Sevilla: What's the difference between here and New York?

Yet another fabulous weekend of traveling in Spain. Although I am enjoying exploring the various regions of this uniquely diverse country, I'm getting pretty exhausted with the whole tourist thing. I'm looking forward to spending the next few weekends in Madrid (no travel plans until Julie's and Dan's wedding, but that may change.

This past weekend was a program excursion to Sevilla, or as it's known in the English world, Seville. Sevilla is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia, and the 4th largest city in Spain. It is often considered to be the the cultural, artistic and financial capital of southern Spain. It boasts famous native artists like Velazquez and Murillo. It was also seen as the gateway to the New World in the 16th century since the river Guadalquivir is where many expeditions left from (Columbus is allegedly entombed there). It is also famous for it's fervor for bull-fighting and flamenco dancing.

Now, this was a program trip, so that means there were 80 college students all traveling together. While I appreciate the fact that the program organizes and pays for these trips, this is not my preferred method of traveling. Being in a group that large can be obnoxious and exhausting, but we make the most of it regardless.

So, we left Friday morning and took the AVE (Alta Velocidad Española, or high speed train). This name is also a play on the Spanish word for bird - the train goes 186 mph and covers the journey from Madrid to Sevilla in 2.5 hours. Not bad. We arrived around 11:30, headed to our hotel to drop our things off, and then headed out for a sight-seeing filled day.

First, we headed over to the Cathedral. Yes, another beautiful Spanish church. This one, however, has some distinction. It was constructed from 1402-1519, after the the capture of Sevilla from the Moors, and originally it was a mosque. However, once the Catholics took over they began to convert it and it is said that the Christians bragged that they wanted to "build a Cathedral so huge that anyone who sees it will take us for madmen." So they built for 120 years. It is the largest Gothic Cathedral in the world, and the 3rd largest Cathedral in the world, behind St. Peter's in Rome and St. Paul's in London. Its set-up is a bit different than a typical Cathedral, since it used to be a Mosque, so it lacks the typical cruciform shape of a church. It's so huge, you don't really notice though. It seemed pretty similar to the Cathedrals I saw in Toledo and Granada, but the Spanish architecture style is definitely distinct from the French style, like what you see in Notre Dame. There's a much clearer separation for the royalty, the nobility and the peasantry in Spanish cathedrals. King Juan Carlos' oldest daughter, the Infanta Elena, was married in this Cathedral in 1995. You have to be royal to be married in this Cathedral.

One of the most significant features that Sevilla's Cathedral prides itself on having is the tomb of Christopher Colombus. There is, however, a bit of debate surrounding this subject. For whatever reason (bragging rights, I suppose), everybody seems to want to get their hands on this guy's remains. It seems that his body is scattered all over parts of the globe. The current debate is primarily between the Dominican Republican and the Cathedral in Sevilla (there's a much longer history, which I won't bore you with here). Apparently, the Spanish government has done a DNA test to confirm that it matches the mitochondrial DNA of his brother and they say that makes it valid (although it only actually proves that they have the same mother). However, there are only 150 grams (about 5.3 ounces) SO obviously something is missing. Hmm...kind of a morbid story. The remains in Santo Domingo have not been examined so who really knows. The one thing that is certain though is that Sevilla had significance for New World explorers which is why Columbus' son requested for him to be buried there.

After the tour of the Cathedral we went up the Giralda, a former minaret which was covered by a bell tower during the "Christianization" of the mosque. It is 340 feet high and has an amazing view of the city (for Dan Brown readers, it also plays a very significant role in Digital Fortress). It's accessible only by a series of ramps, which were built so that horses could climb the tower.

