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Published: April 5th 2006
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here are a few pictures from an excursion with the ISA program in the middle of february. we spent a day and a half in sevilla, the capital of the region of andalucia, and an afternoon in córdoba.
sevilla was beautiful, much sunnier than granada at the time. we visited the main sites - the cathedral with the famous tower, la giralda, which i believe they said is the third largest in europe. the alcazár palace, right next to the cathedral, which has been built/added to over many centuries. had a beer along the banks of the guadalquivir river in the triana quarter, walked around in the barrio (neighborhood) santa cruz.
the cathedral was built on top of the original mosque, and it´s one of the most important arabic/hispanic buildings in spain. to the right is a picture of la giralda, the tower of the cathedral. you can climb to the top for a fantastic view of the city of sevilla by walking a series of inclining ramps up to the bell tower. when the city was under moorish control it was a minaret, used to call people to prayer, now it´s just the ¨tower¨ of the cathedral. it
walkin the tower
stephanie and lauren pose on the ramp inside of giralda. was almost destroyed before the christian conquest of the city but wasn´t for some reason. it was damaged by an earthquake and somewhat reconstructed, and other parts/details have been added throughout different periods in history (like a lot of places). ok, i´m going to stop talking like this now - i´m not going to pretend i know more than i do about architectural history. super interesting though, as is all of the history of spain. read about it on your own if you want to know more =) oh, also, below is the tomb of christopher columbus - possibly. there is and has been debate about the location of his bones...santo domingo in the dominican republic claims be the site of his remains as well - there are two tombs - so no one is completely sure which is correct. however, they are actually really close to finding out as DNA research is currently coming to a close. they hope to have a sure result by this may, which also happens to be the 500th anniversary of his death.
córdoba is another beautiful city in andalucia. it is where the monarchs of spain ferdinand and isabella officially received christopher
columbus´ tomb... maybe
the supposed remains of cristobal colon (christopher columbus). kind of blurry - the lighting was kind of weird in this part of the cathedral. columbus and gave him permission to. here we basically walked around and had free time for a couple of hours, then took a tour of the mezquita de cordóba, the famous moorish mosque. it is especially interesting because there is a christian cathedral inside of it. again, a lot of architectural fabulousness. it was beauuuutiful, but my camera died, so i don´t have any pictures of it or of anything in cordóbe. ya está. (a common phrase, something like ¨that´s it¨ or ¨that´s that¨).
these excursions are nice because everything is arranged...we go in a bus, to a hotel, and then throughout our stay everything is organized- tours, sightseeing, etc., - even free time is figured in. it´s actually really nice, but to be truthful, i don´t like it that much. i guess it´s the shuffling around in large groups that i don´t really dig...feeling like a cow in a herd. but, hey, they´re paid for (included in the program fees), so they must be taken advantage of, ¿no? we have one more left, to valencia, where my friend julia spent a semester of her undergrad. the 21-23rd of april. i am considering going just for the bus trip
here comes the herd...
shuffling around in sevilla. there and the hotel and ditching out on all of the group activity. (which is completely valid - nothing is mandatory). my friend whitney and i are mulling this over. i guess i just have more of an independent traveling style. as i said, it´s good - they take you to the places that you should go to and tell you what you should know about them, but i just can´t get into it that way. i´ve tried, but, for example, the group tours of places don´t work for me. i´ve tried numerous times to stay close to the guide, keep at the front of the group, listen intently, ask questions, etc. however, there are always people talking, messing around, people hungover, people who don´t care and don´t want to be there, on and on, and let´s add to this all that the tours are in spanish. let´s just say my attention isn´t deeply captured, and i can´t seem to force it to remain. for me, it´s not a productive way to travel. to the left is a picture of the group walking to another part of sevilla. that´s whitney in the picture. she´s from san diego and goes to
school at UCLA, so we expect to remain friends once back in the states.
speaking of whitney, semana santa, the week of festivals all over spain, is coming up in a few weeks. whitney and i will be traveling to barcelona for four days, then spending two days camping in a little town south of spain called sitges. i can´t wait! although traveling is not my priority right now, i love to do it and will still be able to practice and be immersed in spanish. we are meeting her sister and her sister´s friend. semana santa is something a week-long festival celebrating easter that takes place all over spain. it´s a huge deal here and will be very crazy all over spain, i´m sure. we´ll be back in granada for thursday, friday, and saturday of the end of the week. i don´t even know what all is going to go on with regard to the festivities, but i´ll keep you posted...
the picture is of a bunch of girls in my program standing in one of the outlook points at the top of the giralda. it´s random, but the picture is actually inclusive of all the girls
hard to capture
inside the palace in sevilla. just one small example of the intricate and unbelievable architequre. in the program that i would consider friends. it was just a random, hey-you-guys-over-there-get-together type of picture, but it turned out that way. and a good one, too! whitney, mentioned above, is the one with the yellow bag, on the left. in this one picture many states are represented: california (3), ohio, nebraska, new york, kansas, arizona, and colorado. (and of course, south dakota!).
speaking of south dakota, i´d just like to say that everywhere i go, i get the ¨wow, you are the first person i´ve ever known from south dakota.¨ yeah! it´s funny though, because my best girl here (whom i have yet to write about or have a picture of - soon) is from seattle, one of the most well-known and interesting cities in the states. so fina says, yeah, i´m from seattle (a CITY)... then me: well, um, it´s a (STATE)..the middle of the country, the midwest... um, it´s a really rural state, not sure if you´ll know it, lots of campo (countryside)... haha. most people usually know where it is though. i have a couple of charming lines to say in spanish as i explain where i´m from such as, ¨si, soy del campo
window
other parts of the cathedral through a window... (taken while climing the tower) - soy campesina!.¨.. to show everyone that i´m okay with where i come from, that i´m proud of it! so don´t worry everyone - i´m representing south dakota well. and representing the states well, también! fina and i were just talking to some people last night, and they were explaining (well, reiterating - we´d heard it before) how people from granada are closed people generally to foreigners... that is, they have their friends, their groups, and it´s hard to integrate or to break in to the crowds of them. fina and i have been lucky enough to meet 5 or 6 of them who have accepted us as their own. we´ve actually had two different spainards (from granada) us that we´re the first americans with whom they´ve really gotten along and really liked a lot. yay! when you travel you really have a lot of responsibility and accountability to your country. you, little old you, are representing your country to the rest of the world. traveling is something that should be required as a part of your education. but before i start ranting...
i better go. sorry it´s been so long! barcelona is only two days away. i´m excited;
i´m so artsy
random shot of the city of sevilla... a bit higher up in the tower i´ve heard and read wonderful things. ah, just post it already! ciao...
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