Andalucia

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Spain has so many different regions and you really see and feel the difference. Each region is unique in it´s own way and last night I came back from a 3 1/2 day trip to Andalucia. Andalucia is in the southern part of Spain and although it should be warmer, I was freezing most of the weekend.
Granada was our first stop and no wonder I was freezing, the city is located at the bottom of the Sierra Nevada mountains which is great for skiing and now I know why. We saw Granada at night and in the morning went to see the Alhambra. It´s hard to describe it in words, it´s definetely something that has to be seen. It´s an amazing palace full of architectural beauty, amazing interiors and gardens. It was not until Washington Irving wrote The Tales of the Alhamra in the late 1800´s that the tourists started showing interest. It would have been great to see it in it´s time with all it´s vibrant colors and the Sultan with his hundreds of wives. You can still see the influence of the Moorish rule not only in the Alhambra but in all of Granada.

The arabian style palace, the Alcazar in Seville actually impressed me more than the Alhambra. Each room in the palace is decorated with beautiful details and amazing arches. Well, Sevilla also wins as the city with the nicest people and as the city with the nicest gardens and parks. There are trees, flowers, parks, plazas everywhere. And like all the cities in spain, there is of course Plaza de Espana. However, finally it is not a square but a semicircle. On Sunday morning first thing I did was go to the river Guadalquivir, I read so much about it and was so excited to finally get close to it. It is where the famous Torre de Oro stands where ships from America came in and bla bla bla. I took a touristy boat ride on the rio Guadalquivir and it was great. I was surprised to see so many bridges there, most of them built for the expo 1992. The most impressive was a bridge designed by Calatrava, the design is so simple and gentle, and really modernizes the city. Our hotel was right in the center of the city, in the neighborhood called Santa Cruz. I absolutely fell in love with this part of Seville and I definetely would go back to stay there. The streets are so tiny and narrow, some just barely fit 2 people side by side. It feels great walking around there with no cars, just narrow streets with white washed houses, it really puts you back in time. I woke up both mornings to the sound of church bells because it was a holiday weekend. This neighborhood used to be juderia, a jewish neighborhood until the expulsion of all the jews. The same goes for Cordoba which I visited yesterday. It used to be a city where muslims, christians and jews lived together in peace. Today, the juderia in Cordoba still has the ancient synogogue and is the only one in Spain with the exception for 2 in Toledo that was not destroyed. Right before reaching the Sinagogue is a statue of Maimonides.

In all these cities you really see the mixture of cultures especially in the architecture. Most of the cathedrals used to be Mosques. The cathedral in Seville, which is the third largest in the world is full of arabic architecture because the christians did not destroy the mosques but rather build on top of them. The Mezquita in Cordoba is a perfect example. It is a cathedral that used to be a mosque. It is grandiose and the interior is full of unbelievably beautiful arches and a forest of columns. Everywhere is a reminder of the christian conquest. Andalucia definetely shows a history of a mixed culture and the influence of each individual one can be seen everywhere.

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Photos

Alcazar
Sevilla

Granada
View from the Alhambra