After the Cathedral, we took a little stroll through the old Jewish quarter (yes, another Spanish town with a long history of religious diversity) until we arrived at the Alcazar. Alcazar is a Arab-Spanish word for palace/fortress (recall the Alcazaba from the Alhambra). Construction began in 1181, and didn't really stop for 500 years. Like a great deal of Spanish architecture it's in the mudejar style (moorish, but with Christian influence). However, since it was built over such a long period of time, it has some heavy Renaissance influence as well. The garden was full of orange trees and smelled amazing (as is typical of Sevillan winters). The oranges are barely edible though, they're super sour and apparently only used in crappy English marmalade (direct quote from my tour guide). The Alcazar is the current residence of Spanish royalty in Sevilla.
Many of its features were similar to what I saw at the Alhambra, but it paled in size to the enormous Granadan fort. It was cool to see though, because it has great significance for the New World conquests. In 1503, the Catholic monarchs constructed a building to deal with regulating trade for the New World colonies, the Casa de Contratación (the House of Trade). Columbus met with Ferdinand and Isabella there after his journey to America.

After that, we had some free time in the afternoon, so I went with a couple of friends to get some coffee, which we are all completely addicted to by now. We stopped off in a pretty innocuous looking cafe where we encountered some middle-aged Spanish men who were very happy to see us. They proceeded to try and pull us into an argument about which one of them was more "guapo." Leonardo (DiCaprio, he insisted) swore that his mother said he was the most handsome. They also goaded us with questions about if the people were more attractive in Madrid or Sevilla, and what was the difference between New York and Sevilla. Oh jeez. They then tried to deflect their creep factor by saying that they wanted to set us up with the bartender. As he dropped off our check, he mumbled "you girls are way too young for me." Good to know one of them understood. I then proceeded to stuff my face with turrón ice cream. Turrón is one of my favorite Spanish foods thus far; it's sort of a honey, sugar, almond meal, often coated with chocolate and it's a Christmas tradition in Spain. Fortunately for me, my family eats it all year round.

Following that strange (although not really that strange as an American in Spain) encounter, we headed to a flamenco show, which was a lot of fun. It definitely made me wish I could dance, but I don't think I received that gene, unfortunately. That was the end of our plans for the evening, so we headed out for dinner. Without the convenience of a metro or internet access, this proved a little challenging. We wandered for a while and quickly discovered that what seem like quaint European streets in the daylight, seem more like creepy dark alleyways at night. We eventually found a tapas bar in Plaza de Alfalfa and then turned in fairly early so that we would be rested for Saturday.

Saturday, we woke up for breakfast at the hotel, and when we entered the restaurant, we were shocked and delighted by what we found: real breakfast. The Spanish idea of breakfast is a vat of coffee and some very small form of a carbohydrate to accompany it, and we've all pretty much accepted that by now. This hotel, however, had a full breakfast spread including scrambled and fried eggs, all types of fruit, pastries and BACON. It was great. We all ate like it was our last meal.

After this, we went to the Sevilla's main art museum, el Museo de Bellas Artes, which has the most important Spanish collection of Baroque Art, after the Prado. Although Velazquez was born in Sevilla, pretty much all of his works are housed at the Prado or outside of Spain. This museum did have a very nice collection of Murillo and other well known Spanish painters like Zubaránd and Valdés Leal. Beyond its religiously themed Baroque collection, it also has a fair spread of 19th century classicist work. It was no Prado, but definitely worth seeing.

Then, we walked down to the River Guadalquivir to get our tourist photos in. This river is beautiful and the weather was absolutely amazing. It was sunny and probably about 75. Perfect weather, and in February - imagine that. We then had free time for the rest of the afternoon. We wandered around Sevilla, past the Torre del Oro, a famous 13th century military watch tower. We also went by the Bull-Fighting Arena (Plaza del Toros), which is the oldest bull fighting ring in Spain (construction began in 1749).

Our next stop was the famous Plaza de España. It was originally built in 1928 as a display for the Ibero-American Exposition, set to take place in 1929. It is a prime example of the Renaissance-Revival style of Spanish architecture and is also described as being a combination of Art Deco and Neo-Mudejar. It is in the beautiful Maria Luisa Park, described as having a "Moorish paradisaical style." When the plaza was built, the entire Southern part of the city was redeveloped into an expanse of gardens and lavish boulevards so that the city would be more impressive for all the foreign visitors coming to the Exposition. Unfortunately, the world economy had its own plans and the Exposition ended up not being quite what the Sevillanos had anticipated as attendance was much lower than expected. Regardless, the Plaza is one of the prides of Sevilla (random fun fact: some scenes from Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones were shot there). After this, we slowly made our way back to the hotel, going in and out of shops. Around 7, we got back on the AVE to return to Madrid.

