Hey everyone, Thanks for reading. Ill be back in the states on june 1. Thanks to everyone who made the trip possible. Keep in touch!

Cordoba and the Alhambra

These pictures wont blow up but there is another post below it if you want to.

Cordoba

Is a city about two hours from Granada. Our group only spent a day in the city, so there really was only time for one major excursion which was of the "Cathedral" of Cordoba. The reason I am hesitant to use the word Cathedral is because the Cathedral of Cordoba is really a giant mosque. (Similiar to Sevilla)

What I have gathered is that the Moorish (muslim) caliphs first came to Spain in 711 and quickly occupied 3/4 of the Iberian peninsula. Cordoba was the seat of power for the "muslims" in spain during thier golden age which seems to be from the 800s to the 1100s. The architecture used here is a fusion of styles that is called "mudejar" influenced by gothic and arabic construction. A signature is the horseshoe arch. Below is a mudejar gateway.

The mosque is abosolutely enormous. The structure is a huge rectangular shape like a large football field. The interior is uniform and contains thousands of red and white repeating horseshoe arches. The space reminded me of a forest.

Because of infighting, the Caliphate in spain began to weaken and the northern borders began to receed to the Christians attacking from the north. Sevilla and Cordoba were lost to the Caliphate by the 1200s, leaving only a small amount of territory still under "muslim" control. By this time a new stronghold was bieng built in Granada called the Alhambra that would hold for the next 200 years.

Alhambra

I really dont think that they were messing around when they built this thing. The huge complex is situated atop a steep hill in a location that is surrounded by cliffs, mountains, and a large manmade wall that runs through upper Granada.

There is a lot to say about the Alhambra, but my favorite thing is the use of water inside the complex walls. I was told that this culture valued the properties of water greatly. Water was highly respected for it´s lifegiving properties, its cooling properties, it´s ability to mirror, and its relaxing sound as it trickles. Thus the engineers and architects built extensive and complex systems (the ruins exist all around Granada) to capture water from the mountains and pipe it into the Fortress. Everwhere one looks in the Alhambra water is used to: give life (water the extensive gardens, cooking uses, drinking), cool (large shallow pools and running rivulets act as effective airconditioning), Mirror (water is used aesthetically to mirror structures as in the Taj Mahal), and relax with sound in fountains and rivulets.

Danny
my roomate sometimes fancys himself a singer. Whilst inside the Alhambra he took advantage of the good acaustics in one of the courtyards. He sang some ridiculous Whitney Houston song for the 70 or 80 people present. Some people were entertained, others were not. (danny in action below, I really like the faces of the tour group behind him.

Antonio "Jagerbombz"

poses. Litterally translated (tower of Arms)

Old army barracks in the Alhambra below.

The Christians retook granada in the year 1492, thus uniting Spain under one Christian Kingdom.
To me the Alhambra is a reflection of a lost culture that was very advanced and interesting. This culture occupied a significant amount of land in mainland christian europe for over 800 years(technically from 711 to 1492). The cultural aftershock of this culture still echoes everywhere I have went in spain. A really interesting fusion of culture and ethnic makeup has been created here.



Below is a door of the "cathedral" of cordoba. Notice the "arabic" design and the English letters. (even though Im not sure what they say)

The old minaret converted into a bell tower.
I saw a bullfight last weekend but I really dont care to comment.

The Southern Coast Roadtrip part uno post 19

The beginning of May we had another weeklong break. I was in class one day and a classmate proposed that we go camping in Portugal. I began planning campsites etc, but I soon realized that everyone else in the group prefered that I didnt plan. We decided to rent a car and take care of the rest of the details later while driving.

I am going to post a lot about this trip so take your time. Most of the pictures are from later in the trip. The blinkin maps arent able to be blown up so you can use the one at the top. The pics at the bottom work, but not the ones of tarifa.

Day 1

I was told the day of that we would be four (Jason, me, Caitlin-all americans, and Amy-an Austrailian). Jason and I printed off our reciept for the car and we set off to get the car.

me- "So.. Where do we get the car?"

jason- "At the Airport."

"So the rental car office is in the airport."

"Yeah! of course it is."

"Oh, When does the bus leave."

"Hmm, good question.¨

"Where from?"

"Gee.... I think maybe up here."

Anyway it took a little time but we found the bus for the airport where the alleged rental car was located. Luckily we only had to wait 10 minutes for the bus to arrive.

me- "cool, Wheres the rental car office?"
jason- "where the hell is that reciept I printed off?"

