the rains in spain fall mainly on the american tourists

it's been a long time since i've posted on here, but there's a good reason: we've been on a trip without internet from wednesday to saturday. i didn't neglect you all, i promise! we drove a good 6 hour bus ride down to the south of spain (where it is supposed to be hot hot hot all the time but is NOT, let me tell you) and visited córdoba, sevilla, and granada, 3 towns scattered around the area. i think maybe i'll make another blog post after this with pictures because there are too many to include with the descriptions.

córdoba: we were only there for a few hours on wednesday, because the main attraction there is this GINORMOUS mosque (mezquita) that was built in the 8th century by Arabs who migrated to southern Spain. it's over 23,000 square meters in size... by that, i guessed that at least 483 of our houses could fit inside of it (that's just a guesstimate). it's absolutely beautiful inside, but the most outrageous thing about it is that when the christians re-took córdoba, they took over the mosque and built a chapel/cathedral smack dab in the middle of it. how awful is that--they totally destroyed this amazing work of art building? i was outraged, let me tell you. but most of the building is still intact, and beautiful. afterwards, we went just outside of the city to visit these amazingly cool ruins of a huge ancient arabic city. profe. just let us loose and told us to run around for an hour and explore... which i LOVED, naturally, and it was really cool.

wednesday night we made it to sevilla, where we stayed for 2 nights. the best thing that happened in sevilla was the amazing parade that we stumbled across on thursday morning. literally, we were in this little tiny maritime museum next to the river, and i walked out the front doors, and here comes this ginormous crowd of people... dressed in flamenco clothes, riding horses, playing in a flamenco band, pulling small colored covered wagons... it was absolutely incredible. so what do we do? join in. we walked with the parade for a good 45 minutes to an hour, and i have never had more fun in my life! when on earth does that happen, where you get to just join in a parade and walk along with them? in the united states, they always barricade parade routes off so nobody can just run in and destroy the order... here it was the complete opposite. it was incredible.

after the parade, we went as a group and toured the huge palace (also named the alcazar, like the other one) and cathedral in sevilla. according to the guidebook, the people who built the catedral said, "let us create such a building that future generations will take us for lunatics." and it certainly was one of the most ornate and gargantuan buildings i have seen en mi vida. the original dome collapsed after it was built because it was just too big. that's how crazy it was. oh yes, and guess whose remains are there? none other than christopher columbus! we got to visit his tomb! after that visit, we were again set free to wander the city, so we walked around for 182901 hours (it was definitely more than 10 miles of walking that day) and visited the plaza de españa which is an absolutely beautiful building/plaza area, during the day and especially at night, when they illuminate it up. we also got to enjoy some flamenco music at a flamenco bar (don't worry, i only got fanta!).

friday, we went to granada. it rained the entire time we were there. oh, and also it was freezing. and i didn't have a jacket or umbrella, and i only brought one pair of shoes and only shorts. haha can i complain any more? but it was still fun--we got to visit ferdinand and isabella's tombs (the most important joint rulers in spain, pretty much ever) and the alhambra, which is known for its beauty and amazing islamic architecture. the gardens there were amazing. of course, we were really grumpy and not interested because of the temperature and how we were all soaked (we were outside in the rain) so profe just told us to leave and explore the gardens by ourselves until the busses came to get us because we were bugging him haha. some of us got together afterwards and had a picnic in the hotel room because it was so cold and just ate some fruit and bread and cheese we got at the grocery store.. it was incredibly satisfying.

anyways, it was a great time. we bonded as a group, and i think we're all becoming good friends. i am trying to think of good things to buy as gifts for you all... if there's anything specific that you want, let me know. i'm going to work on getting some good stuff for you all! i love you people... and happy mother's day!