I really enjoyed Sevilla. I wish that I had had more time there because it seemed like there was a lot to do and it was beautiful. The weather was amazing, but I would imagine it must be killer in the summer (although, being from Arizona, I'm sure I could handle it). This is another place that I would definitely recommend for your future travels! More to come later this week on classes and life in Madrid...¡hasta pronto!

Cathedral

Giralda


View from the Gialda


Look at all the orange trees! (patio of the Cathedral)


Old Fortress Wall


Alcazar Gardens


More Orange Trees


Look familiar?


Flamenco


Waiting for tapas while consuming clearly non-alcoholic beverages


Yes, that is a painting of the Grand Canyon in an art museum in Sevilla. Word.


Rio Guadalquivir


Plaza de España


Plaza de España. sans tourists blocking your view

Granada (or how I learned to avoid gypsies and love free tapas)!

I spent this past weekend in Granada. We left early Saturday morning for our 6 hour bus ride and arrived in the early afternoon. Our time there was limited, seeing as how we had to leave the next day on a 6pm bus to get back to Madrid around midnight (conveniently, in the bus station which is 2 blocks from my apartment). It was a pretty exhausting trip for one weekend, and I wish I had had more time there, but it was definitely worth it.

Granada is located in southern Spain in the autonomous community of Andalusia (Spain has 17 autonomous communities, think states) and is the capital of the province (think county) of Granada. It's located in the Sierra Nevadas and and is a popular destination for skiers. The urban population is about 500,000, making it the 13th largest in Spain.

Ok that should set you up for background. After all those random facts and figures, my objective analysis of Granada is pretty much that it's a hippie town. The town is covered in random grafitti splatters that say things like "Granada será el tumbo del facismo" (Granada will be the tomb of facism) and "La iglesia es muerte" (the church is death). Very welcoming. We walked through various plazas which were filled with dread-locked jugglers and which had some major botelloning going on (aka drinking in the streets). I am probably giving you a bad impression of what is actually quite a nice city - just think of a sort of mini San Francisco, there were definitely nice parts, but also parts where you felt like you were about to get mugged, if you get my drift. Not to mention the gypsies, but I'll get to that later.

So, we arrived in Granada around 1:30 on Saturday - upon arrival at the bus station, you feel like you're in a very modern, industrial city. We got on the bus to our hostel, and then we had to transfer to a mini-bus. I wondered why this was necessary, and then when we began climbing up into the narrow streets of the mountainside, I realized why. Riding this mini-bus was a somewhat terrifying experience. We raced through sharp corners and narrow alleyways, all the while pushing pedestrians up against the walls. Although this ride was not quite on par with my journey through a raging river while in the back of a truck with 10 other people that I underwent while in Honduras 2.5 years ago, it was certainly one of the more horrifying vehicular experiences of my life. But, we did finally arrive at our hostel, the Makuto Guesthouse, which is located in Albayzín, one of the oldest Moorish quarters of Granada.

Our hostel was fantastic. It has a very relaxed, hippie feel, a tree house, hammocks, and a "chill-out" room (no translation necessary). We stayed in a 4 person dorm with a guy from Switzerland and some other mysterious person who I never actually saw. Although I've stayed in hostel type places before when traveling in large groups, this was my first authentic hostel experience and I'd say it was definitely positive. The staff were super friendly and helpful and it felt really safe.

After we got settled in, we walked down to Plaza Nueva, one of the main squares, for some lunch. Fortunately, Granada is one of the few remaining cities in Spain that still cherishes the tradition of bringing you a free tapa with every drink you order. So, we ordered a few drinks and got various tapas, all of which involved some form of pork, potatoes, or both, but were mostly quite delicious. Unfortunately, there seemed to be no way to eat cheaply in Granada without getting slightly tipsy. Granadans must be the drunkest people in all of Spain, or at least that's my theory. It was really cheap though, we paid probably an average of 2 euro for a drink and a tapa to share.

