Sevilla, Granada y Ávila

Sevilla, Granada y Ávila

Now to update everyone on my adventures.

Last Friday we went a-visiting to the Andalucía region in southern Spain. It took us 7 hours to get there by bus so I enjoyed every minute I could squeeze out of those trips, gosh darn it! When we arrived in Sevilla, we went and visited the city Cathedral and it's infamous Giralda minaret. Southern Spain was ruled by the Moors for many centuries so when the Christians took over, they "converted" the mosques into cathedrals, leaving the minaret in place. The Cathedral was absolutely beautiful and you will see it some day when I upload pictures. I think I will try to upload some more tomorrow before I leave for San Sebastian The Giralda was neat. Climbed 34 "flights" of ramps to get to the top and take some pictures of the city.

That evening, myself and a few friends went out shopping and I bought some souveneirs although I won´t say what because surprises are so much more fun. We also ate so real Spanish food-- our first truly purchased meals-- and then walked through the Parque de Maria Lousia on the way to the Plaza de España. The park was like a tropical paradise. We did run into a man in the bushes with his pants down that blew us a kiss, but we won´t talk about that. We´ll just say that we VERY hastily sped on our way. The Plaza was gorgeous with beautiful tile work and a huge fountain. The weird thing was that there was no one else there but we tourists. We took some awesome pictures and walked back to the hotel. That´s day 1.

Day 2. We started by packing up and loading the tour bus again. That bus was terrible; the seats had neck "rests" that made your head stick out to where you looked like a chicken. Those things were SO uncomfortable! Anyway, we got in the bus and took a short ride to the Alcázar, a former royal residence of the Moors. Gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. I didn´t take too many pictures here, because I couldn´t capture the beauty of the place on film; I just don´t have the skills. However, I do suggest you google the place and take a looksie for yourself. After wandering around the house and through the magnificent gardens--which had peacocks running around in them-- we departed for a short 2 hour ride to Granda. Upon arriving there, we found some tickets to a Flamenco show that evening. The Flamenco was amazing. The dancers were so passionate about their dances I was in absolute awe. After the show, we walked through the narrow streets of the old Moorish village to a plaza on top of hill facing the hill that the Alhambra was on. The Alhambra at night is a sight to be seen; probably one of the most picuresque vistas I have come across in my life and yes, I did get a picture of that one. 

The next morning we actually went to the Alhambra and spend the whole morning wandering around the royal Moorish residence, the ancient Moorish fortress, the palace of Carlos V and the gardens which make up the Alhambra complex. Absolutely breathtaking. Took lots of pictures here too, although again, I couldn´t capture the beauty on film. The details of it reminded me a lot the Sultan´s palace in the Aladin movies. Haha. After the tour, I nearly missed the bus home because I was buying a really cool souvenir, but as you can see, I made it back. That was my last weekend.

Yesterday I took an afternoon trip to the most important Medieval site remaining in Europe called Ávila. Luckily, it was only an hour train ride away. I really like riding the train; I wish we had some in the US. There wasn´t really much there except the big city wall that´s only been standing there for millinea. We walked around that and of course took pictures. After that we went searching for St. Teresa´s dismembered finger and finally found it after scurrying about her convent in hushed whispers. No picture there. Sorry. After that we just milled around shopping and I made a few more purchases until the train arrived for our trip "home".

And those are my adventures of the past few days. I will try to blog tomorrow before I leave with more details on culture type stuff here in Spain. Hope everyone is well at home! I only have 7 days left in Salamanca!! I´m not ready to go home!