We took a day trip from Seville to Cordoba which was a short 40 minute train ride. We left the train station and headed for Cordoba´s main attraction Mesquita - an amazing combination of an Islamic Mosque and Catholic church combined together.
The Mezquita decided to build a magnificant mosque on the site of an 8th century Visigothic Christian church. The mosque is one of the great creations of Islamic architecture with its shimmering golden mosaics and rows of red-and-white striped double arches disappearing into infinity. When the Christian´s conquered Cordoba from the Moors they choose to build a cathedral inside the huge mosque. It was inspiring to see how the Mesquita could be both a beautiful mosque and cathedral. Its an example of how Islam and Catholisism can seemingly co-exist together in harmony.
Afterwards we strolled around and discovered it was siesta time and all the other sights of interest were closed for several more hours. While sitting on a bench, trying to decide what to do next, we saw several ladies dressed in traditional flamenco dresses walk down the street. We figured, hey...that´s strange let´s fallow them to see what´s going on. After a 30 minute stroll of secretly following the flamenco dancers, we discovered a huge Fiera de (fair of) Cordoba. There were tons of huge tents filled with ladies and children in flamenco dresses, and men on horses wearing old styled suits and hats. Plus there was a carnival and rides. We had cotten candy, a delicious chocolate stuffed churro, and we rode the huge, whirling ride - the "Flash Fashion" that took us over 100ft in the air, flipping us head over heels. In one tent, Lee-Anne took a picture of a poster and this Spanish gentleman came over and took down the posters to give to her. So we had a couple beers to hang out and chat a little bit with them.
After a few hours at the Fair, we headed to the bus station and snuck a quick peak into the Castle of the Christian Monarchs where the Spanish Inquisition operated out of from 1490 to 1821. They also had some pretty gardens and fountains.
At 19:20, we made the train back to Seville with a big smiles on our faces.
-Russ and Lee-Anne
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Seville
When we first arrived in Seville, it was a dirty rainy city with seemingly less character than where we had come from in Granada. We rented a really nice apartment, so we got to cook our own food and pretend we lived in Spain. Actually, if either of us could live anywhere else Spain it would be high on the list.
The rest of of rainy first day was spent roaming the shops, Lee-Anne bught some bright red sandles and a stylish black leather-looking jacket. The second day we had a day trip to Cordoba to see the Mezquita--another jaw-dropping cathedral/mosque. On our first real full day in Seville (our 3rd actual day) we discovered what an amazing and beautiful place Seville is. We walked out of our apartment to one of the main plazas and the first street performer we saw was balancing 5 hula hoops on her nose. It was a theatrical display with comedy, crowd particpation, and circus-type acts. I got some footage of the woman doing a hula-hoop routine that I´m going to try and mimic. The street performers were very different than others I´ve seen, very professional. We also saw some flamenco and guitar playing that was entertaining as well. We walked on to our destination, the Cathedral. It is one of the largest in the world, and in a gothic-renaissance style. Everything else I see now pales in comparison, I feel I have become a catherdal snob. The pillars are MASSIVE - tall and wide, and it wasn´t as goddy as some of the other cathedrals we´ve seen. The cathedral has beautiful stain-glass dating back to the 15th century, and (the savage) Christopher Columbus´s tomb.
The afternoon was spent walking to to the Plaza Espana, a huge area built for the 1929 World´s Fair. A beautiful fountain dominates dominates the square, title work on the grounds and all along the walks of the buildings. Then we walked all over town to find a little hole-in-the-wall flamenco place - awesome!
On our fouth day, we slept in and ate a leisurely breakfast then hit the town. We walked along the Rio Guadalquiver, Spain´s historic River. It was the best weather days we had and everyone was out enjoying the sun. Then we saw the most breath-taking gardens I´ve ever seen, and a magnificent palace: The Alcazra. Residence of many generations of kings. This place, like many others, has renditions done by each of it´s residence spaning across the centuries starting in the 11th century, it is mostly in the Moorish, Andalucian style--tiles, archways, fountains, pillars, carvings, etc. Our day coutinued with a walking tour of the city, down little ally-ways, and stoped for tapas and sangria.
We left the next morning on a plane to Barcelona to meet up with our friend Spench.
Lee-Anne and Russ
The rest of of rainy first day was spent roaming the shops, Lee-Anne bught some bright red sandles and a stylish black leather-looking jacket. The second day we had a day trip to Cordoba to see the Mezquita--another jaw-dropping cathedral/mosque. On our first real full day in Seville (our 3rd actual day) we discovered what an amazing and beautiful place Seville is. We walked out of our apartment to one of the main plazas and the first street performer we saw was balancing 5 hula hoops on her nose. It was a theatrical display with comedy, crowd particpation, and circus-type acts. I got some footage of the woman doing a hula-hoop routine that I´m going to try and mimic. The street performers were very different than others I´ve seen, very professional. We also saw some flamenco and guitar playing that was entertaining as well. We walked on to our destination, the Cathedral. It is one of the largest in the world, and in a gothic-renaissance style. Everything else I see now pales in comparison, I feel I have become a catherdal snob. The pillars are MASSIVE - tall and wide, and it wasn´t as goddy as some of the other cathedrals we´ve seen. The cathedral has beautiful stain-glass dating back to the 15th century, and (the savage) Christopher Columbus´s tomb.
The afternoon was spent walking to to the Plaza Espana, a huge area built for the 1929 World´s Fair. A beautiful fountain dominates dominates the square, title work on the grounds and all along the walks of the buildings. Then we walked all over town to find a little hole-in-the-wall flamenco place - awesome!
On our fouth day, we slept in and ate a leisurely breakfast then hit the town. We walked along the Rio Guadalquiver, Spain´s historic River. It was the best weather days we had and everyone was out enjoying the sun. Then we saw the most breath-taking gardens I´ve ever seen, and a magnificent palace: The Alcazra. Residence of many generations of kings. This place, like many others, has renditions done by each of it´s residence spaning across the centuries starting in the 11th century, it is mostly in the Moorish, Andalucian style--tiles, archways, fountains, pillars, carvings, etc. Our day coutinued with a walking tour of the city, down little ally-ways, and stoped for tapas and sangria.
We left the next morning on a plane to Barcelona to meet up with our friend Spench.
Lee-Anne and Russ
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