Córdoba

This weekend CIEE had a trip to Córdoba, a city in Andalusia that is famous for it's giant mosque in the center of the city.  Not just any mosque either, it's a mosque that was transformed into a cathedral once the catholics invaded the muslims.  Weird right? They kept all the elements of the mosque, but they basically dropped a cathedral right in the middle of it.  Check out the crazy pictures.

Torre de la Catedral

Outside the mezquita (mosque)

Inside. Notice the muslim arches mixed with the roman columns brought buy the catholics.  

Behind the muslim arches you can see part of the cathedral.

Cathedral with parts of the mosque in the background. 

Right, the arches of the mosque, left the cathedral, above the arches is more of the cathedral.  Weird right? Kind of sad too.  All the muslims were forced to convert to catholicism if they wanted to stay in Córdoba.  

Top is part of the cathedral, bottom is part of the mosque.

You can see the mix of influences.

Cathedral, arches on both sides.

The extreme contrast between the religious architecture was an interesting experience to say the least.  I couldn't help but feel bad for the muslims.  It is a beautiful mosque, completely intricate and took decades to build.  Then come along the big bad christians, kicked the muslims out and mutilated their beautiful architectural achievement. They took away their city, they took away their beautiful architecture, and then they forced them to convert or leave.  Made for a historically interesting piece of architecture though. 

Have a lot of homework, so sadly I need to head out. Promise the next entry will have more content :)

Hasta luego! 

Mistakes Were Made: Side Trek to Amsterdam and Brussels

Every traveler has to make a few mistakes along the way. Sometimes they are small like getting lost in a new city, or getting ripped off by street vendor, and sometimes the mistakes can cost you about $580. But we'll get to that. First, lets talk about this epic fail but all the same awesome trip that consisted of a few hours in Madrid on Thursday night, two days in amsterdam, and a day in Brussels.

Thursday.  Chris and I headed to the train station in Sevilla around eight in the evening.  We were expecting a relatively inexpensive ticket, after all we had googled average prices and they were about 50 euros or so.  Wrong.  Eighty euros each. My flight from Madrid to Brussels was less than 70 euros. That's what we get for being tourists. We figured taking a train to Madrid would be less expensive than flying out of Sevilla.  Mistake number one.  Due to lack of options, we bought the tickets anyway, brushed it off our shoulders and continued on our merry way.  The train ride was about three hours, and Chris had the ingenious idea of pouring to bottles of wine into his massive water bottle so he could take it on the train, and maybe we could get a little buzz going to make the trip more interesting.  He popped it open, took a swig, his face distorted into a grimace of pure disgust, and then he passed it to me.  I took one whiff of that bottle, and informed Chris he was going to have to drink alone.  Mistake number two.  Two bottles of wine later and five beers in, Chris was feeling pretty good, and I had assumed the role of babysitting my 23 year old 6'5'' inebriated baby (No offense, Chris).  We explored Madrid for a while; I had been there before and I knew I had to find the Palacio Real as well as the Catedral.  It's been a while, but I remembered where some things were and amazingly enough I was able to get us there! Here's a couple of shots of the Catedral in the middle of the night. I wasn't able to get a picture of the Palacio Real because it was too dark for my little fiji.

Catedral, looking pretty eerie.

Chris... Feeling pretty good right about now...

Around 3 am we headed toward the airport, my travel buddy giddy with excitement and cheap wine, but quite incapable of coherent speech.  Thirty euros later we made it to the airport, found our customs check in, and passed out on the concrete floor.  Around four thirty am we were able to check in and head to our gate, where we slept on benches.  We set our alarm for about a half hour before the plane was scheduled to leave.
Once we got on the plane at six am, Chris, smelling like cheap wine, beer and sweat, passed out in my lap like a giant smelly toddler.

Friday:  We arrived in Brussels around 9am and from there we headed to the train station to buy tickets to Amsterdam.  The people at the train station were extremely helpful, gave us a discount on the tickets for being young and traveling on the weekend.  Round trip for only 55 euros each.  As we left the ticket booth, and started looking for our platform in which the train was to arrive in five minutes.  Everything was in french and we were obviously lost and confused.  All of a sudden an older man came running at us and commanded that we follow him, grabbing me by the upper arm and patting Chris on the back.
"Huh? What? Where are we going?" I ask.
"Brussels?" he asked.
"Ya, ya, do you know the platform?"
"Yes, yes," he shook his head.  "I take you to platform."
I looked at Chris. Surely this man wouldn't kidnap us both.  Even I had a couple of inches on him.
So we followed him, and sure enough he brought the lost americans to where they should have been.  Dutch people.  So nice.
Three and a half hours later, we arrived in Amsterdam.

