Andalucía

Last week, our class headed to the south of Spain---Andalucía. We took a bus down and stopped in Cordoba along the way to see the Mezquita de Cordoba. The weather was absolutely beautiful there (and about 60 degrees) and during our lunch break we sat out in the sun in the courtyard, surrounded by orange trees. In many of cities in the South, they plant orange trees so that in the spring and summer, the cities have an amazing aroma.

After touring the Mezquita (the place where Christopher Columbus was buried) we got back on the bus and headed to Sevilla to check into our hotel (a nice four star hotel by the way J ). We had free time to explore the city and at night we all went to a small tapas bar and had some FANTASTIC tapas…I’m not really quite sure what I ordered but it was good. Then one of my friends from high school, Lizzie, happened to be studying in Sevilla for the semester so our group decided to meet up with hers and we explored the “Sevillan nightlife.”

The next morning we did some more group touring and went to Los Reales Alcazares y el Catedral. Afterwards they took us to a restaurant and we literally got a 6 course meal: salad and bread, tortilla, pea soup, SCALLOPS (and I ate them), pork and dessert. That night we also went to see a flamenco dance show a la Casa de la Memoria. The last city we went to was Granada, which was actually a lot bigger and had more of a “city” feel than I thought it would. We saw the church where the famous Spanish King and Queen, Isabel y Fernando, are buried and had a chance to do a little shopping. I got a cute blue purse. Then that night we went to Las Cuevas to see an authentic flamenco show. We were literally driven up to the mountains and taken into a cave-like theatre and watched the show. Then we got a mini-tour of the city at night and saw La Alhambra lit up. So pretty!!

The final day we got a tour of La Alhambra. This place is HUGE. It took us three hours to tour everything. But it’s such an important site because it’s one of the last remains of Moorish influence in Spain. We were able to see all the rooms of the different palaces, and the fortresses and the extravagant garden. After the tour (that literally felt like the tour that was NEVER going to end) we were all grateful to get back on the bus and head six hours back to Madrid.

Gretchen’s birthday was on Saturday night so we all decided to take her out to a hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant which turned out to be veryyy delicious (and probably had some of the best margaritas I’ve ever tasted). After we headed to a club called Pacha. We got there at 1 am and realized we were still VERY early in Spain time. It’s so weird to think that at home, the bars are closing at 2, but here, the crowds don’t even start to come out until 2 here.

This weekend we will be staying in Madrid, but the following weekend (the 19-21) we are heading back down to southern Spain once again to Cadiz for an event called Carneval (which apparently I need an elaborate Halloween costume for).