Daytrips in Andalucía

These past couple weeks I hadn't really had anything planned so I ended up going on a couple of daytrips in Andalucía so they were close and pretty cheap. First, myself and three other friends went to Cadíz for Carnaval, the pre-Lent festival that pretty much goes on all around the world. Cadíz is definitely the best city in Spain for the festival and it goes on for about 2 weeks. We took a bus there that afternoon and came back very early in the morning and it was amazing. Definitely an experience I won't forget soon.
Here are some pictures from Cadíz:

 (entrance to the city)

 (big plaza in front of the cathedral)

(a chirigota) 

(our makeshift costumes haha)

The Carnaval in Cadíz is known for being the most sarcastic and the wittiest of the carnavals around the world. I didn't really know what that meant before I went but I think I have a slightly better idea now. Everyone there is dressed up in costumes whether it be a mask or face paint or something more elaborate, usually making something in current events. The most iconic part of Cadíz are the chirigotas which are small groups that write and sing songs in the streets throughout the festival. Their songs are apparently famous for being witty and for making fun of politics and such. Carnaval definitely was a crazy experience with the sheer amount of people crammed into this city and it was a lot of fun. I'm glad I had the chance to go. 

The weekend after that we had a more mellow day trip as we decided to take a train to Ronda, a small Spanish town that has some fame because Hemingway spent time there and wrote about it.

Here are some pics:

Ronda is situated on top of some cliffs and the older and newer neighborhoods are separated by a river. It is famous for its beautiful bridges that cross the river. It was a really fun day. It was nice to get out of Granada for a day and explore a random Spanish town that we really knew nothing about. We ended up just walking around all day, grabbing coffee, stopping in a restaurant and then heading back to Granada as nighttime fell.