Sevilla/Seville
Burning question: It is Sevilla or Seville?!!?!!!
Sevilla is a large city in Spain known for it's MANY cathedrals, rich history and a home to at least three Starbucks. If you an English speaker, you gringos can pronounce it: "Sa-vill". If you want to sound like a real Espanola, pronounce it: "Saaa-bee-ya". Question answered.
Sevilla is an absolutely gorgeous city a little bigger than Granada and has a wonderful river flowing through it. I LOVE SEVILLA!!! Holy crap it is beautiful. First we unloaded our things into our fancy-pants hotel then set out to Plaza de Espana.
As you can tell by the excessive amount of pictures, this was the prettiest place we visited!!
In the plaza, there are mosaics of each of the other major cities in Spain. Here is Granada!!
Next stop was the Cathedral of Sevilla. This is the third largest church in THE WHOLE WORLD! This was really amazing, it took HUNDREDS of years to build. It is hard for me to comprehend that NO ONE person saw the entire completion of the cathedral. The day it was finished, not a single person had been there the day it was started. Im very thankful for the patience each artist who had a part in the creation. Whether you like art and history or not, there is no way you'll go into this cathedral without your mouth dropping at SOME point. It's simply amazing.
A lot of carriage rides are given in Sevilla, these little guys wait around all day for customers!
Check out the stained glass windows, the natural lighting...
the details in the marble, wood and iron gates,
THE CEILING!!!! How long could this all possibly have taken!?!!!!
35 little ramps up to the top of a bell tower. This view is overlooking the courtyard of the cathedral.
These people looking like ants!
All of this is still part of the Cathedral of Sevilla!!
We ate dinner at a very popular tapas restaurant and spend the night out in Sevilla! If I could live in Sevilla for a summer, I wouldn't think twice. It's absolutely breathtaking. (Not this summer though, I miss my fam too much!)
The bridge and river of Sevilla at night. SOOOOO PRETTY!!!
Cordoba
Getting home from the bars at 5am and waking back up two hours later for a full day of touring is not recommended. But I managed. I'm just trying to be an Espanola lady ;)
Cordoba is famous for it's mezquita. A LONG ASS TIME AGO, most of southern Spain was ruled by the Arabic/Muslims. After a while, the Christians took over a lot of cities and destroyed the Muslim's culture/art/historical monuments etc... How rude, I know.
BUT, just like La Alhambra in Granada, in Cordoba there are some standing Arabic/Muslim cultural buildings! Some really smart and nice Christian ruler must have said "NO!" to the idea of destroying these buildings of other religions. I again, thank them. It's an amazing place!
The bridge into the city
Arabic columns in the mezquita
The small windows and ceiling in the mezquita. How detailed...
Not ready to leave, the river is so gorgeous
This is the trophy I'm hoping my Black Katt girls are going to win in December at Nationals. GOLD!! FOR FIRST IN THE NATION!!!!!!
The mezquita in Cordoba was a giant place of worship for the Muslim religion. When the Christians reconquered Cordoba, they kept this mezquita and but made a few additions of their own.
Here is the controversy:
1. Some believe that the Christians were very nice and kept most of the Arabic architecture as a gesture of peace. I am more of an optimistic, so I like this idea.
2. Others believe that the Christians were being butt-holes because they tore out the middle of this gorgeous Arabic building and made their own little chapel.
The choice is yours. Either way, it is an eery place to be in. Two religions and cultures colliding in one building gives you a feeling you just cant reproduce.
And then we went home. About 30 minutes from Granada our bus broke down. Cool.
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