Crusing Around Cordoba

So we arrived in Cordoba at 9pm on Feb 12th.  We wandered a bit to get some food, but mostly just hung out in the hostel.  The next morning we got up early to head off to the ruins outside of the city.  It was a very messed up trip.  We walked to a bus stop to wait for transportation to the ruins.  After an hour no bus had stopped there and our instructor got directions from another bus driver as to where we were supposed to be.  We then walked another 20 minutes to get to ANOTHER bus stop and after 30 minutes of waiting there she found out that the bus does not come on Sundays.  We then took 5 taxis to get there.  Spain 1 - Regina 0.

The ruins were of an old Arab city/palace/fortress.  It was called Madinat al Zahra.

Now I'm not really into ruins like this where very little is left except the floor plan, but it was nice to just wander through it all.

Apparently most of this was houses, servants quarters, and courtyards.  There were pools basins that ran through some of the grander rooms, but none ever had water in them.  The Califah also bragged that the place was not lit by candles.....so what went in the pools and what lit the place you say?  Well that would be mercury.  There were pools of mercury in many of the rooms that provided the illumination (mostly reflective).  I am not sure how on EARTH there are not more reports of insanity from the people living there, but there aren't.  My professor is looking into it though because there have to be SERIOUSLY health repercussions for living in covered rooms with giant pools of mercury.

My friend Teresa took a creeper picture of me relaxing and looking out over the countryside and I liked it so I'm posting it :-)

After the ruins we headed back into the city to grab lunch.  It took us another hour to get a bus into the city.  By this time we've used up all our free time waiting for buses so we were only going to have time to go to the mosque.  Our instructor really should get things straight about transportation from here on out...  Spain 2 - Regina 0

The mosque is on a bit of land with a long history.  Originally it was a pagan center during Roman times.  Then it became a Visigoth church.  Then the Muslims knocked it down to build the mosque.  THEN during the reconquest the Christians took it back and converted it into a Cathedral.  They didn't knock it down and replace it because the people of Cordoba refused to allow something that exquisite to be torn down.  It really is a wonder.  In the original structure all of the arches along the sides were open to the streets.  This allowed the people to come from the light into the darker area at the center representing their mysterious journey to Allah.

When the Christians reconquered the building, they filled in all of the open arches and turned them into Chapel areas because apparently nature and prayer don't mix.

 The center of the mosque was given windows, made much brighter, and turned into the Cathedral area.  A complete opposite of the dark center approach to the old mosque.

It is said that the mosque has 1000 arches and they refer to the building as "el bosque de columnas" or "the forest of columns".  The building was built in stages.  At first the arches were built with alternating stone and brick areas (hence the white and red), but later they were just solid stone painted to look like bricks.  This was the cheaper alternative.  If you look really hard you can tell the difference between the brick and the paint.  Try and figure it out in the next pictures.

It is just a very beautiful solemn building and the arches are beautiful.  Honestly the church part kind of ruined the fluidity of it all.

After the mosque we gathered our things from the hostel, jumped in taxis, and headed to the train station.  The train ride back was very fast since we took the AVE (high speed trains) and we were back in our beds by 10:30 that night.  It was a wonderful weekend!

Galavanting in Granada Part 2

So the next morning we all woke up and headed to La Alhambra, an Arab palace in Granada.  Our guide, Juan, was amazing.  He was so informative and could explain everything to us in simple Spanish!  I get to share some of the fun little facts he gave us.

Only 300 people are allowed to enter the Alhambra each half hour.  This is so it doesn't get packed and people don't end up bumping up against the walls and ruining things.  Also, that is pronounced Al-am-bra.  DO NOT PRONOUNCE THE 'H' OTHERWISE YOU SOUND LIKE AN IDIOT.

There isn't much else I can say about this palace until I first show you......

The walls of the Alhambra are covered in designs and Arabic.

 It may look like a complicated carving job, but really none of it is stone or carved.   It is all stucco and molding.  That is why they limit the amount of people in the Alhambra per hour because stucco does not hold up well over time.  There are places in the palace where it has already fallen off of the walls.  It is such an incredible sight to see a room covered in this though.

There is Arabic written all over the walls.  There are many repeated lines, but others that say different things.  Some were the slogans of the Califah (king) that was currently ruling.  Others were religious sayings.  This one is says (and if anyone reads Arabic correct me if I'm wrong) "God is the only victor".  I really love written Arabic.  I think is such a beautiful language.

