The first two days of my mom and sister's visit was spent in Jerez, the city that I live in. Because their plane got in later than expected we didn't explore too much of the city since I showed them where I live. They came to my apartment and met my roommate. We also cooked dinner and then my roommate was nice enough to drive us to the hotel later that evening. The second day we had a bodega visit. Jerez is known for producing sherry and some brandies so a bodega is like the equivalent of a winery back home. We went to one of the more popular ones, Tio Pepe, since it was kid friendly and everything. There were definitely more people at the bodega on the tour than we expected there to be and the tour guide explained how sherry and brandy were made. We also watched a short film about the start of that bodega and at the end we had tapas and were able to try two different types of sherries. I'm not a huge fan of sherry to be honest, or at the least the kinds that I've tried, but visiting a bodega is a must in Jerez.
 |
Val and I in front of a Christmas tree
made from sherry bottles in Jerez |
Next we were off to Granada, the city infamous for the Alhambra, an old moorish palace. This time I had made sure to get us tickets in advance so we were able to get in with no problem. You have a designated time that you can visit the palace and the other parts, the Alcazar and other palace, you can visit whenever. They say that it takes around three hours to go through all the parts and it's true! The palace probably takes the longest to go through and the grounds of the Alhambra are just huge in general. It was a twenty minute walk to the entrance to where the Alcazar and palace were!
We hiked up (or rather took a bus up and walked down) from the Sacromonte area that are known for it's caves in the mountains and we walked through the Albaicin neighborhood, the old moorish neighborhood. There's a great spot here that offers an amazing view of the Alhambra.
 |
|
This doesn't have anything to do with the trip, but I just thought of it tonight and I had wanted to mention it at some point anyway. I'm sorry, but some Spanish names are just ridiculous or at least when you translate them they are. There is a Maria (Mary) in every single one of my classes and if you come to Spain you will unknowingly probably meet a Maria or a Jose (Joseph) or Juan (John). Those names are just fine, but then you get to the interesting ones. Let's start with Jesús. The translation is pretty easy on this one since it's Jesus. Now back home you will not find a child named Jesus because, well, it's Jesus, but over here you shall encounter another being named Jesus. The second one is the name of one of the girls I work with. Purificación, or in English, Purification. Seriously? The next one is Inmaculada, or Inma for short. In English it's Immaculate. And today I heard this girl being called Ma Je and then they said her full name, Maria Jesús, or Mary Jesus. Say what? I get that Spaniards used to be super Catholic, but really, these names....
