Hello everyone!
I know it has been quite a while since I have posted anything, and I apologize. I have been busy traveling and doing homework! Craziness. Since my last post I have been to Córdoba, Ronda and Barcelona within Spain, and now yesterday I returned from Paris! I am going to keep this blog contained to Córdoba and Ronda though just so as not to overwhelm anyone, myself included! At the end I will catch you up on what’s going on in Sevilla right now so I don’t get too far behind. Feel free to skip ahead if you wish!
Córdoba: Alright, Córdoba was a day trip that I took with my program here, CIEE and it was very nice. Córdoba is only about an hour and a half away, and its main attraction is the mezquita (mosque), a building dedicated to Islam gatherings, reflection and education. It is a gorgeous complex; you initially walk into a courtyard filled with orange trees and small waterways. The alminar (tower?) stands proudly on one side and the entrance to the mezquita is a beautiful mosaic-covered arch on the other side. Immediately upon entering the mezquita you understand the importance and popularity of the building after hundreds of years. The entire building is a maze of arches painted in candy-striped brick red and cream that make it seem as if you were in a maze of a child’s play land. But it is beautiful. There are mosaics on the wall, and the floor is beautifully tiled and the light is dim enough to make you feel very relaxed and peaceful. Walking around to the other side is the enclosed arch that is used to indicate the direction to Mecca. Just around the corner, surprisingly, is a small chapel. When the Spanish took over Al-Alandalus and renamed it Andalusia, they destroyed almost all of the mezquitas and build churches on the same location. Fortunately, they realized the beauty of a few of the larger ones and just decided to build churches and chapels within them to “Christianize” them. So that’s what happened here. There is even a larger altar and worship space directly in the middle of the mezquita which was very confusing. The mixture of architecture and cultural styles was so different, but it was really interesting.
After visiting the mezquita, we went to a Jewish synagogue, one of the oldest in southern Spain. The Muslims in Córdoba, during their rule, were very accepting of Jews and Christians, so it was an extremely diverse city until the Catholic monarchs kicked everybody out who refused to convert to Christianity. That was also a beautiful building. It was simple, but I feel sometimes that simplicity is better within a worship space. I get a little overwhelmed by the Romanic, romantic and renaissance styles of covering every inch of space in decoration and art, even though it may be pretty.
The rest of the day was given to us for free time to explore. I hung out with my friends from Olaf and a few others from the program. We wandered the streets for a while, looked in the shops, and enjoyed the sunshine. We stopped in a small restaurant for lunch around 2:30 and had paella in the central courtyard next to a fountain and under the blue sky. Later we had ice cream and walked down to the river and the popular walking bridge. It was a really relaxing day, and nice to see the natural lands just beyond the river. I had forgotten how much I missed the peace and quiet of nature. Sevilla is wonderful, but it is a city filled with people, cars, buses and noise; it was nice to almost see the country again.
On our way back the program took a short stop at a winery in a small town outside Córdoba. We had a tour of the winery and the buildings where they ferment, distill and bottle the wine. The barn filled with wine barrels was really neat; I’ll put pictures up on my website. Then we were all treated to a short wine-tasting session. They gave us three little samples to try, one dry, one sweet, and one dessert wine. The first two were good, but the last one did not appeal to me at all. It basically tasted like liquefied raisins, which essential is what it was. It was a good amount of wine though, enough to make people sleepy on the way home during siesta time (which was a great strategy on the part of the program leaders to keep us quiet on the bus).
Ronda: My trip to Ronda was a very spontaneous one. It was a weekend when not many people had plans, but we didn’t all have too much to do either. So on Friday night my friends and I decided we should go somewhere the next day. We met at the bus station at 9 am the next day to decide where. Sean and Molly had heard a lot of good things about Ronda so that was the winner. I had no clue, and neither did Dan so we just smiled and agreed and bought our tickets to Ronda. On our way there I knew we’d made the right decision because we were driving through the mountains and past huge cliffs of limestone and over great green valleys filled with goats and sheep. Just the ride there was worth the whole trip. It was about two and half hours by bus so we got there around noon. The day was slightly rainy and chilly but we didn’t mind. The big attraction of Ronda is the fact that the town is split in two by a huge cavernous valley with a river and waterfalls below, but it is joined by a gorgeous bridge right at the top called the New Bridge even though it’s a couple hundred years old. The views were spectacular! The town in general was very quaint and old-fashioned and there was plenty to see. We walked around a while and found a cheap place to eat a good meal and warm up a bit. Then we went in a museum which used to be an old palace. The building was gorgeous, and there was a whole exhibit on history of the world (if anyone can put that into one exhibit, the Spanish can).
