7.04.2011

Get ready, this is going to be a long one

I don't even know where to begin. This weekend was absolutely amazing. We left verrrry early (5:30) on Friday morning to start our trek to Cordoba, the first city we were going to in the province of Andalucia. We ate breakfast at a hotel on the way and it was great to actually have something besides cereal..I was full for more than an hour! A few hours later we arrived in Cordoba, a city south of where Toledo is. We walked around there for a little bit in order to get to La Catedral de Cordoba, probably the prettiest single building I have ever seen. There were several times I had to just stop and stare with my mouth open. It's a cathedral now, but before Los Reyes Catolicos (The Catholic kings, Isabella and Fernando) took back all of Spain from Muslim rule, it was a mosque. You walk in and there's a ton of Muslim architecture, with all the arches (something I am very familiar with after my architecture class) and the intense detailing.

There are several beautiful rooms with Christian paintings and sculptures, etc and then you walk into THE prettiest cathedral I have ever seen. The detailing on the ceiling is so intricate and beautiful, I had to just stop and stare. I feel like I could've stayed in there for 5 hours and still been able to find new things. I can't imagine the intense labor it took to create all these old buildings. It's really crazy to think about. Our tour guide said that they started building this mosque in 785.
After we left the Cathedral we toured a little bit around the city of Cordoba. We saw the Jewish quarter and a small sinagog (I can't think of how to spell that in English anymore. I guess that's a good thing). Afterwards we had a delicious lunch at a hotel (our 2nd one of the day) and started the journey to Granada, about 3 hours away maybe? I slept most of the way so I'm not entirely sure. Once we got to Granada, we didn't have anything to do until the next morning. My roommates and I walked around for a bit and then a big group went to a Flamenco show, which was hilarious. I'm sure it's not supposed to be comical but I was about to die the entire time. First of all, the room was shaped like a pill, and the 2 lengths of the pill had a single row of chairs on each side. I, along with one of the program directors and a couple other girls, happened to be situated right across from the flamenco dancers/guitar players/singers and right in front of the tiny dance floor. The girl flamenco dancers were fine, but when the guys went, they were practically dancing on top of us. I had my feet pushed back as far as possible and my entire body was on the wall because I was so scared that I would be punched in the face or have one of my toes shattered (although I decided it would be a really cool story to tell). Well, I had just about pulled myself together until the last flamenco dancer started. He danced for about 10 minutes straight, and the longer he danced, the more he sweat. I had a couple drops flung on me which was gross, but doable. Well, his dance finale consisted of an intense head swing (he had longer hair by the way) which, in slow motion, doused all of us who were so lucky to be seated in that front row. There were about 30 people there from the Fund and I felt really bad, but every single one of us burst into laughter. It was probably one of the funniest things that has ever happened to me. You can't pay for these experiences.
The next morning we got up bright and early in order to start our tour of the Alhambra, which has both a palace and a fortress. We didn't go into the fortress part but the rest of the Alhambra was absolutely beautiful. Again with the delicate carvings of Islamic symbols and inscriptions. I was again in complete awe!

Every room in the palace was beautiful, and we would have to walk through patios in order to get to the next section. Each patio had a fountain or some sort of water in it. This is my favorite picture that I took there...I don't know why!


After that we walked through the garden that was next to the palace. I never got bored of all the gorgeous flowers. I took a ton of pictures, but none really capture how beautiful it really was. I'm going to try putting the link to my Facebook album on here, since Flickr ended up being sort of a bust. After we left the Alhambra, we had free time for the rest of the day. My roommates (there were 3 of us) walked around all day shopping and looking in all of the little stores. The first week of July in Spain is a major sale week, so of course we had to investigate. We went to a Mexican restaurant last night, which we were extremely excited about. It wasn't the typical TexMex I'm used to, but it definitely hit the spot. After laying in a food coma for a while, a group of us went out to a discoteca called Mae West, which had a Western theme going on. It was really fun...those Spaniards really party late. We got there at 1 and it was completely empty until at least 2, and I left around 4 but some of the others left at 5:30 and the party was still going. I guess that's why Spain needs a siesta every day!
All we did today was travel back. I couldn't believe what a great weekend we had. Spain is truely an enchanting country. It has opened my eyes and given me a bigger perspective on life. Problems that seemed so large before suddenly seem so small and insignificant. All I do here is relax and enjoy everything around me and I feel like I really appreciate the little things more. The few drops of rain in Cordoba when we were walking around, the miles and miles of sunflowers along the road, laughing until you cry at a flamenco show in the gypsy quarter of Granada. It seems like I'm spending a lot of money here, but every single penny (or centavo/euro) is worth it, and I've had so many experiences that you can't buy.
Hope that everyone is doing well back home. I miss you all! I wish you could all just come here and experience this with me..but this blog will have to do for now. Here's the link to my facebook album, hopefully this works! I probably won't have much to write for several days but I think this essay makes up for it. Of course I have homework to do but it's almost 1 in the morning here and I have to get up at 7 for my internship tomorrow. First full week! Love you all.
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