Hola todos! This past weekend, I went on an organized trip with my study abroad program to the southern Spanish cities of Sevilla and Córdoba. With cancelled classes, we left early Friday morning and spent the day touring the beautiful town of Sevilla. Our program made the trip very easy, having purchased our plane tickets, rooms in a very nice hotel, and a private bus as transportation for the whole weekend. The first tour we took in Sevilla was of the Cathedral and Barrio Santa Cruz (la judería) where Jewish people lived in the Middle Ages. The Cathedral occupies the space of a huge mosque from the 12th century; different kings added on to the structure during their reign in Sevilla. The total area covers about 11,000 square meters and along with St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and St/ Paul's Cathedral in London, it is one of the 3 largest of the world. It was easy to see the differences in the architecture and design of the Muslims and the Christians, but each and every part of the Cathedral of Sevilla was absolutely stunning.
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| One of the entrances to the Cathedral |
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| A nave, the entire place was sooo tall! |
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| Tomb of Christopher Columbus! Se llama Cristóbal Colón en español. I cannot believe I was so close to him. |
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| Only a small portion of the carved backdrop/facade on the main chapel, "Capilla Mayor". It went up and across for many meters and each rectangle had carvings of a different story from the bible. The one shown here is the nativity scene. |
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| The tower connected to the Cathedral. We climbed to the top, up 37 stories, via ramps; the early Muslim leader built it with ramps so he could ride his horse to the top to ring the bell and say the prayers. |
The Barrio Santa Cruz (of neighborhood of Holy Cross) was actually where the Jewish people lived, or the judería, until the Christian reign when they changed the name to fit their own lifestyles. They did not enslave or expel the Jewish population, but instead the king took them as his property. They collected taxes and rents and lived separately in this neighborhood, which was quaint and very picturesque.
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| View into a gated patio area from one of the labyrinth-like streets. |
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| "La Santa Cruz" that was added by the Christians after they took over the area. |
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On our way back to the hotel to rest after the tour, we stopped at a cookie shop called La Cure Gourmande where you hand pick cookies to put into a tin. I chose vanilla biscuits, cinnamon biscuits, chocolate chip biscuits, almonds cookies, coconut cookies, chocolate cookies, and nut cookies - the tin did not last very long to say the least.
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| YUMMY |
After napping on Friday afternoon, we met up with our group leaders to go see a Flamenco performance. The dancers were amazing: their style, rhythm, and feeling showed and made for a wonderful show. I saw a lot of para-diddles and rifts in there, but I know it was much more complicated than my simple tap moves. After the show, some of us went to dine in a restaurant where there were once Arabic baths. The food was delicious, I got salmon over spinach with a mushroom sauce, and we all drank wine and had fun. Afterwards, we went to a street called "Calle Alfalfa" where there were tons of bars and even more "jóvenes" and students drinking in outside and on the streets. Every time a car tried to come through, people bunched together on the sidewalks as the wheels of the car drove over glass (kind of dangerous). This act of Spanish people drinking in the streets is called "botellón" and it is definitely a spectacle. We went to bed around 2 or 3 on Friday night instead of staying out later so we could wake up early for our day trip to Córdoba on Saturday.
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| Lauren, Taylor, and me at the plaza before the Flamenco show. |
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| The dancers and musicians only let us take pictures at the end of the performance. |
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| Botellón on Calle Alfalfa |
Saturday morning we woke up to an AWESOME breakfast buffet at the hotel, the most Americanized breakfast I've had yet in Spain. After filling up, we took a 1-2 hour bus ride to Córdoba, the city that was once the capital of the Muslim reign in Andalucía. The mezquita (mosque) turned cathedral was yet another fantastic sight to behold. There were clear marks of arabic architecture followed by separate and just as beautiful add-ons from the reign of the Spanish kings. The part of the cathedral that stuck out the most to me was the choir stands, "el coro", that sat more than 200 singers and were intricately carved out of mahogany. It amazes me how Muslims and Christians from the 8th century through the Middle Ages were able to complete works so unbelievable. On the way out of the cathedral/mosque we walked through the judería of Córdoba where we visited the synagogue and rubbed the golden foot of the statue of the ancient Jewish philosopher Maimónides. Afterwards, we grabbed some lunch and shopped around. I bought a really cute small, leather, across-the-body purse. We loaded back onto the bus and headed to the hotel in Sevilla for the last night of our trip.
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| Arcs in the area of Muslim influence. |
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| "El coro" where the singers were seated. I wish my pictures were better to show how intricate the carvings were... |
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| One side of the double sided organ pipes, near the main chapel. |
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| Maimónides |
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| Evan sporting a Cordoban hat...she didn't buy it. |
Saturday evening we set out to go to Plaza Espanya, an area that our director, Elena, insisted we go to before we left Sevilla. Thank goodness we went, because the palace/castle-like building there was like nothing I have seen in my life. It was massive and bent around into a semi-circle. In the semi-circle was a huge plaza, with a floor of hand-laid rocks in patterns, as well as moat and little bridges. There were people in row boats in the boat, and about 5 sets of brides & grooms taking their wedding pictures around the plaza! We went at the perfect time, sunset, because the lighting made the building and area spectacular. I wish I could show everybody what it looked like because these pictures won;t do it any justice!
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| When we first came upon the plaza. |
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| Us at the fountain in the center of the plaza. |
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| One of the towers, there was one on either side of the semi-circle. |
On Saturday night I went out to dinner with a smaller group to a delicious restaurant with Italian influence. I split the bruschetta, which came on a huge slick of toast with full tomatoes laid across, and got an arugula, mushroom, parmesan, and balsamic salad. We did some "botellón" again, but went home sort of early; a lot of people had to wake up for skydiving, and I was tired and wanted to wake up for the optional palace tour.
Sunday morning after breakfast, I went on the palace tour with some of my friends from Elon. My camera unfortunately ran out of battery after the first few rooms, but I do have some pictures. The palace is called "Reales Alcázares de Sevilla", it was the royal palace built by Abd-Al-Rahman III when he named himself the Califa of Córdoba, separate from the Califa in the Middle East (I just took a history midterm so I know this all!?!) The interior of the palace was stunning and historical, just like everything else I saw over the weekend, but was also filled with hundreds of patios, gardens, and fountains. The main garden or "backyard" was humongous. There was a tree labyrinth like the one in Harry Potter, dirt pathways, fountains, royal peacocks (I got pretty close even though I hate birds), flowers, benches, and much more. Basically, the interior and exterior of the Alcázar mansion would have been the party place of the entire 1000s. I was so glad I went on the tour, but was very tired by the end (there was a lot of walking on our trip) and was ready to get back home to Barcelona. The trip was fantastic, and there wasn't one minute that I didn't wish my family and friends from home could have seen the things I was seeing...but I hope this blog entry gives you a little taste of the beauty of the south of Spain!
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| Room where Isabel and Ferdinand sent Christopher on his mission to the Americas. This painting shows the Virgen Mary looking over different explorers and saints. |
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| Patio/garden in the principal part of the palace. |
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| Little arcs in big arcs |
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| Domed ceiling in one of the many, many luxurious rooms. |
Hope all is well in the states, love and miss you all!
