Well I don't even know where to begin about my trip to Andulucia. Everything I previously heard about the south of Spain was completely true. When one thinks of Spain...white houses, beautiful weather, bullfights, flamenco....that is southern Spain. This past weekend was by far my favorite part of my trip so far, and I absolutely loved Sevilla. The people in Andulucia are extremely nice, and fun. The life in southern Spain is much more relaxed than Barcelona. There are people constantly in the streets drinking, eating tapas, playing music. I literally loved every part of the trip. The weather was about 65-70 degrees every day, with no clouds in the sky.
Well to start off, the early morning flight was not bad at all. It sucked at the time, but it was definitely worth it because we had 3 full days in Andulucia. I met some really cool people from IES, and there were about 40 students in total. There was one IES professor, Carlos who was our guide for the weekend. He is from Granada, which is about 3 hours from Sevilla or so, and he knew everything about everywhere we went. There were two IES workers who also came on the trip, and they were both awesome as well! I didn't know anyone in the beginning of the trip but ended up meeting a lot of awesome people. My roommate, Shane I met at the airport. He's from New Hampshire, and runs track for Villanova. He didn't know anyone at first either so it worked out perfectly. We ended up getting a group of about 8 students or so and we hung out most of the trip!
I literally took 600 pictures and also videos as well. I obviously am not going to post all of them, because it would take me hours, but I will try to summarize my trip the best that I can. But I honestly cannot explain with words how much I enjoyed Andulucia. It really was amazing...a completely different world than in Barcelona.
Ok, so we arrived at the hotel, dropped our luggage off, had some free time, and then met back up at the hotel to start our tours. Our first stop was to a church, and some of the pictures didn't turn out as well as I had hoped because we were unable to use our flash. We spent maybe 1 hour or so there and it was a very interesting place.
DAY 1: SEVILLA: CATHEDRAL Y LA GIRALDA
Outside of the church..
These next couple of pictures are just around the one of the Plazas that I took before we went to lunch. There were horse drawn cariages everywhere, but were about 50 Euros to go on a ride.
One of the streets that shows how different the architecture is in Sevilla than in Barcelona. Everything is very colorful in Sevilla, as you can see by the next few pictures
For lunch some of our group went out to a tapas bar. Sevilla is famous for its excellent tapas, and they were unbelievable. Our group ordered about 25 different tapas and just passed them around the table. This was a great decision because we got to try a wide variety of tapas. This next picture is of half of our lunch table.
This next photo is of a larger group of IES students while we were waiting for our tour guide for the Cathedral and La Giralda.
We had a guided tour through the Cathedral and La Giralda (bell tower) which lasted over an hour. Sevilla's Cathedral occupies the site of a great mosque built by the Almohads in the late 12th century. The Cathedral is the largest in Europe, began in 1401 and took just over a century to complete. La Giralda is the bell tower crowned by a bronze weather vane portraying Faith. La Giralda was built as a minaret in 1198, and its final works was finished in 1568. The views were just amazing, and I was able to see most of the city. The Cathedral is the 3rd largest in the entire world.
These bells still go off hourly and echo throughout the city..
It wasn't possible to get a picture of the entire cathedral because it is that big. Only each section of it, but these next pictures show how massive it really is.
A few pictures of the view from the top of La Giralda..
This picture is of the Plaza de Toros, where the bullfights occur. Also from the top of La Giralda..
After the belltower, we headed back down to go inside the cathedral. The cathedral is filled with gold, silver, famous paintings, and amazing architecture.
This next picture is of some warriors holding the tomb of Cristobol Colon (Christopher Columbus). Some of Colon's remains are located inside this tomb, and his sons are also buried in this Cathedral. Colon is everywhere in Spain, I'm almost positive that every part of Spain has a Colon street, monument, or something that has to do with him. Although his writing was in Portuguese, his name is Italian, but Spain is certain he was a Spaniard.
This following tombstone is where Colon's sons are buried...
Next few pictures from the treasury room and some of the gold..
Walking around after the tours were over...
Next picture is outside of the Plaza de Torros de la Maestranza, which is one of Spain's oldest bullfighting arenas.
After that we walked back to the hotel to relax for a little while before dinner, which very close to the hotel. One of the girls that I met had friends studying in Sevilla and they told us a name of a local Flamenco bar called La Carboneria. I was extremely excited because seeing flamenco was one of the the things I wanted to see the most in Spain. This bar has flamenco every night, and apparently it is mostly amateur artists. Flamenco is literally the Soul of Andulcia and is ultimately an artistic expression of the sorrows and joys of life. This was probably the highlight of my trip because I didn't know how passionate flamenco is. It really was amazing to have the opportunity to see flamenco. If the show that I saw was only "amateur artists" then I cannot imagine how the professionals are. There were three people, a man who was singing, a man playing the guitar, and a woman who was dancing. We arrived at around 10 and the place was empty. The show started at 11, and ended around 12:30. By the time the flamenco started there were hundreds of people packed in this bar. It really was amazing. I took some videos, and will try to post a few, but I do not know how well it will work.
