Hola!
This past weekend (Thursday night - Friday night) I
traveled with the entire UConn in Granada group to Cordoba, Merida, and Sevilla
with our director Gustavo and Spanish Lit teacher, Maricarmen. It was
definitely a busy weekend trying to squeeze all three cities in. I would
have loved more time in Sevilla so I am hoping to do a weekend trip there at
the end of April. For each city we woke up early to have breakfast, had a
full morning of sight seeing, a multiple course lunch (Gustavo wants us to try
all types of different foods in Spain so this is how he accomplishes that),
some more sight seeing, and then travel to the next city that night. For
dinners Gustavo gave each of money... and when I say Gustavo I mean UConn...
and when I say UConn I mean they money we payed for the trip. For this
reason we all got really cheap dinners so we could pocket as much as possible.
I guess that's a definite sign of being on a college student budget while
trying to travel all over Europe. As always be sure to check out my facebook pictures that go along with this past weekend :)
Cordoba
Apart from its tourist sights, Cordoba is known for its jewelry and
olive oil products (shampoos, chap sticks, lotions, ect...) We did not
have free time to look at or buy any of the jewelry, but we were able to buy
olive oil products from the restaurant we ate at on Thursday night. I
bought body lotion, and it works so well! People said the same about the
shampoo; the olive oil products moisturize so well making everything so much
softer. I wish I had bought smaller lotions to bring back for family and
friends, but since I didn't have room in my weekend backpack to do so I
definitely plan on sharing when i get home. My friend and I started off our day in Cordoba with a run as we are both training for the Madrid half in April, that race will definitely be a struggle. In Cordoba we visited some ruins and the Catedral de Cordoba.
The archeology site of the ruins was Madinat al-Zahra, and they were islamic ruins. From there we had views of future bull fighting bulls grazing peacefully. We were all excited to see the Catedral because we've been learning about it in our Islamic Culture class. The Catedral has a mix of Islamic and Catholic characteristics as it went back and forth as being a mosque or cathedral based on inquisitions in Cordoba. The Catedral is known for the rows of arches in side that support the building. The part I found most interesting was that at one point a catholic king added an extension that was above the rest of the structure via a ramp to represent his belief that the Catholics were superior (above) the Muslims. During lunch in Cordoba we enjoyed some Flamenco and we all got to participate! My favorite part was when they played the Macarena.
Merida
Merida was my least favorite city out of the three. It is known for its roman ruins and ham but not much else. There, we visited a roman amphitheater and a museum full of roman artifacts. Video to come, but we did the Harlem Shake in the amphitheater! The lunch there was very good, especially the tortilla de patatas and the ham steaks that the restaurant was known for. In general, I love the food in Spain and can't wait to make it on my own when I come back to the states. As we were leaving Merida there was a rainbow which made for some great pictures.
Sevilla (The MOST beautiful city)
We got to Sevilla early enough Saturday night to browse the city and get some tapas which was great. Sevilla also had the nicest hotel with an amazing breakfast, and was the only hotel where we had wifi. After the amazing breakfast, we made our way over to the Plaza de Espana. On the way to the plaza we cheered on runners because there was a 10k/half/and full marathon happening in the city. It got me so excited for Madrid! The race finish right next to the plaza so we were able to see some finishers come through. The plaza is full of amazing mosaics and shrines for each major city in Spain. There are also beautiful bridges and a fountain to represent the river that used to pass through the plaza. It was absolutely breath taking.
From there we went to.... STARBUCKS!!!! There are multiple Starbucks in Sevilla which is another reason why I love it because they are a rarity in Spain. For the first time since finals I had an iced chai with soy milk and I was basically in heaven the whole time drinking it. After Starbucks we visited a mosque called Reales Alcarares, which was designed to mimic the Alhambra in Granada that I am visiting on Thursday. From there we went to lunch.
Shout out to Mike Tedone if you're reading because this lunch should've been on the food network. Everything was gourmet and plated like a food network plate. Many of the appetizers had dairy so they made me my own plates/versions I could eat. My favorite appetizer was the calamari rings. The calamari was really thick, and when I get it at home they're usually thin, so you taste more of the fried batter than the actual squid. I definitely like this more. I chose fish as my main course and it had a delicious raspberry sauce and a grilled apricot, along with a tick balsamic dressing which I have fallen in love with while in Spain (still don't know its actually name). Also, this was the first place that gave me a dessert besides a bowl of fruit. I love fruit, but it soemtimes stinks to have that as your "dessert" when everyone around you is eating ice cream, pudding, flan, or cheesecake. This restaurant served me a lemon sorbet with strawberries, and it was so good.
The last place we went to in Sevilla was the Catedral de Sevilla. Inside the cathedral was Christopher Columbus's tomb so we all made sure to take pictures of that. The best part about it was climbing thirty plus flights of ramps up to the top of one of the cathedral's towers to see all of Sevilla from above. When we got to the top there was a rainbow over the city, making Sevilla even more beautiful.
I had an a really fun weekend, got closer to some of the kids on the trip, and got to try some more amazing food :) This week for me is the anticipation week as I meet up with Ranger Steve this weekend! Hopefully the weather gets better because so far it's been nothing but rain.
Gracias por leyendo!
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