Espana

Well we left Spain yesterday and I had an awesome time there. The first day I had a walking tour of the city where we learned all about the history of Cadiz and also saw the Arts and Archaeological Museum there. That night we went to Flamenco night, which consisted of an amateur bullfight followed by flamenco music and dancing. It was very cool to see some of the Spanish tradition up close and personal. The next morning we had to meet at 7:30 and head out for a 2 day trip to Sevilla and Cordoba. In Sevilla, we got to see the Plaza de Espana, the largest gothic cathedral in the world and one of the King of Spain’s palaces as well as many other sights. Everything was just so mind-blowing since I had never seen anything like these places before. All of the architecture was so massive and at the same time so detailed, which was what really amazed me. The cathedral had 100 foot tall ceilings and practically every inch of it was decorated in some way. The pictures really don’t do it any justice. Whether it was hugs paintings or engravings in the wall or stained glass windows or statues, the entire place was covered from ceiling to floor. Also in the Cathedral was Christopher Columbus’ grave, which has apparently been disputed as to whether he is actually in there. Just recently, they did some DNA testing from the remains and all along his family line including his living relatives and it was confirmed that at least some part of his remains is in that tomb. There also may be some in the Dominican Republic, but they refused to let them test what they have.

After Sevilla, we made our way to Cordoba and spent the night in a hotel there. The cool thing about being on a trip hosted by Semester at Sea is that they try to make every meal traditional so that we get to taste all of the food that people normally eat from that country. I thought I would like Spanish food more than I did though, which was disappointing but I’m glad that I tried it anyway. The next day we had a tour of Cordoba, which included a trip to the Old Jewish Quarter as well as La Mezquita, which was a mosque but is now the Cathedral of Cordoba that can fit 30,000 people inside. This place was just incredible. I’m sure you can look it up on Google, but basically there were hundreds of rows of arches inside the Cathedral. The mosque began construction in 785 and took about a century to finish. Then in 1236 it was taken over by the Christians led by King Ferdinand III. They basically redecorated the mosque with Christian adornments and added a very big altar. This was a common theme all over Spain, in which one building was used in history by Christians, Jews and Muslims at some point in time. This made the architecture and decoration very interesting because it had influences from many different countries and religions.

The last day I spent in Cadiz and enjoyed the local feel of the city. We went out to eat and also saw a local flamenco show. I did a little shopping and got some things I needed as well as some souvenirs. Overall, I really enjoyed my time in Spain and definitely think I want to go back someday. My roommate and I slept 13 hours when we got back on the ship, which felt very, very nice since we had been sleep deprived. Right now, we are sitting in the water near Gibraltar waiting for the port to open so we can get fuel and we should be in Morocco tomorrow morning.

I’ll post again after Morocco, where I will be doing some camel riding!