 We walked into a courtyard and Juan explained that the windows with the wood above are called jealousy windows.  This was due to the fact that the concubines were kept in those rooms in the harem.  They were known as jealousy windows and covered due to the jealousy that the harems caused the wives of the Califah!

Everything in the Alhambra is very mathematical.  All ratios for arches, windows, doorways, courtyards...etc...are based on the golden ratio.

All of the ceramic tiles that surround some rooms are hand cut and mathematical as well.

In this picture every color in the lower portion does not have an end.  They are all continuous loops.

This is one of the courtyards in the palace area.  The Alhambra is actually a VERY large complex as you can see from the pictures in the previous post.  It contains churches, the palace, a fortress, a coliseum area, a garden area, and other buildings sprinkled in.  Most of the area was destroyed by Napoleon when he came through Spain, but the palace was saved because a Spanish soldier cut the fuse to the explosives that would have destroyed the palace and saved the whole thing.

We had the rest of the day to relax, eat lunch, and then head back to check out of the hostel and jump on a bus for Cordoba!

Galavanting in Granada Part 1

So last weekend our MD group took a trip to Granada.  As this trip had MANY pictures, I'll be splitting in up into days.

Everyone woke up wicked early on Friday to be at the Madrid train station at 8:30.  This meant I was up at 5:45 Friday morning.  Yikes!  We hopped on the train and took the 4 hour trip to Granada.

The train was really VERY comfortable and so the ride was an easy one with most of our group together in the same car.

Once we arrived in Granada it was like we were in an entirely different country.  Granada has a LOT of Muslim influence (the Alhambra is a Muslim palace), but even then it still felt so different from the other places we'd been to in Spain. There were orange trees everywhere which we were later told were sour oranges, hence the reason no one ate them and they were still hanging on all the trees.

We walked the 10 blocks or so from the train station to our hostel.  The hostel we were staying in was VERY pretty.  Two open courtyard type areas and ceramic tile.  Only drawback was there was little to no heat.  SO cold.  Luckily the weather that weekend wasn't freezing so we were ok.

It was about 2pm when we were all settled in and ready to explore.  We had the rest of the day to walk around the city.  First we headed to the old Arabic neighborhood on the hill opposite the hill with the Alhambra.  As we were walking we randomly found this set of steps and decided, "What the hell.  Why not just follow them!" And up we went.

BEST DECISION EVER.  The steps kept going up....and up....and up....eventually we reached a point where you could see out over the whole city.

Here are some of the trip mates!  From right to left: Hilary, Sarah, Margot (my roommate) and Jill.  We took a bit of time just hanging out there and then continued up the hill.

We ended up in this very cool park at what felt like the top of the world.  It seemed to be filled with gypsies and other more free willed individuals.  I wandered around the park and then realized that the building I could see in the distance was La Alhambra!

 I wandered away from the group to try and find the overlook that our group took a picture at four years ago.  I walked down through the streets which were beautiful and deserted.  The houses were all white and close together with little cobblestone streets.  I soon found out why the place seemed empty as a walked past the local mosque which was full and prayers were underway.  As I wandered back up the hill (for the others had called to try and locate me) I just followed my instincts and happened upon the same patio from four years ago.  There, waiting for me, was my group.  I really enjoy how things have just happened by chance on this trip!

 Our group!

My old group!

We just hung out on this patio for a long while because there were people playing music and a little puppy running around.  It was great weather and all around a lovely afternoon.

Here's a nice picture Margot took of me just hanging out!

 

Here is our adorable puppy friend!!!  Her name was Pepa as I learned from her owner and she was teething so she kept wanting to play with us and picking stuff up off the ground.  I ended up having to hold her head and tell her "quitalo!" which is "drop it" in Spanish as she tried to eat some paper.

After a while we began to get hungry and decided that we should just get some tapas and sangria while we were up here.  There was a nice little bar with outdoor seating just across from the patio so we all headed over there for a bite.

Now, as most of you know I do not like wine. At all.  Even the really fruity types of wine, hence the reason I have not been a big fan of Sangria thus far.  That has changed.  The sangria I had at that little outdoor bar was THE BEST we'd all had in Spain so far.  Most likely that is because it was 80% juice and 20% wine, but it was still really good!

Just for Dad's info, the girl next to me here is Jill who is from Boston.  I love her because she has the accent and because she watches Bruins highlights in between class.  She's pretty darn cool.

I decided that my blog needed more video (since there is none) and so here I present....THE FIRST SPAIN VIDEO!  It's pretty self explanatory so enjoy!

THE SECOND SPAIN VIDEO!

