The Places I've Seen: Cordoba

I had an early morning train from Seville to Cordoba, and was pleasantly surprised to find that the deal the travel agent found for me was in business class! It was a lovely smooth ride for 40 mins, wide seats and music playing.  Perfect for catching up on sleep.

Tara Pringle had arranged for me to stay with family friends of theirs, and I found the Anderson’s apartment with no trouble. After dropping my things and saying hello I headed into the city.  It was raining lightly and a bit windy, so I was glad again for my umbrella purchase.

View of the city from the Puente Romano

My first stop was the Mezquita. It was originally a mosque built in stages by three successive Moorish kings, but was converted into a church after Isabel the Catholic drove the Muslims out of Spain. Its most distinctive feature is the many red and beige striped arches supported by marble columns. Because of the Catholic altarpiece in the middle and choir stalls, it’s an odd mixture of culture and style.

The tower which used to be the mosque's minaret

Forest of pillars and arches

One of the two massive pipe organs

After leaving the Mezquita I got lost in the maze of streets that is the Juderia, or old Jewish quarter. It’s funny how the Jewish quarters have retained the most character in both Seville and Cordoba. There were lots of quaint shops (all selling the same things, but still cute), and restaurants advertising Tapas. It was also neat to see the names of prominent Jews in streets or plazas or on statues that I recognized from the Jewish history my mum read to us when I was in high school.

Makes me want to start my own flowerpot collection
when I get back!

Bright colors!

Mimonides, a great Jewish philosopher

Artisans court, shops selling items handmade from silver and pottery

Anyone out there read "Little House on the Prairie"?
Think there's a connection to Almanzo's name?

By mid afternoon I was getting hungry and it was raining harder so I headed back to the Andersons. Jenn fed me a delicious lunch and I curled up on their couch for a bit checking emails for the first time since I left Malaga. As much has some hostels can be nice, there’s something very relaxing about a real home. I was also able to do some reading about the history and traditions of Semana Santa, which was interesting.

There was supposed to be another procession in the evening, but unfortunately this one was also canceled because it was raining.

Hans had told me that the Castle of the Christian Kings was open for free at 8:30am, which sounded perfect to me. I had breakfast at a little café, and then had the castle almost to myself for the better part of an hour.  It was super cool!

Una media tostada con tomate y un chocolate
A bit odd, but delicious

Built to last for centuries

A splendid view of their domain!

Flowing water everywhere among perfectly sculpted gardens

A bush trimmed to look like a tower???

The Places I've Seen: Sevilla

Sevilla, or Seville, is the capital of the southern province of Andalusia. It is also the setting of at least three famous operas: The Barber of Seville, Don Giovanni, and Carmen. Unfortunately the weather was a bit wet, but other than that I enjoyed the sights.

I took a train at 7:40am from the Renfe station in Malaga and reached Seville around 10:30. Because I’m cheap J I decided to walk to my hostel instead of figuring out public transit, also reasoning that I would see more of the city that way. 

Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed on the train :)

Spanish country-side...

...one of the hundreds of churches everywhere.

One of the first things I did was invest in an umbrella and get breakfast, a croissant and chocolate. Delicious!  

so yummy!!

While eating I read through the "things to do in Seville" from my guide book.  After that, on my “way” to finding the hostel, I explored the Plaza Espana where the Andalucian government ministry offices are

I'm getting good at asking people to take my
photo, or setting the camera on self-timer :P

 I passed by the building which used to be the Seville Cigar factory and is where, legend has it, Carmen the gypsy girl from the opera worked. Now it houses a faculty of the Seville University. 

Statue of King Ferdinand in front of  the old cigar factory

My next discovery was the Plaza del Toro. Seville is famous for its bull-fighting season which begins in April with a two week long Fiesta. The description the guide gave of the art of bullfighting is a bit reminiscent of ancient Roman gladiator games. The bull is always killed, but the audience decides by waving white handkerchiefs (or not) if the bullfighter has fought well enough to leave by the Gate of Honor. Apparently the Spanish public is very hard to please. During last year’s season only one fighter had the honor of winning their approval.

El Torero

The arena seats around 3 thousand people. Seat prices vary depending
on how close they are to the ring and if they are on the shady or
sunny side.  Shade costs more!

Stone benches... if you come for a show, you might
want to bring a cushion!

Puerta del Toro - Where the bull makes his entrance

Poster from the mid-19th century

Spanish people also love their sweets and pastries

After dropping my stuff at the hostel I ventured out and explored some of the shopping district. Spanish people love their parties and shopping!!

Proudly announcing that they supply the Royal family.

Walking routes to see monuments featured in operas :)

The next morning, being an early-bird I ventured out around 8:30am  the next morning and decided that old European cities are nicest on a sunny morning with no people around.          

Extravagant decoration

Giralda Bell tower - it used to be the spire of a Mosque
before the building was turned into a church

The Royal castle, Alcazar, opened at 9:30 and I was one of the first ones in. I almost felt like I had the place to myself! There is something eerie but fascinating about exploring all the corners of such an old place alone. It is entirely of stone graced with Moorish arches, mosaic tile-work and plaster sculpture. The gardens are stunning with shrubs in carefully laid out geometric patterns, flowers blooming and fountains everywhere . I love the idea that I was walking where people like Columbus, Queen Isabella, Magellan and other figures from history have walked.

After the castle, I got lost in the maze of narrow streets and alleyways that make up the Bario Santa Cruz, or old Jewish quarter of the city.  Along the way I found churros y chocolate for snack!

The next monument on my list was the Cathedral, but unfortunately it was closed for tourist visits because of Palm Sunday. I really wanted to at least see inside so I joined the stream of people going to Mass at 1pm. The massive structure and space of Baroque cathedrals will never cease to amaze me. I usually get a kink in my neck from staring up for so long!

Mid-afternoon I joined the crowds of people eating at cafes in the sunshine and ordered fried fish and my favorite drink, tinto verano. Then I made my way to Plaza Nueva to see a procession.

I discovered very quickly that this week before Easter, Semana Santa – Holy Week, is very important for the Spanish Catholic church. Beginning on Palm Sunday there are processions every day, starting later in the after noon and sometimes going until midnight. There are hundreds of candles, lace, yards and yards of lace and velvet, gold and silver moulding on everything and swirling clouds of incense. The atmosphere is solemn and incredibly lavish and imposing.

 I still have not been able to discover the origins of the pointed hats, but I know that the people wearing them are the penitants, grieving for their sins. Each procession usually has two floats: one of the suffering Christ, in some stage of the Passion, and the other of Mary dressed in a rich gown and surrounded by flowers and candles. It is a special honor to help carry the floats, and the men who are under there wear sack-cloth on their heads. Some of the participants even walk bare-foot to show their penitence. In every city each procession starts at its respective church, and makes its way through the main streets into the Cathedral and out the Puerta del Perdon, or Door of Forgiveness and then back to the church it came from. It can take as long as 5 or 6 hours.

In the evening, after a light supper of tapas, two people from the hostel and I headed to a plaza to see a procession come out of a church. There was a staggering number of people crammed into the plaza and we literally couldn’t see anything until we noticed people who had climbed up onto the pedestal of the statue in the center of the plaza. We did likewise and enjoyed a great view, but unfortunately the procession was canceled. There were so many people there was no way to make a path through the crowd for the procession! To make up for the disappointment we got icecream J

It's hard to know how many people are out because of
religious fervour, and how many are there just
for the party.

Romaine, Charlotte, Quentin