Really pretty city, super rainy though, and completely filled with tourists. We arrived dressed in Sevillano clothing which consisted of shorts and tanks... Mistake number 3. The first thing on our agenda was to go to a coffeeshop.  There were so many to choose from, and all so awesome. We picked on called the Freeworld Coffee shop. Here's a pic of their menu...

In all coffeeshops you have to buy a drink with whatever you purchase.  It's kind of cool because they're looking out for their customers.  Such a strange concept, but it was working really well in Amsterdam.  There seemed to be a lot of places looking for help, and I noticed a lot of americans and foreigners in general worked at all the coffee shops or restaurant with the dutch.  It was such a mix of cultures all just chilling together. Universal chill city.
After our first coffee shop we searched in the pouring rain for a hotel, mistake four.  Not booking a hotel in advance was not the best idea because the prices were insane.  It was hard to find a place for under 200 euros a night.  Advice to all travelers, unless you're planning on staying in a hostel, book your hotel in advance for the best deals.
The rest of the trip in Amsterdam was extremely chill.  We bought some warmer clothes, including rain jackets, to survive the weekend. Lots of coffee shops.

Saturday: A great day.  We found several local places including this outdoor market where we bought lunch and looked at all the random things being sold there.  It was very cool.  I love how the "farmer's markets" here sell literally everything you could possibly think of.  From socks, to fruit, to fresh fish, to bikes, to high end fashion.

Sunday: We woke up early to head to Brussels for a little exploring.  And plus, I had to buy some chocolates.  We didn't get to spend a lot of time there, but it was very pretty. Rainy, but that's northern europe for you. Beautiful place. Gorgeous architecture.

Belgium chocolate? Yes, please.

Peeing cherubs. No big deal. They are also made out of candy. 

Belgium waffles... yum.

So anyway! Sunday went pretty well.  We headed back to Madrid and arrived there at eight thirty.  We then had to take a taxi all the way to the train station, another 50 euros down the drain.  When we arrived at the train station, the last train to Sevilla had already left.  We looked up at the information center, and there were no more buses headed to Sevilla either. Slight anxiety attack. We went to the tourist center where we encountered Nacho.  Nacho was a 23 year old business man who also needed to be in Sevilla in time for his job at 7am.  We rented a car with him, and we drove 6 hours south in the middle of the night.  

We got lucky.  Next time I travel, you can bet I'll have all my tickets prepared and have all my transportation figured out before hand. 

Lesson learned. 

Luego :)

Granada!

This weekend CIEE hosted a trip to Granada, a beautiful Andalusian city nestled at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains.  The giant moorish castle of the Alhambra boarders the city from up in the mountains, and down below the city is filled with moorish influences. On the second day of the trip, we visited the neighborhood district, El Albaicín.  El Albaicín is still filled with the winding narrow streets from Medieval Moorish times.  While walking through the tiny maze of streets where the buildings are nearly close enough to hear your neighbor’s television, I could help feeling like I had fallen back into a much simpler time. 

The district is set on a steep hill across from the Alhambra, and it is the perfect place to catch a few photos of the incredible castle.

While on our tour, we were bombarded by a group of vivacious elderly men dressed up in soccer uniforms carrying instruments, props, and anything else they could find to celebrate their team’s victory.  They followed a band marching through the streets, shouting, laughing, and trying their best to sing.  In a way, those little old men are the epitome of Granada. Carefree. Jubilant.  Down to earth. And Ancient. 

As we continued along in our tour of the picturesque neighborhood, our guide Alejandro brought us to a small corner of the village that seemed to be nothing but the mess of a construction sight.  He then told us we were at a small convent were the nuns were known for their delicious baked goods, but because they are not allowed to be seen, we had to go about buying their treats in a tricky way.  Behind Alejandro was a tiny latched door with an old fashion bell.  That door opened up to an empty turn table after the bell is wrung, and on the other side was the hidden nun waiting to hear the secret code, “Ave María purisima.” Once the nun heard that phrase, she immediately responded with “Sin pecado concebiba.”  After that, we were able to ask to see their baked goods. On this particular day,. they had two to choose from.  Alejandro chose a soft cookie that resembled gingerbread, and we were all able to try a piece.  He told the nuns which he wanted, they turned the turntable to an empty side for him to put his money on, and then they gave him change once they turned it again.  

The unassuming door on the left.

The turn table. 

After that experience I was sure I had stepped back into a time where secret passwords mean delicious cookies.  I’m not entirely certain why the phrase is “Ave María purísima...” but I do know that it is something to do with confession, and I’m also quite certain it is the phrase that is said to start one’s confession.  

The trip to Granada was an unforgettable one.  I love that city and the people and the food.  It’s by far on the top of my list of favorites cities in all of Spain.