Andalucia!

Hello again!

So here’s my first update from the road… Andalucia! Andalucia is the southern province in Spain. I visited Kendra in Granada, Catherine in Cordoba, and traveled with Catherine, Kendra, and Kendra’s roommate from UCLA, Drew, to Sevilla.

The first leg of my epic journey was a very long day. I left really early due to the G20 protests in London. They were threatening transportation disruptions and I didn’t want to miss my flight. After a very long journey, I got to Madrid, where I had quite the adventure getting to a bus to take me to Granada. I finally found a bus that wasn’t full, after a metro adventure (the Madrid metro is DEFINITELY more confusing than the Underground… I’m so spoiled!). The bus ride was beautiful and I got to see a lot of Spain as Madrid is fairly far north whereas Granada is quite far south. Five and a half hours later, I finally made it to Granada, where I took a city bus to Kendra’s apartment (or piso as they call them here), where I met Drew and Kendra’s roommates. We hung out with some of her friends that night and I got to practice my Spanish, which was great. I’ve been surprised how much has come back to me – I understand most of what people say and it’s been getting easier and easier to communicate what I want to say.

Kendra and I went for a run the next morning, which was great since it was such a beautiful day. I have LOVED the Spanish weather – warm, sunny, fresh air – it’s been a welcome break from the fog of London. We then walked up to the Muslim quarter of the city, called the Albacin, to see the Alhambra before I actually went into it. Granada was the last Muslim stronghold, which is why they have the Alhambra there – it was their palace and final base and was so beautiful that the Romans couldn’t find it in them to knock it down when they got to Granada. It was truly spectacular. There was courtyard after courtyard, surrounded by complicated engravings and decoration. The gardens were huge and equally impressive.

After the Alhambra, we headed into the city center to meet Kendra’s friends for churros and chocolate, a typical Spanish treat. Quite delicious and it’s a good thing I don’t live in Granada because I would eat them far too often, haha. We went out for Tapas for dinner and then headed back to the piso to pack.

The next morning we took the bus to Cordoba for my glorious reunion with Catherine! Cordoba, as Kendra says, definitely wins the superlative award for best smells. The food, the orange blossoms, and the general city were just absolutely delightful. After dropping stuff off at our hostel, which was very nice, I had lunch with Catherine and her host mom, Pilar, which was another great chance to practice my Spanish. She cooked typical Cordobes food, which was delicious! We then met back up with Drew and Kendra and went to the Mezquita, the main attraction in Cordoba. Here, instead of leaving everything intact as with the Alhambra, the Romans plopped a Cathedral down right in the middle of a mosque, yet left the rest of the mosque as is. It’s very intriguing and an interesting combination of the Muslim and Christian worlds. The arches were gorgeous and the cathedral portion was very impressive. After this we went for some ice cream and then strolled around the city. Eventually we stopped by the river and explored some Roman ruins, which were really interesting. Seeing all of the Roman structures really impresses upon you just how old Spanish history is, especially when considering that they took over from the Muslims.

For dinner that night we went to Catherine’s friend Tara’s apartment, where we cooked a delicious dinner. We had quite the international exchange of languages, as Kendra and Catherine both speak Spanish, I more or less speak Spanish and can throw in a phrase or two in French, Drew speaks a little Spanish, German, and Russian, and then Tara spoke a little German and Spanish. Tara and Catherine’s friend Stephanie also ate with us, and she is from Austria. She spoke German, Spanish, Italian, French, and English. It was great to hear so many languages and discussion of the world floating around the dinner table.

The next morning we headed to the Cordoba zoo! It was a great way to expand my Spanish animal vocabulary, and was a very inexpensively delightful time. We also stopped by the Botanical Gardens, which were lovely, where Drew made friends with a stray cat. We also saw our first Paso. We were, at this point, fascinated, as they are the parades that happen throughout Semana Santa (Holy Week) in Spain, particularly in Cordoba, Granada, and Sevilla. The people in it wear pointy hats and robes (I feel terrible for saying this, but they look exactly like the Ku Klux Klan). After about 100 of these people go by, a band follows them, playing traditional Spanish music (though it’s definitely not uplifting Spanish music – think creepy funeral durge). Then there is a sort of float that goes by, but many men carry it. After some more pointy hat people, the Paso ends.

After an epic battle to find wireless internet, Kendra and I got to talk to our parents, which was great since they were all at my parents house together. After that we headed out to try some Mexican food. Mexican food in Spain? Not going to lie, a little strange. The name Burrito Loco might have been a tip-off, in retrospect, but oh well. They had the Nachos down though, haha. Then back to the hostel to pack up my life into my backpack.
We left early Monday morning to head to Sevilla on the train. When we got there we walked around the touristy section and saw the Cathedral from the outside. The city was absolutely beautiful and we all immediately fell in love with it. We checked in to our hostle then, and then went to search for some lunch. Kendra and I found some sandwiches that were quite cheap and were pre-packaged at the grocery store, so we decided to go for that. They were… interesting. We were rather perplexed that they were so dry and generally icky, until Drew, the one person who can’t read Spanish, pointed out that we were supposed to bake them in the oven. Oh well, haha. At least we had some apples and a baguette. We then saw our first Sevillian Paso, which was about the same as the first one. We slowly progressed to the river, where we rented… wait for it… PADDLEBOATS. It was amazing and we had a great time watching the Pasos cross the river on the bridges. It was also the cheapest activity I have ever experience. We then made our way over to some wonderful gardens, where we found… wait for it… SURRIES! Again, cheap, great way to see the gardens, and between Drew’s driving, my epic peddling, and Catherine and Kendra’s photographic talents, it was a hilarious ride. We then walked around the park a little more and decided to head back to the hostel for showers. This was at about six. Oh man, if only we knew what was to come. Let me preface this by saying that Pisos 1-3 were really cool, interesting cultural learning experiences. I love learning about cultural traditions and Semana Santa is a HUGE deal in Spain so I’m really glad that we were there for it and got to see the Pisos. Everyone gets pretty dressed up and the little kids are dressed ADORABLY. The little girls all have on dresses or skirts and bows in their hair and the boys have on khaki shorts with knee high socks and loafers with button up shirts. The Spanish seem to take great care in dressing their children, and I love it and am definitely doing this to my children one day because it would make for some adorable photos.

I should also mention that Pasos move VERY slowly. As the men in Sevilla in particular carry the “floats” on their necks (evidently they train for this for a very long tim), they have to take many breaks and don’t move very fast. There are also lots of children under the pointy hats, and their parents often have to stop to give them water or snacks. Basically, Pasos are one of the slower processes ever. And surprise! There were 9 of them. You can’t cross the street when there is a Paso. And they go EVERYWHERE. To cut a long story short, we got trapped by Pasos and despite our best attempts for about 3-4 hours, we couldn’t get back to our hostel. We tried – oh we tried – but no luck. There were SO MANY PEOPLE in the streets – Semana Santa is quite the event in Spain. We finally gave up, ate dinner, and the finally headed back to the hostel with much greater success. We headed to bed as early as possible, to get ready for Catherine and I’s flight to Rome!

Next update to look for… Italy! I hope you are all well and happy and having a wonderful April wherever you are!