Cordoba: here we saw the mosque-cathedral. We learned about this in our culture and civilization class. It was so beautiful. Originally, it was a mosque, obviously built under the Arab rule, but once the Christians came into power, they transformed it into a church. However, the Christians kept the beautiful architecture in tact because it was so elegant, and it honestly would have been a shame to destroy it or build a cathedral on top of it (which was very common). So, the Christians just added Christian decorations. We also got to see the Rio Guadilquivir, which is a very important river because, unlike any other river that runs through Spain, it is wide enough for ships to pass through. In Cordoba, and Andalucia in general, there was a Jewish neighborhood and a sinagogue. We went to go explore the sinagogue on our own but it was closed at that hour. Here's a picture of the mesquita-catedral:
Sevilla: we arrived in Sevilla at night time and a bunch of us in our SMU group got a fabulous dinner (menu del dia type of thing--house menu). I ordered something that was similar to a pork chop, a salad, and a DELICIOUS dessert of frozen chocolate trouffels (sp?) and cream. YUM! The next day, we toured the city. Our culture and civilization professor always goes on our trips because she explains the history and importance of each city and place. We saw a palace that's called an Alcazar (there are many Alcazares in Spain). This one belonged to King Alfonso X (I think?) and also Pedro I "The Cruel." It was actually a palace for their mistresses, but that's another story (as they like to say in Spain). Sevilla was a pretty city, but not my favorite. Once we finished our tour for the day, we all went to eat lunch as a group. The meal was HUGE! Marta, our profe told us about how in Andalucia they have Arab baths (similar to Turkish baths) where there are several different baths ("pools" in a sense) that vary in temperature from very hot to freezing cold. Fati (Fatema--who was also my roomie for the trip!) and Brent and Mary and I all went! Fati and I also decided to get massages. It was very nice and relaxing, and they also have hot and cold tea for you to drink! Later that night, the whole group went to see a professional Flamenco dance. We were pretty tired by this time, but we enjoyed it very much. The performance was only an hour long, so after, we all split up and went to dinner. A bunch of us (Fati, Ashley, Regi, Cassie, Josh, Eric, Bryce, and I) all went to this amazing Italian restaurant! Fati and I split a gorgonzola salad and pesto pasta al genovese (sp?). Anyways, it was to die for! And I tried Ash's pizza and it was also very delish!! Here are a few pictures:
Granada: we left for Granada very early the next day and arrived at Hotel Carmen (Carmen is our Spanish mom's name)!! Everything in Granada was called "carmen." Apparently it's original meaning is "garden." It's a very popular name in Spain in general, though. The hotel was very nice. The best one we've stayed at! Fati and I went and explored a bit during our free time before we had to reconvene with the group for our tour. We went in search of a place to drink Pakistani tea (which we never ended up finding...) and a place (actually a neighborhood) called Albyzin. We went into a few shops along the way and I bought some tea from a very nice and helpful Indian man (or Middle Eastern, I forget). He spoke English, Spanish, and another language and told us how to get to Albyzin and el Mirador de San Nicolas. We thanked him and went to go get lunch because I was starving! Fati and I went to a doner kebab restaurant (they're everywhere in Spain, which I LOVE). The kebab was out of this world delicious. I got another one the next day too... Anyways, we didn't have much time before we had to be back at the hotel, so we popped in a few shops, where I bought a nice journal that has a poem on the cover by Federico Garcia Lorca (a 19th c. Spanish prose fiction author). Then we went back to the hotel. On our group tour, we went to the Capilla Real where the imfamous Catholic Monarchs' tombs are--Queen Isabel I de Castilla and Rey Fernando I de Aragon. This church was built very quickly because Fernando was nearing his death and they needed a place to put his body. The church wasn't all that special, though, but it was really cool to see their tombs, and also the tombs of Juana I ("La Loca") and her hubby Felipe I "el hermoso." Then we were shown La Alcaiceria which is the arab-style market that's still used today. And that was the end of our tour...FREE TIME! So Fati and I stayed and shopped in the Alcaiceria for a bit, and then made our way to see the sun set at the lookout of San Nicolas. From this look-out, you have an amazing view of La Alhambra (which is a city-palace built by the arabs). The view from San Nicolas was absolutely breathtaking. Bryce, Josh, and Eric were also there, so we took pictures and then left because we had to be back at the hotel for dinner by 8:30. Dinner was an amazing buffet! I ate fish, calamari, rice, dessert, fruit, cheese, everything! Fati and I decided to go see a gypsy flamenco dance higher up on the mountain in a cave with another girl in our group. No one wanted to go because it was a little bit pricey, but our profs highly recommended it and said that it was very different from the one we'd seen the night before and worthwhile. So we thought it would be a great cultural experience. So at 9:30 we hopped on a bus with a bunch of old people, who we assumed were old French people. Basically it was all the old people and the 3 of us young Americans. Kind of awkward at first. Our tour guide showed us around the neighborhood for a bit and unfortunately for us, conducted the whole tour in French. Um, we don't speak French...we thought it would be in Spanish. Interestingly enough, I understood almost all of what Chus (our tourguide's name) was saying in French because of my knowledge of Spanish. As we walked from one location to the next, Chus gave us an overview of what she had just said in Spanish, but we were still kind of annoyed because no one told us that our tour would be in a language that we didn't know. I quickly found out that some of these folks spoke Spanish and so I asked one of the men how you say "motorcycle" in French because cars, buses, and motorcycles kept passing us on the street. He told me, and we attempted to speak in Spanish, but then said he spoke English! I learned that this group of people was actually from Belgium, not France! Yay! I like Belgians better. They were very friendly and Fati and I became friends with some of the ladies. The gypsy Flamenco dance was OK. It was def. different from the previous night. Not sure if it was worth the money, but at least we got a discount. The Belgians sadly had to pay full price.
The next day we toured La Alhambra, the arab city-palace. It's HUGE and BEAUTIFUL!!! There are many parts to it: the alcazaba, where the army lived and where the torre de vela (look out tower to guard the palace) was. Then there are the royal quarters, where the royal family lived, and a 3rd part, la Medina (I think) which was were the "peasants" lived, but is pretty much destroyed now. Then there's another part of the palace: the vast garden area called El Generalife. It's comprised of a palace and a garden. WOW. Arabs love beautiful, tranquil gardens because they evoke the 5 senses as well as a sense of eutopia. The architecture of La Alhambra was amazing (on the inside) and the views were magnificent. The gardens had many wild and exotic flowers and lovely fountains. Here are some pictures:
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