Una experiencia increíble - Sevilla y Córdoba, parte 2 [an incredible experience - Sevilla and Córdoba, part 2].

Well, here is my second post about my trip to southern Spain!  After going to Córdoba, we spent a day in Sevilla.  In all reality, Sevilla is a much larger city and should normally be visited in 2 days, but we were really ambitious and did it all in one day!

We started the morning with a visit to the Cathedral, and then we realized it wasn't fully open because mass was going on.  So we decided to explore the city in the morning and then in the afternoon we would go back to the cathedral and tour it.

We ended up getting some breakfast (tortilla española on a sandwich) and then wandering the city for a bit until we came upon the Plaza de Toros, more commonly known as the bullfighting ring!  We enjoyed the sights of the Guadalquivir River.  It's one of the largest rivers in Spain, going through both Córdoba and Sevilla. 

 These are just some photos from walking around the city - it's a really beautiful city!  Lots of sun, palm trees, orange trees, and beauty all jam packed into one great city! 

 Here's some more Andalusian beauty! 













Here is one of the first views of the cathedral we had.  It holds two titles: the largest gothic style cathedral, as well as the 3rd largest Cathedral in the world.  It's home to Christopher Columbus' remains, as well as a thorn from Jesus' crown of thorns. 

 This is the beautiful stained glass located inside of the doors of the cathedral.  The sun was shining in the window just right to cast a glow on the wall from the stained glass!

 As I said before, we found the Plaza de Toros - here it is!  It's where countless bullfights have occurred.  It's the oldest bullring in Spain! 

 And here is the great river, the Guadalquivir!  It's one of the largest rivers in Spain, and in Sevilla there was a really beautiful park right next to the river.  At the end of the park, we found the following monument, called the Torre de Oro (Tower of Gold). 







This is the Torre de Oro, and it's so named because it used to have little flecks of gold all over it, so that when the sun was shining, ships out at sea could see the reflection and use it to navigate up the river.  The river was used as a major way to get silver from the newly discovered America back to Spain, and there were a lot of imports.  There used to be an identical tower across the river from this one, but this one is the only one remaining. 

 This is a photo of Christopher Columbus' tomb within the cathedral.  It's said that only a small part of his "remains" are here.  Once he died, his remains were shipped to Santo Domingo (now in the Dominican Republic).  As time went on, and as the island of Hispanola became less important to the Spanish Empire.  In 1795, Hispanola was ceded to the French as part of a peace treaty.  Not wanting the precious bones of Columbus to fall into French hands, they shipped the bones to Havana, Cuba.  In 1898, Spain was at war with the United States, and the remains were sent back to Spain, lest they fall into the hands of the Americans.  However, since then, in the Dominican Republic, a group of workers discovered a box of bones in the Cathedral inscribed with, "Illustrious and distinguished male, don Cristobal Colon".  The people of the Dominican Republic believe that in 1795, the Spaniards shipped the wrong body out of the Dominican Republic.  They believe that they now have the real remains of Christopher Columbus, meanwhile, Spain believes they have the real remains.  DNA testing was done on the bones of the body in Spain (which revealed a VERY similar match to Columbus' brother) but in the Dominican Republic, the people do not want a DNA test, as they don't want to find out that they don't have the right body.  So...nobody actually knows where the correct bones are of Christopher Columbus.   There's a fun story for you!

 Here's a photo of the cathedral as we were climbing up La Giralda.  (a muslim tower remaining outside of the patio at the cathedral - 36 ramps later, you get the most amazing views of the city.)

 Such as this one!  :)

 And this is the tower, La Giralda. 

  And finally, to conclude our trip to Sevilla, I will include what is supposed to be a thorn from Jesus' crown of thorns.  It's in the Cathedral in Sevilla. 

Do you believe it's an actual relic? 

:) 

Besos y abrazos! 
Erin

Una experiencia increíble: Córdoba y Sevilla - parte I [an unforgettable experience: Córdoba and Sevilla - part 1].