After this, quite appropriately, we visited the Cathedral. This Cathedral was built in the 16th century after the Reconquista and the expulsion of Moorish rulers. Although it originally had a Gothic design, due to the delay in construction it was built during a time of Renaissance influence and has many Baroque elements as well. It also contains the Royal Chapel where Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand II are buried. After leaving the Cathedral, we walked around a little where we were swarmed by women with rose sprigs who try to con you into getting your palm read and then apparently they steal all your money. Don't worry though, I did not fall victim to this trick, thanks to Rick Steve's Spain travel guide in which he described their exact ruse before I even saw it. But seriously these gypsy women are everywhere and they are aggressive. Too bad I am about 5 inches taller than everyone else, fair skinned and green eyed, otherwise maybe I wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb.

Then we headed back to our hostel for un descanso, where we were promptly invited to join the hostel workers for a barbeque dinner. Kind of hard to turn down barbeque on Superbowl weekend (after all I am an AMERICAN!), and I was curious to see what exactly Spanish barbeque is. Before dinner however, we decided that we might wander up the mountain a little farther and check things out. We asked our hostel receptionist about the caves, which are supposed to be a popular tourist attraction (although Rick Steves does not include it in his guide book, and since Rick Steves taught me how to avoid gypsies, I trust him completely). This conversation went something like this:

Me: ¿Que son las cuevas? (What are the caves?)
Hostel Guy: ¿Quieres una? (Do you want one?)

My friend and I exchange confused looks. We then proceeded to find out that the caves are apparently a place where people live. People turn them into houses and paint on the walls and play guitar all day. Or something like that. Maybe that's why we would want one. When we asked how long it would take to get there, he said that it depended on if we knew the way. Well obviously we didn't. He then said:

"Si no conoces el comino, quizas estarás alli para siempre. Si decides que quieres vivir alli."
(If you don't know the way, maybe you'll be there forever. You could decide you want to live there.)

Consequently, we decided not to visit the caves. Instead, we walked up the mountain a ways (uphill cobblestone street = great for my perpetually injured right ankle) and we stopped at the Mirador de San Nicolas, which boasts an incredible panoramic view of the city. We came back later to see the Alhambra lit up night which was too cool for words. There were a ton a people, and it also had a nice, relaxed feel to it. Another interesting random fact about Spain - people just let their dogs run around without leashes and they always come back to their owner. They are so well behaved. And CUTE. They made me miss crazy Re-Run. After this, we returned to the hostel for our barbecue. So to answer the question of what Spanish barbecue entails, it's pork. And tortilla española (potato omelet), which is delicious but I'm not sure if it counts as barbecue. Hmm. We ate with a group of girls who were au pairs in Madrid - one from Germany, one from Sweden and one from Finland. They all spoke excellent English and good Spanish, not to mention the language of their respective countries. I feel so inadequate.

We then went out to examine the Granadan night life, which didn't seem to have much going on at 11 at night (too early for the Spaniards). We went to a few tapas bars and then to this middle eastern restaurant (which there are a ton of), just because they had some really amazing looking baklava and we drank some fantastic mint tea. Then we just decided to go back and turn in early because we had a long day ahead of us.

Now I know that this blog is getting very long, so I'm sorry if I'm boring you, but I haven't even got to the most important part yet: La Alhambra. Now if you don't know what the Alhambra is, don't feel badly, I didn't either until a few weeks ago. But it's actually the most visited monument in Spain, and now I understand why. The Alhambra is a palace and fortress complex, constructed in the 14th century by the Moorish rulers of Granada. It is situated in the mountains, as to be the highest part of the city, and covers about 1,530,000 square feet. There are 3 main structures - the Nasrid Palace (named for the dynasty of Moorish rulers), the Alcazaba, which is a citadel with a watch tower, and the Palace of Carlos V, which he added after Catholic Spain retook control of Granada. Then there is the area of Generalife, which was supposed to be a recreational area for the kings to escape the formality of the palace. Most of it is old Moorish style architecture, except for Palacio de Carlos V which is more Renaissance style and the only way I can describe it is that it's absolutely incredible. The whole thing is surrounded by beautiful gardens and it has an indescribable sense of history. Check out the pictures below to get a real feel for it. There was also a temporary Matisse exhibit in the Palacio de Carlos V, so we checked that out as well. Apparently Matisse was inspired on his visit to the Alhambra and it influenced a lot of his artwork. Same thing happened to Washington Irving who wrote a series of stories based on the Alhambra. It's just an inspiring place. And it has the most amazing views of the city.

