend and found ourselves in an area of Granada that didn’t really live up to our expectations in a city that is known for its beauty. Not that we were in a particularly “bad” part of town, it was just not as aesthetically pleasing as one might have hoped. The sun faded quickly and we scrambled to get our group of nine out of the apartment to experience the local nightlife.
After a night of dancing, we all woke up the next morning to explore Granada. As we took the city by foot, we began to come upon streets filled with vibrant flowers, stunning architecture, and, in between the buildings, alpine mountains towering in the distance. None of us could believe our eyes and the deeper we explored into the city the more beauty we discovered. The most incredible of all were the views of the city skyline and the Alhambra seen from high viewpoints. Try as we might, none of our photos even came close to capturing the immense, gorgeous scenery. Granada far exceeded anything I could have imagined and was definitely the most beautiful city I have ever visited. For many of us, it was an experience that truly broadened our perspective of the world. We all left Granada the following day in awe of everything we had seen and wishing we could return before our bus had even pulled out of the station.
| MM |
“This is the dream of all the world. The dream is to live in Granada. You know, work in the morning, have a one-hour nap in the afternoon, and at night go out and have that life. Go out and see your friends and eat tapas and drink red wine and be in a beautiful place.”
-Anthony Bourdain