Susan's Super Safari in Southern Spain (final)

So, the last city we visited was Granada, which was a blur to me. It seemed like we didn't stay at the city for that long, and by the time we reached Granada, I was ready to move into a real room and stop living out of my suitcase.

Things I saw in Granada:
1. La Alhambra -- our hotel was within walking distance
2. Tombs of Isabel and Ferdinand, and Juana la Loca (their daugther) and Philip the Handsome (her husband) -- also within walking distance, but - unfortunately - farther and down a hill

In Granada, we had the least free time, which was unfortunate, because I wanted to see a lot more of the city. Unlike our previous hotels, our hotel was way on the top of a hill and you had to walk downhill for 25 minutes to get to the center.

Walking down a hill (it was the wrong hill) - check out the view of the city!


Short blurb about La Alhambra: it was the palatial city built by the Muslims right before the Christian kingdoms of the north took over, in which they finally "Christianized" what is now modern Spain. In some ways, it was the last mark of the Muslims in Spain, and they did it in style. Most of the walls, arches, and ceilings of the palaces in La Alhambra had these beautiful molded plasters that must have been a pain to make, due to the precision of the designs. The effect is stunning - pictures can't really show you the full effect.

Anyways, I highly recommend it (I highly recommend everything)! The only downside is that the place is so big - after all, it is a city - and my feet (and whole body) were tired by the end of the day. We ended up seeing the fortress, the palace built much later by the Spanish king (its Renaissance style doesn't really fit in with the rest of the place), the Muslim palaces (a bit of it below), and the enormous gardens.


Although we didn't get to see as much in Granada, after our finals, the professors took us to a fancy dinner and a flamenco show! The dinner was a 5 course meal, and I was painfully stuffed at the end (we finished with cheesecake :D).

After dinner, we saw a flamenco show, which was amazing! It was in an enclosed place, so you were right up there with the dancers. It was a great way to end the seminar :)


So that concludes "Susan's Super Safari in Southern Spain"! If you actually read most of the blogs, I'm impressed! (I don't think I would have...) Now I can move on to the present and talk about Madrid, which is where I've been staying for the past 10 days, and where I will stay until May 9. But I'll start next time (the procrastinator in me is difficult to suppress).

Susan

Susan's Super Safari in Southern Spain (cont.)

Welcome to the third segment of "Susan's Super Safari in Southern Spain"!

Stop III: Sevilla

Sevilla is my favorite city out of the four. It was big enough where there were many things to do, yet felt accessible enough for a tourist of three days like myself. We had the most free time in Sevilla, so I did a lot a wandering (a bit too much...read more).

What I saw in Sevilla:
1. Catedral de Sevilla -- the third largest church in the world
2. Plaza de España -- I can´t believe the building is now used for administrative offices!
3. Maria Luisa Park -- right next to the plaza, and where I got lost for the first time (it was big - I promise!)
4. the Strait of Gibraltar and the coastline of Morocco

The Catedral of Sevilla, like the one in Cordoba, used to be a mosque until the Christians took Sevilla from the Muslims. The professor was ecstatic about taking us to Catedral de Sevilla, but after the cathedrals in Toledo and Cordoba, which were beautiful and stunning for very different reasons, the Catedral in Sevilla was not as awe-inspiring as the other two. It was a beautiful building, of course, with higher ceilings (thank you flying buttresses!) and a huge bell tower in which I walked up - it is the only part of the cathedral that was part of the mosque and has it has its own name, la Giralda - but didn't strike me as much, I guess. The Catedral de Sevilla, though, is beautiful and you should go :)

La Giralda, up close and personal. I climbed up to the top :)


In Sevilla, we also went to the Plaza de España, which was built in 1929 for the Spanish-American exhibition (go to Wikipedia if you're that interested or watch the Stars Wars movie that features this site). That was probably the most recent building I've been to on this seminar. It was a large set of buildings built in a semi-circle with a moat and a large fountain in the middle. The buildings were so beautiful - I remember I gasped when I saw them in their semi-circle glory. Next to the plaza is the Maria Luisa Park, which reminded me of Central Park because of its size and the crazy surprises inside. The park had specific areas with various designs and plants that represented the different countries of the Spanish-American exhibition (for example, Venezuela, Argentina, etc). Some of the countries had their own exhibition buildings which are now museums. I got lost in the park and got separated from our group (don't ask). I also got lost in the tourist part of the city, but luckily I somehow navigated with the help of Giralda and los oficinas de turismo that were scattered in that part of the city. Getting lost was quite enjoyable, since Sevilla is a beautiful city and safe enough for a short Asian girl like myself to enjoy and not freak out (much). While I was lost and trying to find my way back, I took some random pictures so I wouldn't look completely clueless.