After spending all morning/early afternoon in the Alhambra, we headed back down to the city for some lunch - aka free tapas. It was unseasonably warm so we relaxed in the sun of Plaza Nueva for a while. We also did a little souvenir shopping. Then, sadly, it was time to board the 6 hour bus back to Madrid and get a good night's rest for classes the next day. So despite a few weird experiences, I really enjoyed Granada and would definitely recommend adding it to your bucket list. The Alhambra is incredible and it's certainly worth seeing. More to come later this week on the beginning of classes and life in Madrid. I am also heading to Seville next weekend so there will be more on that as well. Here are some pictures (for those of you on facebook, check out my Granada album for more):

Hostel Bar


Hostel Hammocks


Yes, there is a tree growing through our hostel. Put your high-maintenance rumors to rest.

Cathedral


Cathedral


Mirador de San Nicolas


Mirador de San Nicolas


Weird (but free) tapa


Spanish barbeque...yeah


Palacio de los Nazaríes


Garden at the Palace of Nasrid


View from the Alhambra


Cathedral from the Alhambra


Partal Palace


Me, chilling at the Alhambra, nbd


Alcazaba


Alcazaba maze


Alcazaba watch tower


Palacio de Carlos V


Generalife


Generalife Gardens


Water Staircase


View of the watch tower from below

Toledo: Marzipan, marzipan, and marzipan

Don't let the title of this blog fool you, there is much more to Toledo than marzipan...

Ok that might be a lie. No but, really, Toledo was great. It's exactly what you would picture for a typical European city - cobblestone streets, narrow alleyways, cute little shops and cafés and all that jazz. We went there with the entire program, which is about 80 kids, so we probably doubled the city's population. Jokes (I am just hating on Toledo because it is so tiny compared to Madrid). It actually has a really interesting history though. It used to be the biggest and probably most important city in Spain, starting in the Bronze Age. It was famous for having a peaceful coexistence between members of the Jewish, Islamic and Christian religions, despite being continuously conquered by moorish peoples (legitimately, those poor Toledoans couldn't catch a break). It was the capital of Spain until 1563. It is now the capital of Castilla-La Mancha and incredibly famous for it's swords and of course MARZIPAN.

Toledo is about a 1.5 hour drive from Madrid, and on the way in we stopped on the highway where there was a panoramic view of the city, which is GOREGOUS (pictures below). Really beautiful, and so historic looking. Then, we spent the morning visiting the enormous Gothic Cathedral there, which was also beautiful. It was constructed in 1226 - think Pillars of the Earth. After this, we had free time for lunch and exploration. After a brief delay which involved a friend of mine getting some sort of incredibly persistent foreign object stuck in her eye and a stint in the McDonald's (yes, as in Ronald) bathroom, we headed out. We explored the streets and went in and out of shops, and actually ran into a lot of Americans who weren't from BU's program. This place is crawling with them. We saw lots and lot of swords (seriously, I think they are still afraid that the moors are coming) and I bought a typical piece of Toledo's jewelry - un anillo de amor y suerte (a ring of love and luck), which has yet to start working but let's keep our fingers crossed. And then of course we ate lots and lots of Marzipan, which was delicious (well more I than "we" because apparently not everyone is so enthusiastic about Marzipan - curious). Clearly, it was the highlight of my trip.

After lunch, we visited La Mezquita del Cristo de la Luz (a mosque), 2 synagogues, la Iglesia de Santo Tome, and la Iglesia de San Jaun de los Reyes. Religious diversity, for the win. All of the buildings were beautiful and it was really interesting to see the different types of architecture. Another fun fact: El Greco lived and worked in Toledo. His famous painting, The Burial of Count Orgaz is in the Church of Santo Tome, ironically, right over Count Orgaz's grave! Who would've thought? So of course we visited that and I got to see my first El Greco (followed by many more when I visited the Prado). What else Toledo has to offer besides an endless supply of religious buildings, swords and marzipan I will never know.