A couple of pictures of the group before the flamenco started...
DAY 2: CORDOBA
The heart of Cordoba is the old Jewish quarter. Little has changed in Cordoba since the 10th century when it was one of the greatest cities in the Western world. The Mezquita is the largest, and only mosque in Spain. After the 2 hour bus ride we first walked to La Sinogoga:
La Sinogoga:
After La Sinagoga, we went to this place called Casa de Sefared. This place was a journey exploring the Sephardic/Judaic-Spanish tradition. This place was very cool, and our tour guide and someone else played 4 songs for us which was very interesting. I am also going to try and post one of the videos from a song as well. They were all very shocked because it was rare that there were Americans visiting this house. I enjoyed visiting this casa because it wasn't part of our itinerary but Carlos knew about the place, and thought that it would be interesting for us to see.
A few pictures from inside La Casa de Sefared.
After we finished with la casa we had a few hours of free time before we went to the Mezquita. We all went out to lunch at a restaurant with the worst service I have ever had. My first dish was Salmorejo, Cordoba's most typical dish. A vegetable old cream soup made of tomatoes, bread, vigin olive oil, garlic and salt. Sprinkled with hard-boiled eggs and Serrano ham.
After lunch we all met back up to go to the Mezquita, which is what Cordoba is known for. This mosque dates back 12 centuries, and embodied the power of Islam on the Iberian Peninsula. The building began in 785 and has evolved over the centuries. During the 16th century a cathedral was built in the heart of the mosque. This mosque is the only one in Spain, and one of the most famous in the world.
This is a picture of the mosque from outside..
The arches and pillars in the Mezquita have more than 850 columns of granite, jasper and marble which support the roof. Many of the visuals effects were taken from Roman and visigothic buildings.
A few pictures from the Cathedral ..
DAY 3 : SEVILLA: REAL ALCAZAR
Real Alcazar has been the home of Spanish kings for almost seven centuries. The palace's upper floor is used by the royal family today.
These next few pictures are of some friends I made on the trip. We were waiting outside before we headed towards Real Alcazar.
This first photo is La Puerta del Leon which was the entrance to Real Alcazar.
This next photo is of El patio de las Doncellas (Maidens) which boasts plasterwork by the top craftsmen of Granada.
An example of the horseshoe arches inside the palace.
The next picture was the Charles V Room which was full of tapestries and lively 16th century decorations.
The next photos are of the Gardens of the Alcazar. This part of the palace is laid out with terraces, fountains and pavilions. these gardens provide a delightful refuge from the heat of Sevilla.
A few pictures that show the beauty of these gardens. I couldn't have asked for a better day, you can't beat 70 and sunny.
This next picture is a royal peacock. They were everywhere throughout the garden and were surprisingly friendly.
A few tapas I ate for lunch....
Plaza Espana..
This last picture is a view from a bar looking over the river. Just a few hours before we headed back to the airport.
I returned to Barcelona around 12ish, and barely made the last train back to the city. I got home around 1 and shared some of my stories with mi familia.
This past weekend in Andulucia was one that I will never forget. I had the opportunity to see flamenco, one of the largest Cathedrals in the world, the only remaining mosque in Spain, and even a royal palace. The people in Andulucia were extremely nice and the tapas and sangria was to die for. The relaxed lifestyle of the Andulucians is amazing and I will always return to the south of Spain. During Sunday almost everything in the city is closed down and people flood the streets eating, drinking, and dancing. Andulucia was everything that I expected it to be, and I really couldn't have asked for a better weekend. I started out knowing nobody on the trip and ended up making a lot of friends! We all discussed returning to southern Spain, possibly in late March, or early April. Granada is where I would like to visit, and I really want to see a bullfight which one event southern Spain is known for.
Just a few pictures to show how many people gather on Sunday.
Well as this blog took me many hours to put together, I doubt that I will ever post a blog this long, or even take as many pictures as I did for this trip. But I guess I will be happy that I did a couple of years from now.
I have a lot of studying to do, so I will try to post again this week. As of now I don't have plans for the weekend, but might take a couple day trips in Catalunya which will be less than 10 Euros for a train, which will be nice!
