Andalucia Trip- Part 2

Cordoba
Oh Cordoba, ancient and holy. The Moorish and Jewish influence still loomed in the aura of Cordoba. Although the two peoples have not lived there for hundreds of years, their presence is felt in the old part of Cordoba. The main attraction in Cordoba is the Mezquita. It is the Cathedral/Mosque built in the 720's and then Christianized in 1500's. This structure is famous world wide. Honestly I could not believe I was actually seeing it in person and not from a picture. It looks exactly as it does in the pictures, only bigger. It feels different than a cathedral, it is more holy and simple. Although it is now a place of worship for Christians it bothered me that such a unique mosque would be taken from the Moors. Fernando III was the one who wanted to build the cathedral shortly after the conquest of the moors in 1492. Before he commissioned it to be built he went to Holy Roman Emperor, Carlos V, and asked permission. Permission was granted with out even knowing what the Mosque looked like. Because of the rarity, they did not tear it down, but simply built a cathedral right in the middle of it. After it was built and Carlos V visited he said of the new cathedral, "You have taken something you could have built anywhere, and ruined something truly unique." That was exactly what it felt like inside. I made a movie with some documentary from the Mezquita, but it is not loading. It was sort of a walking tour, a short one. The Mezquita has 840 of the red and white horseshoe arches, typical of Muslim design. I will put a picture up. We walked around the old Jewish quarter which was very cool. Cordoba, especially, the Jewish quarter, is known for it's beautiful patios. The people adorn them with flowers and plants, and in May there is a big competition to judge who has the most beautiful one. They are open to passerbys so we got to go in and see those. Also there is a famous street called Calle de Los Flores where all the tourist take pictures, so of course we took them too. You can see the tower of the Mezquita at the top of the picture. This city ranks as my favorite from the whole trip. I woke up early to run and see the sunrise by the old roman bridge, and it was just great to be up and look at the city when everyone was sleeping. I got a really cool picture of the city at night too, which I included. At the end of our time in Cordoba we visited a cool old synagogue which was only a room. It had Hebrew written all over the walls quoting the Old Testament. I thought it was really cool, and such a hidden special place. We also visited an Alcazar in Cordoba, but it was not nearly as ornate as the one in Sevilla. There were a lot of good little moments in Cordoba like when we asked an old man to take our picture, he had never used a camera before, and when we walked into the candy store and all bought the weirdest thing we could find. I found gummy flan...only in Spain. Emily and I dressed up as Mudejar people, I wore the turban she wore the shawl around here head, we didn't go out in public though don't worry. We were just feeling the spirit of Mudejar.
Granada
Our last city. This city is hard to explain. It was the first city in Spain I have seen with mountains, that was exciting, the high ones even had snow! The Alhambra, which is the main attraction sits up on a hill above the city. The Albaycin, the old Muslim area, also sits on a hill adjacent to the Alhambra. The rest of the city is down in a valley. We stayed up next to the Alhambra, so we walked down the big hill to get down to the city. The Alhambra was built in the 700's when the Moors conquered Spain. It was built as a huge fortress/ palace. The structure is giant and has various buildings. The first we saw was the Palacio de Nazarin. I have a picture in the first courtyard, the Court of Myrtles. You can see the Mudejar deco and the famous muslim baths. It was cool to try and picture the wealthy Al-Andalus elites living here. They had it good, they lived in a beautiful palace they created for themselves. Another interesting room was the Court of the Lions. In the middle stood a font, and at the base of the font were 12 lions. They were said to represent the 12 tribes. Another cool fact is that the Muslims created a clock out of the formation, and at each fifteen min the lions would spit water out of there mouths. When the Christians came in and conquered they took the fountain apart to see how it worked, and they ruined it so it never worked again. I was a little bummed though, because the lions are under reconstruction so they weren't on display. After the Palacio we walked through the elaborate gardens that as one girl on the trip said,"Will take you up on hills you didn't even know you could get to!" They were huge. The had lots of little pools and carved hedges. They led over to another palace on another hill. It was really cool. All we really saw in Granada was the Alhambra. We ran down the hill to the city and then back up in the Albaycin neighborhood to a look out that is famous to see Granada at sunset. It was quite the hike, but it was awesome. That's where I took the picture of the Alhambra lit up. Then we walked back down and had Kebabs! That was definetly another highlight. They were such tasty Turkish goodness. It was fun to walk around the town a little that night. I found Meringue's at a pastry shop, they were so tasty as well! The next morning Emily, Susie, and I woke up at 6:30 to run up to the Albaycin to the look out to watch the sunrise! It was freezing, but since it was Saturday morning nobody was up. We were all alone, and we got to watch the sunrise over the snowy mountains. I loved it so much, it was the perfect way to bring in the morning. I was thinking to myself, I am just up watching the sunrise in Granada, Spain, I probably never be here again! It was such a cool experience. I definitely realized I need to relish those experiences. On the way home to Alcala, we stopped at the ever famous Don Quixote windmills. They are up on a very windy hill in the region of La Mancha, hence Don Quixote de La Mancha. We imitated the battle that Don Quixote had with them. It was such a great trip, Spain is full of so many hidden treasures no one really recognizes! It is great!