This weekend we went to Córdoba, Granada, Úbeda in southern Spain (Andalucía). It was our school trip through the U of A so there was a fairly good sized group of us. The nicest part was staying in 4-star hotels, having real dinners, and having tour guides to show us around! Oh and I can’t forget not having to pay for entrance fees for anything, that was a definite plus! After a 5.5 hour bus ride from Alcalá, we arrived in Córdoba. The city was pretty small, and had a very historic feel. We went on a tour of the city through the gorgeous, yet tiny, ally ways. Then, we visited the Mosque-Cathedral. I felt like such a nerd, but I loved this place so much due in part to the fact we learned about it previously in my art class. It was first erected in the 8th century as a Mosque, and was expanded in later centuries to create the amazingly large building it is today. Right when you walk in you see the famous red and white striped arches supported by pink marble, granite, and black marble pillars. After the spanish reconquista, the mosque was turned into a Catholic church. The king built a cathedral in the center of the mosque with gothic/renaissance style. This may be the most interesting part of the building, because it has this unnatural ability to blend two completely different religious buildings. This is probably my favorite place that I have seen in Spain so far. Words don’t do it justice! That night we had dinner and wine at the hotel and that was it!
The next day we drove 2 hours to Granada, a much bigger city than Córdoba. It had a similar feel to Madrid since the streets were lined with great shopping. However, Granada is much more beautiful! A river runs through the lower valley of downtown while much of the city rests on the nearby hills. Our hotel had a pool/terrace on top of it’s eighth story, and the views of the Sierra Nevada along with the rest of the city, were amazing. After hanging out at the hotel for a little bit, our group took a tour of La Alhambra, an old muslim community/fortress/palace (or something along those lines). Needless to say, it was also gorgeous, like all the other sights I’ve seen! And again, the detailing of these places is so amazing! In one of the rooms of La Alhambra there was a tiled picture of the Pillars of Hercules, which I have also learned about in art class (it’s so fantastic to see the things I’m learning about, firsthand!).
That night Kim, Kendal, Gretchen, and I went out on the town. We had no idea where to go, so we were asking people on the streets where a nice place to have a drink is; unfortunately, no one was kind enough to help. Finally we ran into some people nice enough to respond to our questions. Halfway through our conversation with these guys one of them says he’s from Amsterdam and asks us if we know where that is. Of course, we say yes; and he responds something along the lines of ‘doubtful, Americans are terrible at geography.’ This isn’t the first time we’ve been hated on by foreigners (some guy in Barcelona, oddly enough also from the Netherlands, told me he hated Americans when I told him I was from the US; then he turned to his friend and started talking crap in Spanish about Americans… Umm, helloooo I can understand Español)! I don’t understand what some people have against Americans… We’re not all the same; why all this stereotyping?
The next day we traveled to Úbeda (a town I had never previously heard of). It was extremely small, but the interesting part about it was that most of the building from throughout history. The town was built as a small pre-roman community protected by a wall surrounding the city. The churches and buildings we saw on our tour were very pretty, but at this point in the weekend, my feet were killing me, my camera had died, and our tour guide’s accent was too difficult to understand. Honestly, I tuned out most of the tour. After the tour all we wanted to eat was something American, but since Úbeda is so tiny there was no restaurants at all to fit our needs. After a little wandering and checking countless menus, we found an italian restaurant and it really hit the spot! After lunch we had a 6 hour bus ride home to Alcalá, and that was the end to my weekend!
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