Adventures in Life

We arrived in Granada via the bus. The ride was about 2.5 hours. We checked in our hotel and headed out to see some sights. Our first stop was the Capilla Real (Royal Chapel). Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand's tombs are in the Chapel. Isabel's head makes a significantly larger dent in her pillow than Ferdinand's head. It is attributed to the size of her brain in relation to Ferdinand's...at least that's what her fans say. The treasury at the Chapel was on of the best ones that I have seen yet. It didn't have a huge volume of items, but the quality was spectacular. Of course, there were items like Isabel's crown (adorned with pomegranates), her scepter, and Ferdinand's sword. However, the items that interested me the most were relating to Columbus. When the king and queen ran out of cash, they gave Columbus jewels to sell in order to finance his voyage. The very ornate chest that housed the jewels was there. Queen Isabela collected the first sizable art collection by a woman. It is also located in this room. The collection used to contain 200 works of art, but after Napoleon the collection contained only 30. Still, they were impressive and included Botticelli as well as other artists. Fun fact: granada is the Spanish word for pomegranate.
Next, we headed to the Cathedral. It is huge! An interesting tidbit is that the 18th century, the bishop had the interior of the church painted with lime. This was done to help decrease the spread of disease. People liked the white, and the color stuck. This is a Renaissance church. There is only one other located in Spain and it is found in Córdoba. For dinner we ate at a Turkish restaurant and had kebaps. They remind me of a giro or schwarma. I think that I am getting ready to go to bed. We are going to the Alhambra tomorrow.