Sevilla y Granada

Beautiful building in Sevilla

This weekend I went to Andalucía through an excursion with the university. I had to get up super early. 4:30…ugh it was rough because I had to walk about 30-45 minutes to the spot where we were meeting. We had a long bus ride to Sevilla, our first stop. It took us about 7 hours. We arrived and checked into our hotel. It was nice to stay in a hotel and travel to a new place. After refreshing with a shower we headed over to the Cathedral in Sevilla and the Gilabra, which is a tower connected to the Cathedral.

The cathedral was gorgeous. So many pretty details and the gothic style of the building was beautiful. Since it is southern Spain there is a lot of Muslim influence since they ruled it for many centuries. All of the buildings down there were built by the Muslims and with their gothic styles; pointed arches and lots of tile accents.

The coolest thing in the cathedral was the tomb of Christopher Colombus. I did not know that this was going to be there. It was so awesome! They have a DNA confirmation too that proves that the body buried there is actually his. When we were finished looking at the tomb we went up the tower. There were not stairs to climb up; they were ramps so that the horses back in the day could make it to the top. I have no idea why horses would need to go to the top of the tower but they did. At the top of the tower you could see all of Sevilla. It was so beautiful. You could see the river and all the houses and the bull fight ring. Many of the houses in the south of Spain are lighter in color because they have more of a tropical hot climate. This was definitely my favorite part of Sevilla, getting to see the whole city from the tower.

Sevilla

After our visit at the cathedral and the tower we had free time for the rest of the evening. Our group from U of M decided to walk around to check out more of the city and stop by the river to see some of the bridges. I was surprised by the climate and land in Sevilla. It was not what I expected. There was lot of palm trees and it was 100+ degrees there. We walked around by the river but everyone was so hot and tired we decided to head back and take a nap before getting dinner for the night. Later we walked toward the Plaza de España to check it out and also to find a place to eat nearby.

It was very beautiful because it was getting dark and all the lights were on. There were many blue and yellow tile accents that I enjoyed looking at. Also the plaza was surronded by a very pretty park that had cute outdoor restaurants dotted through out. We choose one of the outdoor places to eat. It was adorable with a cute terrace underneath the cover of some trees. There I ordered gazpacho and this pizza with goat cheese and ham. It was all so yummy. Dinner was fun, good conversation and good food. After dinner we were all exhausted so we called it a night and headed back to the hotel.

The next day we spent the morning in Sevilla at the alcazar, which was a palace/garden that was built by the Muslim rulers a long long time ago. It was such a pretty morning. The gardens were beautiful and full of color. I love all the tiling detail.

I took way to many pictures but I couldn’t help myself. Also we saw some peacocks roaming around so that was kind of odd but cool. We kind of got separated from the group so we had to rush to meet back at the bus but it was all good and luckily we were not left behind.

We had a four hour bus ride to Granada. It was really cool because it was through the mountains and I miss mountains. It made me want to go skiing. When we got to Granada we just checked in to our hotel and then headed to the Cadilla Real, which is a small cathedral where Isabel and Fernando are buried. It was a lot smaller than I was expecting but it had very intricate details. Also they had the holy trinity on the wall and my tour guide said it was unique because they put a God as a person and not many people in the past did that in artwork. We also got to see the tombs of I & F. I was expecting to just see a marble tomb but we actually got to go underground and see their caskets! It was awesome to see these peoples tombs when they were so important to not only Spanish history but world history. After the cathedral we had free time so we went back and got stuff together to go out for the evening. We went to a fabulous place for dinner. I don’t remember the name but I got crocuqetas and jamon and queso with something else I don’t remember. We stayed at the restaurant for a while and then headed to an ice cream place recommended by our program advisor. It was called Los Italianos. The gelato was so delicious. I got pistachio. I am officially obsessed with that flavor now! I love the portion sizes here too because I got a small. It was just one little scoop but it was perfect and just enough. If you give me a ton of ice cream I will eat it all even if I don’t need this so I like their servings here.

After ice cream we stopped at a bar and chilled for a bit before going to a famous dance club in Granada called Granada 10. It used to be an old theatre where plays and operas took place. It was like a club from the movies and the music was great so it was a lot of fun. After that we headed back to the hotel.

The next morning we woke up early to go the Alhambra; a famous milestone in Spanish history. It was were the Catholics battle the Muslims and won back the southern part of Spain. It consists of a fort like structure, gardens, a palace, and other living locations. It was pretty much like a mini city. We did a lot of walking around but it was worth it. We got to see a skyline view of Granada. I loved it because it is a city nestled between mountains. Some of the mountains were snow capped too so I was excited about that.

After the Alhambra we got back on the bus for an 8 hour ride back to Salamanca. The ride wasn’t too bad. I just slept a lot and watched a movie on my ipod. Last night I just uploaded all my pictures on facebook and talked to my best friend Rachel for an hour or two.