Jason eventually found the receipt but we couldnt find the company in the airport. We hemmed and hawed for a while outiside the doors worrying about what on earth we would do when all of a sudden a loud beat up van with emblem CROWN CARS comes screaming into the parking lot. A shabby looking spanish dude with a bad haircut pops out of the van. And yells in a heavy andaluz accent:

"Venga tios!"

He gave us a ride to the dicreet rental car office and we picked up our car without further problems and drove back into Granada to pick up or camping stuff and the girls. We drove south to the Mediterranian Coast and continued west.

Costa del sol

Is the name given to the region of Coastline around the city of Malaga and is a huge tourist destination mostly for the English. We visited a string of pubs and in every one of them were exclusively full of English people watching Soccer. The spanish people were very friendly though because I think that they were not used to bieng adressed in Spanish by the tourists. As portugal was our destination, we decided not to spend much time here.

We found a campsite outside of Fuengirola, pitched the tent, made a fire, and roasted some weenies just like back home.

Costs

120€ all told for a rental car for 5 days! ( we rented a Peugoet Partner)

20€ campsite for 4

50 € 4 days worth of food for 4

1.58€ package of weenies

Day 2

Began with a beachvisit to Estepona. We made a short detour to Casares, and had coffee and lunch. We continued driving until we neared the straight of Gibralter. The town of Gibraltar it seems is actually owned by the British, and we ended up bypassing it.

Tarifa

If you look at the map you can see on the very tip of the isthmus, a small town called Tarifa. The area around Tarifa is covered with wind generators. Tarifa has remarkably steady and strong winds, and is one of the world´s capitals for Windsurfing and Kiting. Hundreds of kites out on the beach. Real amazing to me. If you look at the backround of the first and third pictures down you can see the mountains of Morroco in Africa.
left: Jason center: Amy Right: Caitlin

We continued up the coast toward Cadiz stopping at some small walled towns along the way. (There are many of these around this region). Cadiz has a remarkable Cathedral (basilica?) that is worth going out of ones way to see. We camped north of Cadiz after searching few hours in the dark for a campsite.

Costs

Campsite 20€ for 4

Day 3

We got a later start this day, and crossed the Portuguese border in early afternoon. We were told that Portuguese language was similiar to spanish, but I really think that whomever says that is hasn´t heard spoken portuguese. To me it sounds like a drunken dutchman is trying to speak french when I hear portuguese.

The architecture is similiar but the towns actually seemed tidier than the spanish towns nearby. Portugual was really a mystery to me because I know virtually nothing about the History of ethnic makeup of the people here.

The rest of the day was mostly spent at the beach. Throughout the trip I was hasseling the rest of the group about putting up camp in the light. It was a minor thing of contention between myself and some of the group who wanted to drive into the night and just sleep wherever.

The night of the flood

We got going a little late from the beach and drove about an hour as the sun set. We set up camp in the below area and messed around walking in the muck trying to find a beach. We thought it was cool that the vegetation was spongy. Also we thought it curious that there was a boathouse on stilts. Also a bunch of boats were beached. Anyway the general conception was that we should camp here.Turns out that we were camping in the tide plain. Jason and I had a blast watching the tide roll in. We had to pack up camp and move around 3 a.m. At this point we had no idea where to sleep, at this point Amy really pulled through and took the wheel and drove a few hours until we arrived in Lagos. We parked in a parking lot in the darkness and slept in the car until dawn. Our car was a complete mess because we had to rush to throw all of our camping stuff in the car before we got soaked by the tide. We didnt sleep very comfortably or very much. Jason and I were both a little hung over from watching the tide. The scene is pretty comical to me right now, but was a little dark at the time. We woke up at dawn and drove a short distance in hope of finding a beach to sleep at. We found a string of real nice beaches in Lagos. All the pics below are of Lagos.

a

The Southern Coast Roadtrip part dos

Day 4

Well, we spent all day on the beaches in Lagos. There is a lot of cool stuff to explore if you are brave enough to swim around in the rocky coves. We struck off north along the eastern coast of Portugual to find somewhere else to hang out. Caitlin turned off the highway on a small little dirt road and we found this beautiful meadow filled with flowers in the Portuguese hills next to the Atlantic. We set up camp here and took the walk to the beach.


We walked up to the beach (below) which turned out to be a small and hidden surfer´s haven.