Later on we walked down some huge hills (to the great excitement of Sean, he loves hills…) to get a better view of the bridge. It was chilly so the walk warmed us up a bit, especially when we had to go back up! The trails went right along the edge of the cliffs so it was a spectacular view. There were a few other tourists around but at one point we were approached by a local who had a LOT to say. He asked where we were from and why were we in Ronda and told us there’s a good tea shop up the road and let us know that he had a cousin in Sevilla and did we know him? And by the way it’s chilly—we should go visit his friend at the tea shop. He was very amusing; he practically followed us up the entire path. Back at the top, we took a short trip down underneath the New Bridge to the part where they constructed it. That’s kind of confusing, but you’ll understand when I get the pictures to put. Unfortunately my camera died, as did Sean’s and Dan’s, so we were all relying on Molly to take really good pictures! Sean took it from her for a while to ensure that himself. Molly and I were getting cold and wanted some coffee so went to the nearby Café de Indias while Sean and Dan walked down a really big hill nearly to the river at the bottom of the ravine. They took Molly’s camera and assured her they wouldn’t drop it in the river. They came back safely and in time to walk back to catch our bus back to Sevilla.
Sevilla: So now I am back in Sevilla after Paris (I will write about that soon). Before our break I was mostly doing normal school things and hanging out with friends, nothing too exciting. My friend Rachel is in an orchestra here and is now good friends with some Spaniards from that so we have been hanging out with them some which is great. It’s rather hard to be friends with Spaniards I have realized. Even though it’s easy to make friends, it’s difficult to plan things and have it work out since they all already have solid groups of friends and regular schedules and places to meet and make plans I feel like I’m intruding if I try to make plans as well. I DO try, but the other difficulty is the fact that talking on the phone is really out of the question. First it’s expensive; you don’t call someone unless you have something specific to say with specific plans. Also it’s just hard to talk in and understand Spanish on the phone. So, I have resorted to texting, but when that fails you just have to give up and try again some other time. It’s kind of frustrating. But I am getting better at it, and more confident. Once I am out with them it’s easy to communicate, it’s just the planning that’s difficult.
This week, Semana Santa, holy week, is probably the most important week of the year in Sevilla. I am very glad to be here and experience the traditions. So far my Spanish mother is feeding me all sorts of yummy traditional foods. This morning I had a piece of bread called a torrija that was soaked in wine and honey and then fried and sprinkled with sugar. It was crazy good. She’s still in the kitchen cooking and baking all sorts of traditional foods.
The reason Semana Santa is so popular is because of the pasos, huge float-type things that are carried by 25-35 men hidden underneath. Each one depicts a scene from the Passion of Christ or the Suffering of Mary. Each church that is officially part of the ceremony has one of each. The pasos are usually decorated with candles and roses and flowers and are just extraordinary. Each one processes from its church to the main avenues of the city up to the cathedral where they rest, light the candles and say prayers and vigils. Many are accompanied by music, and all are preceded by costaleros who wear capuchones, the tall pointy hat that unfortunately reminds Americans of the KKK. Obviously the tradition here in Spain is much much older and has nothing to do with them. The costaleros often carry candles or crosses, and wear different colors according to the paso and scene that they are walking with. I still don’t understand all of it, but I’m sure I will after I see more of it. So far I have only seen the pasos within their church; it rained yesterday so not all of them took the route to the cathedral which was really disappointing.
It has been raining a little bit today which is awful and really weird for Sevilla so hopefully it stops in time for the pasos to process. Tonight is the most important series and I am really excited to see it. There is a madrugada procession starting just after midnight so everything will be lit up and wonderful. The rest of the weekend is also really important so I will try to see a lot of it and take good pictures. Unfortunately I still have homework, but I will get that done eventually! It is really wonderful to be a part of the traditions here, and I am really grateful to my Spanish mother for teaching me all that she has about the week and including me in all of the activities. I will keep you updated, and write my blog about Barcelona and Paris before I go to Italy! Oh craziness. J
Hope you all are well and that the weather warms up soon. Keep me updated on your lives, I miss you all!!
Love love love,
Maia Jo
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