Apparently, it's just a bunch of offices behind me.


My favorite thing I did in Sevilla did not actually take place in Sevilla. We took a bus to Malaga, where we got on a boat to go whale-watching in the Strait of Gibraltar. Back in 711, the Muslims crossed the strait and entered southern Spain, defeating the Visigoths and marked the beginning of an empire that lasted until the 13th century (more or less). I got seasick in the middle, and I passed out until the end. The boat kept going making circles, and I was not in the mood for circles. At least I was awake for the beginning, which is why I have pictures. We didn't see any whales, but we did see one dolphin...even though the whale-watching was a bust, we got to see the coastline of Morocco!

The Rock of Gibraltar (part of Spain) and me in the Spanish sun.


The coastline of Morocco - can you see it?


Conclusion: Sevilla is gorgeous! Of course, like Cordoba, there was a modern part of the city (where our hotel was located) and a historic/tourist part of the city (where the catedral, etc. were located). It's interesting how some of the most beautiful buildings in Sevilla were all banks - in that case, I would love to work in a bank (they also have the shortest business hours in Spain).

Susan

PS Get lost in Sevilla!
PPS Once again, see more at facebook :)

Susan's Super Safari in Southern Spain (cont.)

Stop II: Cordoba

After the small city of Toledo, the next stop of Susan’s Safari in Southern Spain was Cordoba. Cordoba is a much larger city, and like most large cities with a long history, there’s a modern part and a historic/tourist part.

What I saw in Cordoba:
- Catedral de Cordoba -- my favorite!
- Castille de Almodovar (outside of the city)
- Medina Azahara -- palacial city of the ruling Muslims at the time (Umayyad dynasty)

There were many more things to see, but these three were the ones that were part of the seminar.

My favorite site of the entire Azahar seminar was the Catedral de Cordoba. When you first enter the place, you immediately think it’s a mosque, complete with a minaret (a tower where a person would call others to pray 5 times a day) and a courtyard. The Catedral has a long history – it was first a Roman temple, then transformed into a small Visigothic church, then turned into a Muslim mosque, and after some expansions, it finally became the cathedral that we see today. The building was used as a representation of whoever was in power at the time. So, the power transferred from the Romans, to the Visigoths, to the Muslims, and finally to the Christians, although one wouldn’t say that the Christians are “in power” right now in Cordoba.

The Catedral looks completely like a mosque, from the exterior, courtyard, and the entrance, but as you walk deeper into the building, it transforms from a darkly lit mosque with a qibla wall (the Muslims’ praying wall) to a bright white gothic cathedral, complete with an altar and a bishop's chair. It’s fascinating how the different religions co-existed in one physical space, even tolerating one another at some points in history (the qibla wall, pictured below, and a ceiling mosiac were given to the Islamic emir as gifts from the Catholic king of Constantinople).

Pictures don't do justice...


The designs of the Christian cathedral overlapping with the designs from the Muslim mosque.


The Catedral is the big brown thing in the back (that was one dirty river beneath me).


Medina Azahara was a city built by the caliphate (Muslim leader) at the height of the Islamic empire in southern Spain. Unfortunately, the building was destroyed shortly after it was completed. Here I am standing in the throne room of the sultan. Amazingly, only 90% of the city has been uncovered. The rest of the city is buried or was completely destroyed when the opposing Muslim faction (more fundamentalists than the ruling Muslim family) invaded southern Spain.



Cordoba displayed much evidence of the Muslim presence, especially in the architecture. There was also a Jewish quarter, but the synagogue was closed when I went to visit :(

A little outside of Cordoba, we visited a castle. The castle (belonged to a French family) was not the Disney princess castle - in fact, far from it. It was not the prettiest building (used for defense and housing smelly men from the Middle Ages), but definitely imposing. After all, you have to snap your neck back to see the whole thing if you're at the bottom of the hill.