Hello again!  It's me, from Spain!  I thought I would update my blog [even though it's a week late] on my trip I took recently!  3 of my friends and I took coach buses down to southern Spain and spent a weekend in two different cities, Córdoba and Sevilla.  We left Valladolid late Friday night and arrived in Córdoba early Saturday morning.  We spent all day and that night in Córdoba, and then Sunday morning we took a train to Sevilla.  We spent all day Sunday in Sevilla and returned to Valladolid on Monday morning on another overnight bus!  It was a weekend of fun, and exploration.  We were able to see a lot of really amazing architecture, and a lot of interesting things!  I wanted to share it with all of you.

Some people say it is best to go to Southern Spain during the Spring and Summer when there is a really nice tropical climate.  But for us, it was a perfect time to go in February.  We went February 3rd through the 5th, and it turns out we escaped Valladolid in just the right time.  In Valladolid that weekend, the weather was hitting an all time low in about 40 years, thanks to a cold from coming in from Siberia.  It was not exactly hot down south, but it was definitely better than the weather they were having back here! 

Anyway, the last time I was in Spain in 2006, we visited Sevilla, but we never went to Córdoba.  It had always been a city I was really interested in seeing, and two of the people with us had never seen either city, so we decided to do them both in one weekend, since they are relatively close to each other (it was only an hour and half train ride!)

I´ll start with the city of Córdoba.  We arrived and after some bumming around the city, we went to the mosque (it is the third largest Muslim mosque in the world) and we got to experience it during mass.  In the middle of the Muslim mosque there is a Catholic cathedral (all thanks to the Reconquista - when the Catholics took Spain over from the Muslim people that once inhabited the Iberian Peninsula).  Since we went in the morning during mass, the entrance fee was waved, and it was a really neat thing to experience!  This mosque is famous throughout the world for the amazing Muslim architecture and the red and white arches.  Every mosque has a patio with gardens outside of the main prayer building representing paradise.  Here, it truly felt like paradise.  There were palm trees and fountains all over.  Water is a very important thing to the Islamic nation, and because of that, they try and incorporate it whenever possible. 

 We just learned in our art class that every mosque built has a large tower outside of the main building and outside of the patio.  This is used to call the Muslims to prayer.  They pray five times a day.  It is no longer used as a mosque, so the bells don't still ring during the day, but it was interesting to see nonetheless.  

The Muslim culture was a really influential part of Spain's history - so much that many Spanish words come from Arabic origins.  Most words that start with the letters al- are Arabic in origin  (almohada = pillow, albacora = albacore, alfombra = carpet, alcázar = fortress/palace).  These are just a few examples.     

 This is my traveling buddy Sarah Vowels and I inside of the Mosque.  It was truly a breathtaking experience.  These photos you're seeing right now do not give the grandeur of the mosque justice.  It was absolutely beautiful, and to be standing inside of a building that was built in the first century was magnificent. (Construction began in 768.  It was converted into Catholicism in 1238) 

Arches, as you see to the left, are one of the most telltale Arabic architecture symbols.  The Muslims decorated the interior of the mosque with geometric shapes, writing, and vegetation, since the Koran prohibits the display of animal and human figures.  You can also see a lot of this decoration at the Alhambra Palace in Granada.  Hopefully we'll (my parents and I) get to go there while they visit in March/April! 

  Here is a photo of the Catholic altar that was built in the middle of the mosque.  It was very beautiful, with a lot of gold surrounding the paintings and sculptures.  I found it really interesting that the king at the time the cathedral was built (Carlos V) said [about the construction of the cathedral in the center of the mosque] that his clerics "destroyed something unique in the world to build something [they] could have put up anywhere."  It's interesting to hear that from the point of view of a Catholic king, especially one who was the grandson of the famous "Reyes Catolicos" (King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella are the royals who funded Columbus' expedition to the new world, who also fought a long war against the Muslims and started the Inquisition against those who weren't Christian.) 

Here are photos from the Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos that we went to after the mosque.  It was built by Christian monarchs on a site that used to be a Moorish fortress.  The Alcazar (fortress) was a really interesting building alongside these beautiful gardens.  There were fish in the ponds and we fed them some bread!  (We also discovered they don't like bananas!)  Here we picked some lemons (which ended up being the best lemons I have ever eaten in my life) and we just enjoyed the beautiful scenery.  It was nice to have the change from the cold wintery north in Valladolid.











