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Published: November 29th 2015
Hi everyone!!
I have been
terrible at recording my travels these past few months. Believe it or not, I have been living abroad in Europe since September and not one blog post about it! I promised myself to catch up on all the amazing experiences I have had in Scotland so far and to write blogs posts that will give the land justice. Scotland, and the Scottish people, truly are a gem.
But excuses no more: I now find myself in Andalucia for the week, a very historic province in Southern Spain. I first absorbed the history of Andalucia when I was studying Spanish in high school as a teenager in California. The teacher once called on me to read a section about the history of Moorish and Arab civilization in Spain that lasted for centuries, and that was the first time I became fascinated with this history. I remember learning that Arabic, as many of you know is my father's native language, influenced Spanish, my mother's native language. I was pleasantly surprised- my whole life until that point was trying to find a connection between my mother's culture and my dad's... and Andalucia seemed to have the answers.
I remember looking at photos of Arab architecture that stands to this day in Spain, such as what looks like rows of candy cane pillars that was once a mosque and is now a cathedral. Cultures, religions, civilizations overlapping- that is what the architecture shows. Architecture and artifacts are evidence of what our human society has created and has consequently left behind in this world.
Today I flew into Málaga. I am brushing up on my dusty Spanish, a language I have been yearning to speak for several years now. It's so beautiful and warm here, I used my scarf as a coat in the evening. I officially had real tapas for the first time, and my goodness how the Spanish know how to live. Below are the photos I have taken from my first few hours here in Andalucia.
In order to find out what my heritage is, I need to know how it all began. Tomorrow, I am going to visit the candy cane pillars I saw in a photograph in a high school Spanish book that first gripped my attention all those years ago.
Onto Córdoba.
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Lexie Bravo
non-member comment
YES!
Absolutely love this adventure!!! Get it guuuuurl!!! And feel free to bring home any gorgeous Spanish men...i mean souvenirs. HA! Miss you<3