I promised you two blogs today and lo and behold, here's number two for your viewing pleasure. Before I begin with my most recent trip I just want to take a moment to enjoy the scene unfolding before me. Today is the first day of our program where the Emory kids don't have morning classes and it was a pleasure sleeping in. Instead of a 7:45 am alarm, I set a noon alarm just in case I missed my first class of the day at 1:00 pm. Of course, I woke up much earlier, posted about Barcelona and attempted to organize myself before leaving tomorrow.
I am excited to say the least. Madrid to Brussels tomorrow, Brussels to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Berlin, Berlin to Prague, Prague to Paris, Paris to home. Sometimes I feel like the luckiest person in the world.
So I'm sitting at an outdoor café, it's 64 degrees and sunny I'm watching the unceasing tide of Spanish students walk between the Plaza and various buildings for their last day of classes before the start of everyone's "Semana Santa."
And even more good news! After a night of serious partying in Granada this weekend, I check my email at 1:30am to find out I got the internship I needed for this summer. So, in case you were wondering faithful readers, I will be in NYC this summer. Wait, does anyone besides my parents read this blog? Oh well, either way, huzzahs are in order.
So this weekend was our Andalucia trip which, when I tell people, usually engenders the reponse, "where/what is Andalucia?" I guess it’s a valid question to those not from Spain, but Andalucia generally refers to Southern Spain but constitutes the 7-8 different comunidades (the "states" of Spain) of Southern Spain.
Unfortunately, I have already visited the three cities (the last time I was in Spain) on our itinerary but it was a much different experience this time: Less rules, more touring, faster paced, and more temperate weather compared to averages highs of 90 degrees when I was there in July.
So let's get down to it
Our first stop was in Cordoba, a small, Arab influenced city in Southeastern Spain. From Salamanca, it was nearly a 7 hour bus drive, with two stops on the way.
ASIDE: Spain has a law that every bus or long-haul truck must stop to rest for something like 20 minutes every two hours, mandated by a timer on the vehicle's dashboard. The idea is to prevent accidents due to overtiredness. Actually a pretty cool idea though I think it's a conspiracy to include more "siestas" into every facet of Spanish life. For that reason every roadside stop has a fully equipped restaurant with a kitchen, a bar, and seating.
We got to Cordoba in the afternoon and went to the one main attraction there: La Mezquita de Cordoba. La Mezquita ("mosque" in english) was an Arab construction turned into a Catholic cathedral after the Spanish Christians expelled the Muslims from Spain during La Reconquista sometime during the 13th-15th century.
After no more than three hours in the city, we departed for Granada. Our group leader moved our hotel for some unknown reason to a location she had never been for and let me say, on her behalf, what a mistake that was. As we approached out hotel we saw what looked like an outdoor rave with no less than 3,000 people outside in a plaza drinking and partying. To Micah's (our group leader) horror, our hotel was THE CLOSEST BUILDING to the party. Our balconies looked right over the whole fiesta. All she could do was shake her head and remind us over and over that we were free to do what we wanted but our tour of La Alhambra the next day would be 4 hours long.
Thank Micah, but I think I'll choose the "world-is-coming-to-an-end-party" over the Muslim palace I've already seen.
ASIDE - DID YOU KNOW: La Alhambra is the most visited tourist attraction in the world? Maybe you can see why from these pictures.
The party was a blast, La Alhambra was great even for my 2nd visit, and with that we headed for Seville for our remaining two days.
My last time in Spain I lived in a hotel in Seville for a month taking classes, sneaking alcohol when I could and meeting my current girlfriend ("mi mujer" as they would say in Spanish) Nicole. After this 2nd visit I have sort of decided that I want to move to Seville for a long while, like maybe a year or so? I actually said to a friend while we were there, "this is paradise."
The weather was beautiful, sunny and in the 70's or 80's everyday, the people are friendly but difficult to understand (making it the ideal place to improve one's Spanish), and the city is immaculate.
On night one, we went to a well-know going out area across the river in the Triana district called "Calle Betis." I could've sworn it was like a 10-15 min walk from our hotel but with a small and inconvenient detour it took our group around 45 minutes to walk there.
The first place we entered was actually the first discotechque I had ever been to in Europe all those years ago (funny how things come full circle) and it was just as I had remembered: Small, hot and overpriced. But who am I to complain?
We stayed for a bit, danced, drank, some girls left for home, and the rest of us walked a little further until we found a bar called Big Ben. It had a cool atmosphere, a little less crowded so we were enjoying ourselves when my friend Laurie turns to me and says, "I think we're in a gay bar."
"Why do you say that?"
"Well there are street signs on the ceiling that say 'gay street' and 'fashion avenue.'"
Feeling tipsy, I told Laurie I would go to investigate and proceeded to do a lap around the place. No same sex make-outs, a little more guys than girls (but then again it wouldn't be a club if it weren't right?) As I was heading back to Laurie I heard a loud American say over my shoulder to a friend, "You know this is a gay bar right?"
Laurie had done some sleuthing herself: "I asked the bartender if this was a gay bar"
"What did he say."
"It's not a gay bar, but everyone in here is gay."
I couldn't tell if he had just imparted some gay wisdom or if he was just being a smart-ass (pardon the pun.)
The next day was some more walking, a visit to the cathedral, the Plaza Espana (where the palace for Star Wars I was filmed) and bike riding.
Seville has a great system (it's been introduced in a few cities around the world like Barcelona and Portland, Oregon) where you can rent a bike from a bike rack and drop it off at any other rack around the city. The rates are very reasonable (free from 0-30 mins, 1 euro from 30-1.5 hours) so Mark, Jillian and I rented some and explored the city.
I can safely say this was the wisest decision we could possibly have made, and the trip was ten times better because of it. Our idea caught on and after a tapas lunch of "rabo de toro" (bull tail) and fresh sea food, we had a group of five all on bikes exploring the city.
We rode down to the river where apparently all of the Sevillian youth goes to relax (think the great lawn or Sheep's Meadow in July) so we headed to the convenience store, bought some beer and chips and blended in with the locals, enjoying the perfect weather on the bank of the Guadalquivir River while we watched people picnic, smoke hookah, roll cigarettes, fish, bike ride, and sun-tan.
The rest of the trip was a blast too but honestly nothing could compare to how perfect that afternoon was on the river. We ate some great meals, saw a flamenco show, took a tour of the bullfighting ring and even went biking some more.
Overall it was a great trip but I'm even more excited to be heading out on spring break tomorrow. I think this post has been long enough so I'll end it here. I look forward to regaling you readers with stories from what should be the best 15 days of my life. Ciao Ciao, hasta luego, y buenas noches.
-Corey
Words O' the day:
Hacer bici- To go bike riding
Pasear- To take a walk
Nadar- To swim
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