So after we headed back down the hill and wandered around until it was dark and then went back to our hostel.  By this time the hostel was FREEZING so I cuddled up under the covers since I wasn't going out again, and my other roommates used their own means to get warm.  Here is the result:

With that I am going to bed.....as I was about to in the video....GOODNIGHT!  More on this weekend in a later post!

THE TALE OF THE MYSTERY PACKAGE THAT WEIGHED A BILLION POUNDS!

So here is a story about a package that I received that GREATLY confused my host mom.  She received it from the mail people and could not BELIEVE what it was due to the weight!  I had ordered a plug for my computer (since mine died hence my long break from blogging), but that couldn’t POSSIBLY weight that much right?

 

So home I come around 7:30 that evening from class to see a large heavy package from my most awesome Aunt.  As I open it up I start to laugh hysterically and cause my roommate to look at me strangely until I show her what the package contains.  To her surprise, the package holds two of the largest tubs of peanut butter (and yes not jars because these surpass jars) she has ever seen.

 

Take that overpriced European Peanut butter!  I just got your replacement for the rest of the semester!  I’m now the envy of my other peanut butter & jelly eating friends :-)

 

Thus ends the tail of the mystery package and it has a creamy nutty finish!

 

Love you Aunt Maria!!!

 

 

Segovia Sauntering

Last weekend on Saturday (February 5th), my friend Bethany and I decided to go to Segovia.  Segovia is a town about 1.5 hours north of Madrid with a castle, a cathedral, and an ancient Roman aqueduct.  A round trip bus ticket cost 13euros.  It was a done deal.

I got up early on Saturday and headed to the bus station to meet Bethany.  We jumped on a train, went into Madrid, took the metro and found the bus station to leave from.  It was an easy day of traveling.

I assumed we'd need the full day to do Segovia.  On the map everything looked like it was a fair distance apart including the bus station from the aqueduct.  This is the main thing I have learned about maps in Europe.  THEY LIE.  Everything is SO much closer than depicted on a map!  It is a wonderful thing!

We jumped off the bus, walked about two minutes, rounded a corner and could see the aqueduct looming in the distance.  It was awesome!

You could also see the cathedral in the distance!  The Segovia cathedral was the last Gothic cathedral built in Spain.

 The aqueduct is so tall to deal with the grade of the land in Segovia.  It is a city built partially on the hill.

 We got to walk up to the top of the hill next to the aqueduct so we could see the entirety of it.  It continues as you can see in my picture, and then bends at the end and heads off in another direction.

After the aqueduct we headed over to the cathedral.  It too just slammed you in the face.  You turn the corner and reach La Plaza Mayor and BAM!  Emeril style the cathedral is RIGHT THERE, looming over the plaza.

 It is just a beautiful cathedral and it takes a long time to take it in.  I was outside just staring for a WHILE.

I feel like I spend so much time in cathedrals just staring up.  Just trying to take in the enormity of it.  You know there are times when I I actually appreciate the extravagance of the ancient catholic church.

After the cathedral we headed down to the Alcazar, Segovia's palace.  Alcazar means palace in Spanish.  This palace sits on a cliff and looks over the surrounding country.  The back part of the palace is what Disney based Sleeping Beauty's castle on.  Now I was confused when I first heard this because I thought it was based off of a castle in Germany.  The Germanic castle is Cinderella's castle and is the one on the Disney logo.  The Alcazar of Spain is Sleeping Beauty's castle shown  below.

It is based on the back side of the Alcazar.  I'll post that picture first so you have an easy comparison.

The entrance is around the other side.

The rectangular tower at the front is John's Tower which has 152 steps to reach the top.  Of course, Bethany and I did it.

In order to get to the top we had to climb stairs, but not normal stairs,
 VERY NARROW ACTUAL SPIRAL STAIRCASE MEDIEVAL STAIRS!  People passing us on the stairs got to be a very interesting situation....It was definitely a quad workout though because the steps were all very steep and just continually winding.  It was absolutely worth it though.

Here is the view from the top.  You can see the Cathedral everywhere in the city and it is just beautiful.

To the left is the rest of the castle from the top.

After going up the tower we walked through the entire castle.  They have all the rooms set up with the original decoration and information on what each room is and any history that occurred in the rooms.  It seemed like each Monarch added something or completed a room during their reign so the rooms each have their own unique style.

One of the rooms even had a full out Chapel in it.  The riches that these people lived in just baffles me.  This castle is beautiful and amazing and took YEARS to complete.  I'm glad I chose to go to Segovia.  It was an amazing city to see!!!