Spain Blog #26: Off to Granada, Queen Isabella & Columbus

Dan, our tour guide, and Tom at the airport 

In today's blog about our Spain trip (that we took back in May), we take you to Granada!  In this blog we'll learn a bit about the city, and about a famous statue of Queen Isabella and Christopher Columbus.

The tour group we traveled with is called Detours. They arranged for the group of us (there were 9) to fly from Barcelona to Granada.

ready to fly! 

SOME BASICS ABOUT GRANADA: Granada is a city in southern Spain’s Andalusia region, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. It's known for grand examples of medieval architecture dating to the Moorish occupation, especially the ancient Moor palace called the Alhambra. This sprawling hilltop fortress complex encompasses royal palaces, serene patios, and reflecting pools from the Nasrid dynasty, as well as the fountains and orchards of the Generalife gardens. It's a small city, and about 230,000 people live there.

Statute of Queen Isabella and Christopher Columbus

MONUMENT OF QUEEN ISABELLA AND CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS - This monument stands tall in La Plaza Isobel de Catolica (Plaza of Isabella the Catholic). The monument depicts Queen Isabella sitting in a chair while listening to Columbus talk about his plans to sail to the new world. In the front of the monument, there are two small figures raising what looks like a scroll, with significant dates on it. January 2, 1492 was the date of the surrender of Granada  and October 12, 1492, is the date of the discovery of America.

CITY LIFE, DOGS, CRAFTSPEOPLE - Granada is a small city with a friendly feel to it. We found it very walkable and people were very friendly. 

We also noticed that there are a LOT of dog parents here, too, as there were in Barcelona. In fact, we noticed that there were also homeless people with dogs here. 

Furniture maker 

A Granada Dog!

We did come across one man making furniture on a side street. He was quite talented. 



NEXT: The Best Bakeries in Granada (and Dunkin' Donuts!)