Cordoba was beautiful, and you could really feel the co-existence of three religions in one place. I'd love to go back!

Susan

PS Go to facebook to see more of my pictures - it takes too long to upload pictures plus I'm lazy.

Susan's Super Safari in Southern Spain

Let us walk – or read if you don’t feel like walking – through the memories of Susan (since her short-term memory has a problem of not lasting very long).


Stop I: Toledo

My study abroad program began with a traveling seminar in Spain. The “Azahar” seminar introduces you to the Islam Conquest and Christian Reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula, beginning with 711 to 1492. Before I could settle in Madrid and have access to the Internet, the program made me suffer by forcing me to leave my laptop with them (no YouTube for +2 weeks!) and pack/move every couple of days (I've had much experience with the hustling thanks to our family's yearly vacation via Korean tours). Despite the suffering, it was definitely worth it. We started in Toledo, the capital of the Visigothic kingdom (who were in control of the Iberian Peninsula right after the fall of the western half of the Roman empire in 476) and the first major city in the Christian Reconquest (taken from the Muslims in 1085).

The first thing I remember about Toledo was that it was extremely cold! Perhaps it wasn’t that cold compared to Williamstown, but I left the winter wasteland known as New England in search of some nicer weather. Toledo was cold and small, so we walked to all the tourist sites from our hotel. Also, since Toledo is hilly, I got a nice little workout (if I stayed in Williamstown, I'm sure I would have never left my room during Winter Study - although I rarely leave my room during the semester...).

A must-see list for any future tourists in Toledo/What Susan saw:
- Catedral de Toledo -- highly recommended!!



- Iglesia de San Juan de los Reyes (St. John of the Kings Church) -- no photos allowed :(
- Iglesia de Santo Tomé (St. Thomas' Church) -- holds a Greco painting
- La Sinagoga del Tránsito -- combination of Judaism (it's a synagogue), Islam (Muslim designs), and Christianity (it was a church at one point and an altar with a painting of the Virgin Mary still remains)

All the places were wonderful, but “Susan’s Number One Place to Visit in Toledo” was the Cathedral of Toledo. We were allowed to sit in the main chapel (it's usually closed off to the public), and were faced with an enormous altarpiece. The cathedral took more than 200 years (began in the early 1200s and finished in the late 1400s) to construct, and the generations that helped build the cathedral were part of the "Period of Faith" since the majority of the people died before they could see it finished. They simply had to have faith that the blob they were working on would some day turn into something beautiful and still standing in 2009. Of course, there's always a possibility that the people were forced to work by the Church, but I like to think positively :) and for those who truly had faith that God would answer them, even centuries after they died, that type of faith is quite amazing.

If you're really interested, feel free to go to Wikipedia and read the rather long article about the Cathedral of Toledo. Or you can look at some more pictures taken with my Nikon camera on Facebook and pretend you were with me.

Here are some photos from "Series of Sporadic Shots of Susan in Spain"


Nice background of the edge of Toledo - Asian pose!



Susan in a random "street" - most of their streets did not have sidewalks, which meant my toes were in danger multiple times.




Susan

PS Who is proud of the alliteration? I know I am :D It also helped that my name is Susan and I am in Spain.

PPS It's been quite difficult for me to get on YouTube, and as a result, I've been having quite strange dreams (for those of you who remember my failed YouTube fast sophomore year, the dreams are back!).

The Calm Before the Storm (but not that calm)

So, today is my last day in California before I leave for Spain. For those of you who know me (and if you're reading this, you most likely know me), I am one of the laziest people in the world, and I would like to meet anyone who disagrees with that statement and invite that person to hang out with me for 24 hours. Logically, I wouldn't even have a blog. But after all, how many chances do people have to study abroad? So, despite my incorrigible laziness, I will try to post some pictures and interesting comments that accompany those pictures. And once in a while, I'll write something about my personal experiences in Spain. Don't expect any enlightening or uplifting comments, but you can always expect a lot of Susan! (The good and the...good. I don't have a "bad" - unless I'm tired.)
Since I won't be near my laptop for the next three weeks, I won't have anything, but be sure to check in February!

Susan

PS Am I the only one that refuses to believe it's 2009?