Day 5


The meadows were ablaze with purple and yellow flowers.
We were running out of food, but had plenty of Nutella (nutbutter) and learned that it goes good with everything. Jason used this logic to engineer a snack involving a cookie, nutbutter, and a canned oyster. He gagged a little before he could swallow it.We struck inland with plans to go ?


At this point it had been 4 days without a shower, we didnt have any cups so I had to drink wine out of a bowl. When I was chopping wood and a piece flew up and nicked my chin.
We stopped in another walled city in portugal named Serpa. This place was awesome. The people in Portugal are very nice and inviting, and I suspect it is because they do not experience tourism in waves as spain does. There were really no tourists in sight here.

We drove into the night and found this fascinating little town in the middle of nowhere that was having their fair. The town was real small, and we were the only foriegners out on the streets. We walked around and stumbled upon the main square where, you guessed it, A portuguese Bon Jovi cover band was performing amidst a confused looking crowd. We then did the bumper cars and struck off on the road again.

This castle was pretty cool.mejason
We drove through sevilla only with minor navigational difficulties and arrived in Granada at about 7 am, where we returned our car and slept for a while.

Day 4

Day 5
Costs

Total costs per person for campsites, food, gas, rental car for the 5 days, 125€

Sevilla 2 post 17

This trip to Sevilla was organized by our study abroad Group ISA. This post is mostly about history and architecture.

Itinerary

We spent two nights in Sevilla (the first of which was my birthday). The first day was dedicated to the major historical sites in the city: Sevillan Cathedral and the Alcazar. The second day was spent in Paque Maria Louisa, where the famous plaza de españa is. My camera died during the first day, so I dont have any photos of the second.

History of Sevilla

The fact that large amounts of money has historically flown through Sevilla is pretty evident. The town is full of expensive and elaborate architecture, and is real tidy. Sevillanos are pretty proud to be from Sevilla.

Colonial

Soon after the discovery of the new world by Christopher Columbus in 1492, Spain´s power strengthened from the influx of Colonial assets from the Americas. During this time of colonial expansion, it seems that Sevilla was the most important city in Spain because of it´s geographic location. The Guadlquivir river runs through Sevilla, and was large enough to accomodate the large vessels that floated between the colonies and Spain. Sevilla was the most inland port, and therefore, the most important center of trade influx. Sevilla was the city in Europe during Spain´s colonial heyday. Interestingly, the Architecture of Sevilla is very distict during this time because it seems to be influenced by the New World. More pics of this later. Below a famous Painting of Mary and the New World interests.The frase PLUS-ULTRA is pretty common in the Colonial Architecture around the city. Our tourguide told us that it means there is more in latin. This refers to the newfound land the Spanish (Christopher Columbus) found. I thought this pretty profound.

Pre Colonial
If one is interested in architecture, the Alcazar is the place to go in Sevilla. The Alcazar is the Palace that housed whomever was in rule. The palace is a history lesson in Architecture, containing Moorish, Gothic, and 16th century building. Sevilla, like most other cities in southern spain has changed hands between the Romans, Moors, and Christians. So all of these elements are seen in the architecture. Below examples from the Alcazar. First the Gothic with the rib vaults and pointed arches. Next the moorish false arches and plaster facades. In the moorish section of the palace, between the capitals and arches was placed a layer of lead to prevent earthquakes from damaging the palace. Lastly the Renniasance architecture at the enterance.

Cathedral
Is absolutely massive. It is very interesting because it was previously a Mosque. I am unsure when the Cathedral was completed, but I would guess that it was during the Colonial Craze when the cities coffers were bieng pumped full. The work done here is mindblowing. But Im not a huge fan of the interior because the space is used very inefficiently. Christopher Columbus is buried here. The tourguide dispelled the myth that Christopher Columbus died a pauper. The truth is that he died in fame as one of the richest men in Spain. The Cathedral is chalk full of gold leaf, expensive marble, and New World silver. Very awe inpiring, but I get a nasty aftertaste from the materialism I saw in the Cathedral. A part of Arabic mosque architecture is the Minaret ( a large tower). Of course the old minaret was also converted to the appropriate style (see below).
The second photo below is of the Cathedral itself and it´s supportive buttresses.


Pretty interesting time in Sevilla. However the night of my birthday, we were walking to another bar when I stepped into a tree planter of mud, and I sunk in about a foot. But it was pretty funny so I decided to keep the new fad for the rest of the night. This guitarist was really quite good, and I bought his CD.