Córdoba and La Mezquita

The last city Ab and I toured in the south of Spain during our Easter vacation trip was Cordoba. We got hooked up with an amazing hostel, so I have to give it its props online. Hostel Alcazar... a family operation run by a guy named Fernando. We ordered a double room with a shared bathroom, and he let us have an attic room complete with its own outdoor balcony and also a private bathroom! The balcony was so cozy, and the weather was so hot that every night we were there we enjoyed some time outside, having a glass of wine, eating a few snacks, listening to the quiet of the ancient old neighborhood, and smelling the sweet fragrances of the orange trees and flowers that are in no short supply in the Andalusian city. It was really lovely.

While we were there, Ab and I met a Belgian couple who roomed across the balcony from us. We had a nice time sharing with them the wonderful weather out on our terrace, some great German beer and cheap Spanish wine, and some illuminating conversation. I wish both Theo and Marlen well, and I hope you have a great crop this year with your fruit farm!

Cordoba is famous for its cathedral, La Mezquita, and its mix of Christian and Muslim architecture. It was originally a mosque built by the Muslims when they ruled Spain long ago, and when the Christian kings took over Spain in the 15th century they turned La Mezquita into a Christian church. Because the pillars inside La Mezquita are so marvelous, they left them intact and added their own Christian decorations and construction alongside these pillars and arches, and then they built a tower and castle walls around the giant cathedral. Walking through the series of arches was honestly awe inspiring. Pictures were a little tough, as they are in most cathedrals, because of the lack of good lighting. We made due however, and we even managed to get free entry to the place because it was a Saturday. We're such savvy tourists! Ha.

Besides La Mezquita, we also visited a castle/palace complex very near our hostel called the Alcazar. The gardens there were quite lovely, and the flowers in the south of Spain are plentiful and vibrant (even though we arrived a little early in spring). One of Cordoba's coolest cultural celebrations is its yearly 'patio decoration contest'. There are many many open air patios inside the ancient buildings and houses of the city. There is amazing sun there in the south of Spain, and so it's perfect conditions for all the fruit, olives, and flowers they have there. Cordobans love to decorate their nice white walled patios with potted flowers of all kinds, trees, shrubs, fountains, and many other things. The Islamic, as well as Jewish, influence on the culture, art, and architecture make for some unique and truly beautiful designs. The 80 plus degree weather in March didn't hurt either.

Probably Abby and my favorite city in the south. Worth any kind of visit at any time.

Granada and the Alhambra

Our Easter vacation trip through the south of Spain took us to another major destination, one with a famous palace complex built by both Muslims and Christians. The city is Granada and the palaces are La Alhambra, located on a tall hill near the center of the city. La Alhambra consists of incredible gardens, Christian towers and castles, and exquisite Islamic palaces. The fountains, patios, and gardens of La Alhambra, as well as its location on top of the city of Granada providing startling views of the city, the beautiful white housed neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city, and the surrounding white-capped Sierra Nevada Mountains, are some of the most famous and most lovely sights in all of Spain.

Gibraltar and the Top of the Rock

Gibraltar is, more than anything, a strange eclectic place. Where else can you find a giant rock/cliff/mountain which is one of the ancient Pillars of Hercules, a strait between the continents of Africa and Europe of about 13 km or 8 miles which also connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Mediterranean Sea, an English colony that's been set right smack in the middle of a beautiful Spanish coastline since the 1700s, and to top it all off--the number one tourist attraction in the area is the army of apes who live on top of The Rock?

The people speak English--though an English / South African / Spanish dialect--and the city is nothing more than a big port, an airport with a runway that acts as the border between 'England' and Spain, a few nice touristic streets, and The Rock, the mountain in the middle of the city where there are funiculars that charge you an arm and a leg to go up and see the sights. Are the sights worth it? Yep.



We rode the funicular to the top and caught the views from the observatory decks. The bay area was very pretty. The nearby towns weren't very big, though I think they're visited by some tourists who like to surf to do water sports. Abby and I stayed in the Spanish town across the border, La Linea de la Concepcion, because we didn't want to pay British pounds.

Check out the mountains in the background. Those are the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, Africa. We felt pretty special that we could see them quite clearly from where we were at.