Panoramic View of the City


The big building on the right is Santo Tome, the steeple on the left is the Cathedral.

Obligatory Sorority Sister pic!


Cathedral


Marzipan!


NOM NOM NOM!


Street


Street Sign


Swords!

The first few weeks...

Ok so I have not been doing too well at the whole blogging thing...I'm going to try and work on that. The last time I wrote I hadn't even moved in with my host family yet. Ahh!!! So much has happened since then.

I know I sent out an email to many of you who are reading this, so some of this might be redundant, but I'm just going to catch everyone up to speed.

I've been living with my host family for 3 weeks now and they have been great! It's a husband, wife, and their 21 year old son. They also have a daughter, but she is studying in Oviedo, a town in northern Spain. We live in an apartment in central Madrid, right near the intercambio at Avenida de America, which is a HUGE metro station, so I'm very well connected. Speaking of the metro, it's AMAZING here. Honestly, it puts the Boston T to shame. It's really easy to navigate, it's clean, and it's fast. I finally got my monthly pass a few days ago so now I can ride as many times a day as I want.

Back to my family though, they are great. My host dad works in the justice department, my host mom is a nurse and my host brother, David, is in school for medicine. They have been really helpful and patient with my not so perfect Spanish skills, although they are improving. I'm literally starting to think in Spanglish, haha.

As far as classes go, I haven't actually started my classes at la Universidad Autonoma de Madrid yet. I have been taking a seminar on contemporary Spain, which has been interesting. I learned a lot about Spanish history and politics, and the last week has been a focus on Economics which I am loving! I've been learning all of my econ terms in Spanish and the inner-nerd in me is glowing. I actually wrote an essay about the Spanish economy in Spanish. It was great. I will be starting my classes at the University on Monday, which I'm a little nervous for. The UAM has a very long add-drop period, so I get to try out different courses for a while before I decide which ones to actually enroll in. I know it will be difficult at first, but I'm excited to get into a regular rhythm and schedule. I won't start my internship for a few more weeks though.

Daily life in Madrid is great. It has pretty much everything a city can offer - culture, good food, nightlife, shopping, and wonderful people. I am really enjoying Spanish food (paella, tapas, and lots and lots of cheese and ham). I have visited the Prado museum, where I saw Velasquez's Las Meninas (among other famous works) and pretty much every famous Goya painting known to man. It was awesome, and I will definitely be going again. I've also taken a walk around Retiro Park, which used to be Royal Gardens before the city grew to encompass it. It is 350 beautiful acres; eat your heart out Boston Commons (only 50 acres). I've also hit up Calle Serrano, which is basically the Madrid equivalent of Newbury Street (great shopping). El Corte Ingles is probably the coolest store ever; it's like Le Bon Marche - a department store with everything from clothes to groceries to electronics. It's actually the third largest department store in the world, behind Sear's and JC Penny's, but it's only in Spain and Portugal. That's how big of a deal it is. For class, we also took a visit to Palacio de los Cortes which is where the lower house of parliament holds its sessions. The building was constructed in the 1840s. I also joined a gym right near my apartment - yay for staying in shape!

The Madrid nightlife is insane. The people her keep such a weird schedule. They eat pretty much nothing for breakfast, don't have lunch until 2 or 3, dinner until 9 or 10, they go out at 1 and stay out until 6 in the morning. Seriously. If you go to a bar or club (some of which are 7 stories) before 1, it will be abandoned. So strange. And exhausting. And since I know that my family is probably reading this, I will spare you any more details on that front, haha.

All in all, everything has been great and I'm really enjoying myself. We took a group trip to Toledo last weekend (which I will write another blog about), and I'm heading to Granada tomorrow with a friend to see the Alhambra and other sites. I'm looking forward to traveling, and have already booked my Spring Break trip to Rome and Sicily which should be wonderful! I'm also anxious to spend more and more time in Madrid and Spain, start classes and keep improving my Spanish. I miss you all, and there's plenty more to come!

My room!

Outside my window...

My metro station!

The UAM's Business/Economics School

Puerta de Alcala (just outside Retiro)


Parque del Retiro


Parque del Retiro

Palacio de las Cortes