Weekend in Seville and Cordoba

Two weekends ago, from Friday to Sunday, everyone in our program traveled to Seville and Cordoba, some of the most historical cities in Spain.

Granada is a city in the autonomous community of Andalucia, and Seville is the capital of Andalucia. Seville is where the 1992 World's Fair was held. On the bus, we passed a lot of the buildings built for the fair with the country's names written in bold, capitalized letters. We passed the most spectacular buildings. I think I was even more captured by the architecture of Seville than the architecture of Granada. We then ate at La Plaza de España for lunch, which was one of the most beautiful places I had ever seen where I could walk around freely all day without paying and without any crowds. My friends and I then explored, shopped, and went to dinner. We ate at the back of a restaurant next to a wall that we later found out was the wall to the famous relic, Álcazar Palace! I was blown away! This palace still happens to be used by the Spanish royal family, so we couldn't see it all, but hey, I thought that was pretty cool. For the parts we did see, we were shown the mudejar architecture which combines both Muslim and Catholic influence. Pretty interesting. It has been great learning a lot about Islam and Catholicism as we go through these historical, religious buildings since Islam and Catholicism are the biggest influences on every wall. We then visited the Cathedral, the largest Gothic-style Cathedral in the world. It was incredible. Like everything else, it was mind-blowing. I freaked out most when our guide told us that the casket that was held by the four giant statue men contained the body of Christopher Columbus!!! I honestly thought she was joking at first, but she was serious! That Cathedral was the cemetery for many other historical, Catholic figures as well. That night, our whole group went to an incredibly nice dinner with great food. My favorite part about that dinner, however, was that it was the first time our whole group really got to hang out, get to know each other, and enjoy each other's company. It was a blast. And then just about everyone went out to the same club, which was also a lot of fun (with good music, I could go dancing for days on end).

I really, really enjoyed Seville. My only expectation as that Seville would go beyond my expectations like Ronda did, and I was right!! The beautiful buildings, the bigger orange trees, and the unique street performers all won my heart over. I have a really hard time deciding if I like Seville or Granada better, but who cares? Both cities are amazing and I'm glad I was able to spend so much time in both places.

Sunday morning, we left for Cordoba. Cordoba was once the capital of the Moorish Empire. It had the best agriculture, the largest population, and the most technological and medical advancements. We were supposed to go on a tour of the city and then a tour of the famous Mosque/Cathedral, but our wonderful program director spared us the cold rain, so we stayed indoors. The Mosque was beautiful like everything else I've seen in Spain. We were told that over 1,000 columns were used in the Mosque, and each one had a different design! I thought that was too cool. The Chapel built inside was, needless to say, beautiful!! So much detail, so many bright colors, so giant.

If you were to ask me if I like Cordoba, I would say yes, but I really wish it wasn't raining that day. I was not quite overwhelmed like I expected to be. After returning from Cordoba, my host mom and Spanish teacher said that they love Cordoba and that it is even more beautiful than Granada. What a shame I didn't get to see ask of it. Regardless, I'm still grateful that I was able to go to, what used to be, one of the greatest cities in the world. I'm grateful that I was able to see the famous Cathedral that was built inside a Mosque. I could never finish writing a list of what I'm grateful for. How can one be disappointed with so many blessings??