                                                  

We found some neat Roman columns in the middle of the city.  The city of Córdoba was conquered by the Romans in 206 b.c. and under Caesar, Córdoba was the capital of the province in middle Spain. At the height of the Roman Empire, Spain was used to produce the food that was required by the rest of the vast empire, so it was a pretty important city.  

This is another photo I think you'll enjoy of the fountains and gardens at the Alcazar. 

  And this photo is a photo of the three other friends (and I) who came along on this weekend trip.  From left to right, it's Joe, Sarah, me, and Will.  We had a lot of fun together, so I had to include a photo of the four of us! 


Since this is such a long entry, I'll make a part 2 about the city of Sevilla.  Watch for that update soon!

besos y abrazos,
Erin

El 23 de enero - Burgos [January 23rd - Burgos].

Well, hello again friends, family and whomever else may have stumbled across this and are reading it!  Today is Febuary 6th, and I'm updating you guys with a day trip I took two weeks ago!  (Sorry!)  My camera had some issues getting pictures to upload so I was unable to get them onto my laptop and include them in my blog!  But today I got a package from my parents with a way to fix this problem! 

Anyway, on Monday, January 23rd, my classes were cancelled (as well as the classes of two of my friends) and we decided to take a short day trip to a city about an hour and a half north of Valladolid, called Burgos.  It's not a very "touristy" city, but it's still a really neat place.  It was the first time I ever rode on a train, and I loved it.  I think it's easier than flying, and more comfortable than buses!  We left at 7:15am and returned around 10:00pm.

(It's my first train ride!)

Burgos is the home to the body of a famous person we've been learning about in literature class, so it was really interesting to see the city.  His name is Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, El Cid Campeador.  Also known as Mio Cid or Ruy Diaz.  The story written about him is one of the oldest stories from Spain, and it's called Cantar de Mio Cid. It actually wasn't written, with the first versions being translated from generation to generation orally.  El Cid (the real man) lived from 1048 to 1099.  He was a legendary and historical figure from the Reconquista, (fight against Muslim's in Spain that lasted from 722 to 1492).  He conquered the city of Valencia and gave it back to the Christians in the fight to eradicate the Arabs from the country.

Okay, that's enough history for now!  Here's a photo of his tomb and the statue devoted to El Cid.  

 We basically walked around Burgos all day.  We didn't know a lot about the city, but we had a wonderful time exploring it!  Burgos has a large catholic cathedral devoted to the Virgin Mary.  Construction began in 1221 with two renovations since then, in the 15th and 16th centuries.  There are a lot of rooms in the cathedral with some really old relics.  It also houses a lot of old important Spanish artwork, and a lot of really interesting sculptures.  We spent a few hours walking around the cathedral and looking at all of these things and taking it in.

Here's a photo of the front of the cathedral (and below that are several photos of other views of the cathedral).

 Here's an example of an old chalice from the 15th century.  It was really beautiful. 

This is Sarah and I in the hallway of stained glass windows.  It was some of the most beautiful stained glass I've ever seen.  (Though, Sarah did tell  me to wait until I get to the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona). 

 
This is one of my favorite photos from Spain so far.  It's some of the stained glass in the cathedral in Burgos, with the cathedral in the background.

We also went to the Plaza Mayor in Burgos.  It's irregularly shaped (rather than being a square, it's more like a trapezoid) and enjoyed the typical European views.  The vibrant colors of the buildings were really striking, even on a cloudy day like we had! 

After this, we climbed a hill that overlooked the entire city of Burgos.  There was also a small castle on the top, but it was closed for the winter.  But this is what we got to see when we got to the top of the hill:

It was very beautiful.  We were able to see the cathedral and several monasteries, along with some really interesting architecture!

To end the trip, I'll include a picture of all three of us who went to Burgos at the top of the hill.

  It was a day full of fun and exploring.  It was also really neat because it was the first trip we took without a tour guide and without our professors.  We were on our own, and we had a lot of fun, and a lot of success as well!

I hope you enjoyed your small tour of Burgos, Spain! 

besos y abrazos,
Erin