andalucia

 Alright so here goes probably a crazy long blog post. Sorry.

This past week, Tuesday through Saturday, was our crazy trip to Andalucia. Oh heck. So amazing. Let me explain. 

Our first lil stop was in Consuegra, to see the windmills from Don Quixote. I researched these for a project in our prep class, and actually seeing them in person absolutely blew my mind. We spent maybe 20 minutes here, then it was back on the bus for a few hours. The whole drive was so pretty, just olive orchards and green hills everywhere. Plus every city in southern Spain has a gazillion orange trees and palm trees and it was super sunny so I was loving it. 

After a few other little stops we arrived in Granada and visited Capilla Real where Isabel & Ferdinand are buried, along with Juana la Loca and Felipe. There's a bunch of cool relics there too like a chest that Isabel presented to Christopher Columbus with a bunch of jewels in it [or something like that...] then it was back to the hotel.

Jaclyn Brim took this picture of Jenna and I
and hopefully doesn't mind me using it.  thanks girl.

The next day, still in Granada, we visited La Alhambra y Generalife. Guys. This is the coolest place of my life. They still use the same water systems in this place, along with a bunch within the actual city, that were built in the 15th century. CRAZY. I had no idea how much Islamic culture was in Spain let alone how gorgeous it all is... especially all of the tilework and just every little detail...goodness. The Generalife (not general life, say it Spanish-like) is a bunch of cool gardens with views of the whole city. We just sat here in the sun for like 2 hours, which was one of the coolest parts of this visit. Other than us having a dance party to Pitbull on the top of some tower where we got random radio reception. It's funny because all over the place are these orange trees just filled with oranges but I guess they all taste absolutely terrible and completely inedible. Pretty amusing.

and well half of one of my teeth completely chipped off during this visit but I mean it happened in the ALHAMBRA, so still kind of cool.

Next it was off to Cordova to see La Mezquita. I had no idea what this was until we got there. I've seen so many pictures of these arches and basically knew everything about this place and didn't even realize I was going to see it until we got there. What the heck Elizabeth, wake up. Cordova was so pretty because it rained all night and by the time we woke up everything was super green.

Afterwards we visited some ruins from around 950 (I think) and we just walked around the excavation site, which was way sick. So yeah there's me, just checking out some ruins and crap. 

Then it was to Sevilla. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh man. So much in this city. Our tour guide, Ricardo, was so hilarious. Well really all of our tour guides have been super cool. We saw Los Reales Alcazares, and saw the room where Columbus first asked to take the trip to the Americas. Next was the Sevilla Catedral, 3rd largest cathedral in the WORLD. Saw where Christopher Columbus is buried, no big deal. Hiked a huge tower for yet another epic city view. The best part was our free time and just wandering around this amazing city with no map or plans for the entire afternoon. Pretty sure I'm going to live in Sevilla. Forever.

             

Okay so now time to talk about the Flamenco performance we went to...SERIOUSLY. It blew my mind. What have I been doing with my life and why haven't I been practicing to become a Spanish Flamenco dancer. It was in this super intimate little theater, and we were all in the first three rows. The dancing was so intense and had such a sense of pride for Spanish culture... just incredible. And the SPANISH GUITAR. We've all heard Spanish guitar before, yeah it's fast and honestly all sounded the same to me. I think I held my breath during the whole first song just in shock from this guitar player. Totally didn't know it was physically possible for someone's fingers to move that fast, I was so impressed with all 3 of the guitarists. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures, but I don't think I would have stopped watching for a second to take a picture anyways.

Some traditional Flamenco dresses 

The stage...before I was told no pictures.

Our last day was spent in Merida where there are Roman ruins, some older than the Colosseum in Rome. Honestly by this point I was so exhausted I don't think I took any pictures. I just remember the guide showing us where they kept the lions, and then would let them out to eat people alive. Nasty. 

There is a bunch of stuff I probably missed, and some pictures I didn't know how to fit in this weird blog format thing. Oh well. Should probably study some Spanish since that's kind of why I'm here in the first place.