Last
weekend Madeline, Katie, and I took our first big trip from Barcelona to
Sevilla and Córdoba. The whole weekend I
so surprised by how different Andalucía is from Cataluña and Barcelona, but
everything was so old and beautiful!
To
begin, a short side note on how we traveled to Sevilla: Ryan Air. When we booked our ticket to Sevilla, we were
warned by many friends of the absolute ridiculousness that is RyanAir. We arrived with our one small piece of
baggage that was allowed and went through a series of passport and security
checks before finally making it to the gate.
When it was finally time to board our plane we saw people starting to
mob toward a gate, so we decided to join in the line. The RyanAir employees began going up and down
the line checking passports and baggage.
The employees made everyone re-check the size of their bag, which is
just slightly smaller than what’s usually allowed on a regular airplane. (They charge you over 30 euros if it’s over
the size limit, which I’m pretty sure is how they make all their money.) They then rip your boarding pass almost in
half and write all kinds of little notations on it… it’s all pretty ridiculous.
Once
we were on the airplane the crazy show continued. The whole plane is bright yellow and navy (it
really does look like Cal made their mark on the plane). The seats don’t recline, and really do seem
more narrow than regular airplane seats.
The overhead bins are also bright yellow and covered with advertisements
(another way I’m sure RyanAir makes their money), including National
Geographic, which I really thought was quite a come-down from them. I would have pictures to show you of this
glorious plane ride, but I got in trouble before the plane ever took off for taking
pictures, and the mean flight attendant stood over me while I was forced to
delete them all. Next time I’m planning on taking some more stealthily
pictures.
Sevilla
We
arrived in Sevilla early Thursday morning and started seeing the sights right way. We started off seeing a new modern monument
that the city has nicknamed Las Setas (“the mushrooms”). It’s a giant parasol structure that has
amazing views of the city from the top!
After
getting an awesome view of the city we headed to the Cathedral and Giralda
tower that were constructed centuries ago.
The Cathedral was beautiful and it took us nearly two hours to walk
through all the rooms and chapels! We also climbed up 35 ramps (17 stories I
think) to reach the top of the Giralda tower to see all over the city. The view was gorgeous!
We
spent the evening meeting up with one of Katie’s friends from Berkeley,
Emilia. She has been there for a few
weeks now for a study abroad semester, and it was so fun to have someone who
knows the city show us around!
The
next morning we got up early for more sight seeing! We started off with a visit to the
Alcázar. Many cities in the south of
Spain have Alcázars, which were originally intended to be palaces for the royal
families during the Arab rule of Andalucía, but were converted to be more
Spanish in later centuries. Fernando and
Isabel (or Ferdinand and Isabella as we called them in the US) actually lived
here, especially during the summers. We
also saw the room where Magellan pleaded before Fernando and Isabel to be sent
on a voyage around the world, and were Cristobol Colom (aka Christopher
Colombus) spoke with the king and queen before being commissioned on his
voyage! So much cool history here!
The
Alcázar is also famous for it’s royal gardens, one of the most beautiful places
I’ve ever seen! It’s filled with walking paths and fountains, and there were
even a couple of rouge ducks and peacocks on the loose. I was also chased around the gardens by a
very vicious duck, which I realize may not seem to scary, but was absolutely
terrifying.
After
the Alcázar we found some delicious churros and chocolate… definitely the best
ones I’ve had so far!
After
our snack we headed down to the river, and stumbled upon the Plaza de Toros
(the bullfighting ring), which turns out to be the second oldest in Spain! We
got a personal tour of the arena and learned all about the history of the
(violent) sport, and of the arena as well.
Cataluña (the province Barcelona is in) is the only one in Spain that
has outlawed bull-fighting, and only a few years ago. Some people think it’s a progressive
animal-rights move (as Cataluña is a pretty liberal province) but other,
including our tour guide, think it’s a purely political move- Cataluña is
hopeful of it’s independence from Spain and wants to remove itself from being
“Spanish” in any way it can, hence speaking Catalan instead of Spanish. Anyways, the tour was interesting, and while
I remain rather opposed to the “sport” it was really interesting to learn about
its history, especially in Sevilla.
After
the Plaza de Toros, we headed to one last touristy destination for the day:
Plaza España. Unlike Barcelona’s Plaza
España, this was a huge monument and plaza all in one, which small alcoves
dedicated to all of the major cities in Spain.
We found Barcelona’s small alcove, which was one of the most beautiful
ones there… not that I’m too partial to my new city J. We then fell into the tourist trip (as
Madeline calls it) an were suckered into a rowboat ride around the canal in the
plaza. We spent most of our 30 minutes
laughing and spinning in circles, but the view was beautiful.
Our
last stop in Sevilla was a traditional Flamenco show. While the one we went to was a bit touristy,
it was still exciting to see the traditional dance, and hear the authentic
music, which is basically really cool guitar and clapping. Nonetheless, it was very cool to see a real
flamenco show in Andalucía!
Córdoba
Early
the next morning we left Sevilla for Córdoba on a two-hour bus through the country. (Spain’s countryside is so much greener and
ore beautiful than I thought!) We
arrived in Córdoba and headed to the city’s most important monument: La
Mezquita. The Mezquita is the city’s
famous mosque/cathedral with a very unique history. Like many other places in the south of Spain,
the control of the city was constantly switching between the Spanish/Christians
and the Arab/Islamic people. This
constant battle has left its mark of the city, especially in architeqture, and
religious buildings. The Mezquita was
originally constructed as a mosque (the red and white arches) but the Christian
rulers built a mosque directly in the center of the mosque (the white altar and
chapel). La Mezquita is gigantic and so
interesting!
We
spent the afternoon exploring the Jewish Quarter of the city where the main
street is literally called Judios (“Jews”).
We ate delicious Córdoban/Jewish food and saw one of only two synagogues
in the entire country from before the Christian rule began in Spain. It was small, and simple, but a really cool
monument to a different era in Spain.
We
finished off our sightseeing weekend the next morning with another Alcázar/royal
palace. This one was just as beautiful
and the gardens were even more incredible.
We climbed up the tower and had great views of the city. Plus, the sun
meant I got to take of a coat for the first time since I arrived in Spain! So
nice to have some sunny weather finally!
We
then got on a train back to Barcelona.
We too this cool speed train through the countryside that only takes 4.5
hours to get across the whole country (the same distance it took 2 hours to
fly!). We arrived home and moved into
our lovely new apartment (pictures soon!).
So far we’ve booked trips to Amsterdam and Brussels (two weeks away!)
and to Portugal the first week of March, and I'm off to Rome in just a few hours! So excited to be traveling so
much, and so thankful for this opportunity!
