Córdoba and Sevilla

I have been a bad blogger lately. The truth is, I haven’t had much time or energy to reflect and share with you all my most recent adventures, and I haven’t left Ubrique in some time either. I will be honest, though this is the adventure of a lifetime, not every day is made up of fun and sunshine and rainbows and butterflies. That’s life. Living abroad is fun, but it can be difficult sometimes, too. These past few weeks have been… interesting to say the least. I won’t go into details because the ever-optimist in me says to save the blogging only for stories of fun and traveling. So, voila! Here is an entry from a few weeks ago when I took a weekend trip to Cordoba and Sevilla. Enjoy!

Sunday November 6, 2011

Last weekend we had our first Puente – a long weekend break from school. (It’s called a Puente meaning bridge because if the holiday falls on a Tuesday, in this case All Saint’s Day November 1, the schools bridge the holiday from the weekend and take off Monday, too. Apparently it happens often, so I’m pretty excited for more vacation time!) Apparently the holiday is to celebrate ancestors that have passed away (similar to Día de los Muertos that is celebrated in Mexico, but not to the same extent). Most locals used the free time to spend with family and friends, so some of the other American girls and I took this opportunity to travel a little bit around Andalucía. We spent 2 days and 2 nights in Córdoba followed by 2 days and 1 night in Sevilla.

I had never heard much about Córdoba, but I’m very glad we went; the city was beautiful and there was a ton of things to see and do. As a typical Andalusian city and the capital of the province of Córdoba, there were lots of old streets with fun shops, restaurants and cafés, parks with pretty fountains and lights, and of course interesting characters out on the streets. One amazing thing about Spain is that there is an incredible amount of history and culture here including but not limited to influences from the early Iberians, the Romans and the Moors. To name a few touristy sites, we visited the great mosque and cathedral, the Jewish quarter, the alcazar (Moorish castle), beautiful gardens and the Roman bridge. We also ate some delicious food including the gigantic, world-famous Tortilla Española from Bar Santos (twice, it was so good!)

Cathedral at night

Eating world famous Tortilla





Roman Bridge





Interior of Cathedral





Biggest Tortilla I've ever seen

  In Cordoba, I also attended my very first Flamenco show. It was pretty incredible, I have never seen anything like it. Unforunately, the speaker was broken, so the beautiful Spanish guitar was difficult to hear over the clapping and singing. I plan to attend another show, probably in Sevilla in the future.

On the third day, we caught the train back to the incredible capital of Andalucía, Sevilla. The train ride was such a treat from the buses that we typically have to take out of Ubrique. It was very relaxing and nobody got sick this time. :) We grabbed a cheap hostel for the night and did some exploring of Sevilla. This included the very famous (and very large) Cathedral, another alcazar, the Torre del oro, the Guadalquivir river, plazas, parks, gardens, a fun outdoor market, and a modern structure with an awesome view of the entire city. Monday night was also Halloween. Though it is not celebrated in Spain to the extent as it is in the States, some people still dress up and/or go out to celebrate. During the weekend we saw a few niños dressed up in costumes – ALL of which were in classic frightening costumes, such as vampires, ghosts, or skeletons. I did see one little princess, that was a nice change. On the night of Halloween, Seana, Kendra and I decided to make friends with some fellow travelers and attend the hostel pub crawl. I met some cool people from Brazil, Mexico, Germany, the Netherlands, the States, France, Italy and England. While the sites, the food and drinks are excellent, I still say my favorite part about traveling is meeting and conversing with people from all over the world. It’s so much fun to swap stories, even if you have to mix three different languages to attempt to communicate. You and your fellow travelers share a common bond: traveling outside of your comfort zone. They become your BFFs if only for one night and sometimes you even cross paths in the future. It’s a pretty awesome sensation. Anyways, we didn’t have costumes, but it didn’t matter because only a few people dressed up. Mostly, they just like to paint their faces really scary. There was also one guy dressed as Jesus. Though Halloween is not very popular here, there is a Spanish holiday in February called Carnival that is a HUGE celebration and everyone dresses in fun costumes then, so I am looking forward to participating in that tradition!

The last day of our trip, some of the girls did some shopping. Seana and I did some more walking around the city with very many stops to sit and rest and admire the good weather and our beautiful surroundings. (I swear I need to buy a pedometer, I must have walked hundreds of miles since I’ve come to Spain. The proof is in my shoes that are worn out after less than a month, and the fact that all my pants are finally too big on me, score!) We figured all of the walking we did entitled us to 2 heaping scoops of delicious gourmet helado. It was fantastic. We caught the late bus home in time to get a good night’s rest and prepare for classes the next day. 2 days was certainly not enough to get the full Sevilla experience, but I know I’ll be back again.

Kendra Almendra

All in all, it was an excellent weekend getaway. I haven’t left Ubrique since and I have been enjoying my relaxing time here. Since I’ve finally received my first paycheck, I am trying to save up some money and am starting to plan some more trips for the springtime. The wintertime may potentially consist of some very special visitors, so I am getting very excited for things to come! The time is going to fly by, though… it already has!

Besitos