Andalucia Trip

Last week the whole group headed down south for five days! The region in the South of Spain is called Andalucia. It is known for its warm weather(it was mid 60's-70 when we were there), gazpacho(not a fan, cold tomato pudding stuff), orange trees, and much Muslim influence in architecture and design especially. On our way down there we stopped in Merida. Merida is one of the oldest cities founded in 25 B.C. by the Romans. It was the Roman capital of Spain. They built temples, theaters, and aquaducts. Most of these still remain in parts today. We first crossed an 800 meter Roman bridge. Before I found out it was 800 meters, I said to people "Oh I bet this is about 800 M, I could do intervals on it!" Just an aside, anyway. As we walked up to the main ruin, the teatro and ampitheater, we passed the Temple of Diana. It was just sitting there amongst the newer buildings. That's how it was everywhere in Merida. Roman ruins randomly all throughout the city. The theater was pretty cool, still very much intact. My friend Emily and I even acted out a little play on the stage there. We took a huge group picture there, that the one with 46 people if you couldn't figure it out!
Sevilla
Oh beautiful Sevilla, a big city, surrounded by the Guadalquivir River. It had the feeling of a busy, lively city. There were always many people out and about. Sevilla is famous for their Flamenco which we were privileged to see a show! That is where the movie come from. It was by far the most cultural activity I have done in Spain. We sat in this little theater and watched an hour and a half of Flamenco dancing. The dancers loved what they did, it was so fun to watch their passion for the dance. The would yell Ole! at the end of every song and then wait for all of us to yell it back, it was sweet. We visited the Sevilla Cathedral. It is the largest Gothic Cathedral in the world. It is famous because it holds the bones of Christopher Columbus( which have been switched from here, to Cuba, back here, and there, and now here?!) We got to climb the bell tower which was built by the Moors, where the cathedral stands was originally a Mosque, and they kept the tower. It had 36 ramps built large enough for horses to go up to the top. We could see the whole city up there, and that's where I was shocked at how big it really was. After the Cathedral we headed right next door to the Alcazar, built by Pedro the Cruel. Or Pedro the Great, depending on which side of the sword you were! It was highly influenced by Muslim design, Mudejar. (this is our favorite word because it was everywhere in the south, we made up a language and pose) The most exquisite thing were the gardens. Keep in mind that we weren't there in the summer so none of the jardines are completely full, but they are still great. It was a day of about 70 degrees, and they had fountains, baths, orange trees, myrtle bushes(smell really good). After those two places we had free time, which was basically the whole day. Callie Clark, Emily Bourne, and I walked around trying to find a Flamenco club, when we came upon a bike rental place. We looked at each other all with the same idea, and walked over to it, to rent our cruisers! We rode for about three hours around the whole city! We rode through jardines shaded with trees, and along the river, where we stopped to talk with some Sevillians! It was the funnest thing, and a great was to see a lot. My other favorite thing about Sevilla was waking up early and running along the river. In the morning there were tons of men out rowing, it was really cool. The city was very vibrant.