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Day 6: June 15, 2022
Today we started celebrating Mr. Kauffman birthday with a tour of the Alhambra, where the Moorish kings would come in the summer to escape the heat as Granada is high up close to the Sierra mountains and in summer the palace here was cooler. Its Generalife gardens and water features also accentuated that. The palaces are largely open, with the water fountains and streams providing natural air conditioning and a respite for the court from the summer heat. It’s hard to describe its beauty. Granada was the very last part of Spain re-conquered by the Catholic kings and it was here where last Moorish King, Boabdil, was dethroned. You can easily tell all the influence from both sides — when Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand came back the Spanish kings added additional buildings and grew the palace.
Then we had free time on our own for lunch. Granada is well known in Spain for serving very generous tapas with your drink – so it’s easy to eat a meal without actually ordering anything! So some of us decided to dine out on tapas with our drinks!
In the evening we boarded our bus for a ride down the mountains to the Costa del Sol where we are now. A few of us had a deep in the hotel pool and got some sunbathing.
Dinner was at the hotel and we all sang cumpleaños feliz and gave the gifts to Mr. Kuffman. He loved it!
Mañana: Beach day!