Sevilla y Córdoba!

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!