Cabo De Gata, Ronda, and Seville.

Alright, so in the time between my last post and now, I got to see a little bit more of Spain.  The first trip our program went on was to the Costa del Sol, to a string of beaches called Cabo de Gata.  We hiked for 2 hours into the first beach, took a swim break, and hiked another hour or so to the next one, then another 2 hours out. Needless to say, it was hot.  The beaches were very pretty there and because they were hard to get too, relatively empty.  The Spaniards that were there however strutted their stuff sin bikinis or swim trunks, I can only assume to have less between themselves and the beauty of the beaches. Pictures? Of the beaches...

I know it's hard to tell, but across all that water, is Africa. I was walking with the director of my program and he said that he has seen boats land on this beach because it is not very populated and not well patrolled.  As I understood it, which could be wrong because my spanish is not really at a level to discus politics, he said that once people make it on land in Spain, they can't be sent back without a passport, so everyone just understands this and is okay with it, "No pasa nada," which is said like "No big deal" but used for everything, as I have yet to find something that is a big deal here.  Everyone is very, very relaxed.  Which is great until I have to go to the bank or the post office, I've been hearing some horror stories.

Next trip: Ronda and Seville

We stopped at Ronda on our way to Seville for a quick tour and to eat our lunches.  My tour guide will also be my art history professor, and she knew everything about anything I asked about.  Ronda is a small city way up on a hill, with houses that hang off cliffs and mountain views from anywhere in town.  It is also a city with a literary history, as For Whom the Bell Tolls was based events in Ronda.  Quick run down of the sights included the Plaza de Toros, the bullfighting arena, banos arabes from the 13th and 14th century, and Ronda's  gorge.

The door in the very middle was apparently used as a jail during the Spanish Civil War, and prisoners were told that if they jumped and survived the fall, they would be let free.  Not sure I'd take my chances.

Andd Seville, we arrived and had some down time to explore before we went to see a flamenco show, which was really good.  Seville is big, and seemed to be much less Spanish than Granada, there was more English, more Americans, bigger streets, and more traffic.  We stayed the night in a very nice hotel, and the next day again toured with my Art History professor.  We toured the palace Alcazar, and the cities Cathedral, which is the largest Gothic cathedral in the world and the third largest cathedral period.  Trying to explain everything I learned about these sights seems like a terribly large job, so i'll summarize, and then explain my favorite/the most interesting things i learned.

So the Alcazar is built in a Moorish style and was later renovated by the Christian monarchs after they captured Seville in the reconquistadores to create some funky looking architecture and some humorous combinations.

This is the oldest part of the palace called the Patio de Yeso, used by Moorish governors.  The outside of many of these buildings was simple, but the detailing inside was incredibly intricate.

Another part of the palace.  Funny part about the Arabic running along the bottom is that it is nonsense, a lot of the characters are perhaps not even letters.  Apparently, it was too much work to actually have someone figure out what it should say, so they just assumed most people couldn't read anyway and it wasn't important if it actually said anything.

An example of strange architecture, the first floor was build by the Muslim rulers in their style, and the second floor was added by the Catholic kings and is done in an Italian style, popular at the time it was built.

My favorite story:  The column with the banner shown here was a Spanish symbol of pride that they had discovered the new world, it has some latin phrase amounting to "much beyond".  Anyway, the interesting part is that this symbol was on Spanish coins used in colonial America.  When people tired to make counterfeit coins, they didn't do it exactly right and the symbol changed and eventually gave us the american dollar sign.

$

Pretty neat.

Moved in with the catholics.

I really like this tapestry because it's "upside down."  This is an account of navel battles fought by Charles V, and at the top is Africa, to the right is Spain.

Andd the Cathedral.  It was very big, and following suit was built on the foundation of the Friday mosque that was there when the city fell.  What is now the bell tower was originally a minaret, built in 1198. Wow, so old. We walked to the top, which wasn't too bad because there is a ramp to the top so that when it was built, horses could be used to take materials up to the workers.

Bell Tower

View from the top.

Patio de Los Naranjos

Bells, our guide told us that while all this mosques becoming churches, churches becoming mosques stuff was going on, it was common for Muslims who took a church to use the bells as lamps in the mosque, and conversely when the Christians took a mosque, they would melt down the lamps to make bells.  Apparently at a mosque we might see in Morocco, they still have bell lamps.  Only think I can think is that I wouldn't have wanted to be the one moving these things around. They're huge. And loud, one rang while we were up there. Scared me half to death.

Gold. Lot's of it.

The disputed Sepulcro de Cristobal Colon, or the tomb of Christopher Columbus, who's remians may have been brought from Cuba in 1898.  Two other places in the world have tombs for him too and no one really knows which if any of them are legitimate.  However we were advised that the people of Seville take this claim very seriously and we shouldn't talk about those other tombs. Haha.

I'm back in Granada now and tomorrow is the first day of classes.  I'm excited to start learning more about the city and practicing my Spanish.  However, I did find one new way to practice.

I mean, this is how I learned English right?  Starting with Aladdin, obviously.  Adios, I need to read my children's books.

PS- Almost forgot, those pictures scrolling up top are now mine, so if this isn't enough stalking of my life (mom)  feel free to click on it and you can see a slideshow. :)