Here's the apes. They were the big butt variety... just how I like em. They were all different shapes, sizes, ages, and flavors. Most of them were pretty active, and we were repeatedly warned not to give them food and to be careful with our things around them. They like to snatch at anything resembling a baggy or anything smelling of food.


Really, though, they weren't afraid of us at all. They were so accustomed to people and tourists around them constantly that we didn't faze them in the slightest. Unfortunately, this means that their way of life will never be natural, and they'll continue to become more influenced and threatened, no doubt, by interaction with humans. At least being primates, they have a damn good time at it all, or at least it seems that way.


Here the crazy buggers are catching a ride on a car. They really loved the windshield wipers, and it given the chance, they probably would have driven down the mountain.
There were quite a few little ones also. They rode on the backs of the big ones and were very cute and entertaining.

A Few More from Semana Santa in Sevilla

Here is the Torre del Oro (Tower of Gold) during sunset. It's situated near the river Guadalquivir and used to be an important lookout tower and fort.

We had a tour of the famous bullfighting ring in Sevilla, and though the first day of the bullfighting season was the very Easter Sunday that we were there (a little death with the day of Resurrection, anyone?) we didn't go to the fight because it was sold out, and also very expensive.

Here are more 'nazarenos' (explained below...) marching through the city. Some of them are carrying crosses and have their hoods down, while the others have their hoods straight up and are carrying candles which they lit at nighttime.

Here's a nazareno from one of the Sunday processions. Each different brotherhood has a different costume with their respective symbol on it. These white costumes were for the Resurrection, though they look eerily similar to the infamous robes worn by members of the KKK from the U.S.

Here is probably the most famous of all of the floats in the processions from Sevilla. This is the Virgin of La Macarena. The float, with Mary crying for Jesus, surrounded by candles, while wearing a giant flowing dress, was carried during the early morning/late night procession for Good Friday. Now the float is sitting in its respective church (the church of the Virgin of La Macarena), which was also quite beautiful.

Here is a closeup of the Virgin of La Macarena.

More Pictures from Sevilla

Semana Santa en Sevilla

Sevilla, the capital of the southern most autonomous community in Spain (Andalucia), is the country's third largest city and it holds its largest most elaborate Holy Week celebration. There were hoards and hoards of people (millions no doubt) and every day and night was like a big party because, in fact, it was.

Abby and I booked a room months and months in advance, because we knew that we wanted to see the celebration. We didn't realize that 'Residencia' (the name of the place that we booked) literally meant Residence... for university students. We stayed in a college dorm. It was actually quite new though... complete with kitchenette, internet connection, and no hot water.


The city was swarming with tourists from all over the world. Only at night did I notice the crowd turn more Spanish: the Spanish own the nightlife. This nightlife was something different though. The tradition there during Holy Week is as follows: there are many brotherhoods which have allegiances to different churches in their respective cities (this is not as creepy as it sounds). Men and women and kids can be in these brotherhoods, and, as far as I know, it only means that they have to do one thing: march in the procession parades during Holy Week. Each brotherhood marches from their church to somewhere in the center of town (in Sevilla this was their massive cathedral) and then march back to their church again. All the people in the brotherhood dress up in their hooded robes (all of them with the specific crest, design, and color of their brotherhood).

These robes look like the outfit the KKK wears. This tradition is older than the KKK, however, and so if you take part in the procession and wear this robe with the pointed hat you are definitely looked up to.

So, there are hundreds sometimes thousands of these 'nazarenos' from the brotherhood wearing the outfit, carrying candles, hoisting wooden crosses, and many of them walking barefoot through the narrow twisted city streets of Sevilla on their way from their church to the cathedral and back again. Sometimes their processions took four hours, six hours, and longer! The main reason they took so long was not only the number of 'nazarenos', but the fact that they hauled along these large, elaborately decorated floats (pasos) depicting Jesus Christ and the the Virgin Mary. Depending on the day and time, these floats would show what had happened on that specific day during the Holy Week. As you can see in the pictures below, these floats had a lot of gold, they were very big (and no doubt heavy too), and they were very slow. Also, these were the things that everyone wanted to see. You watch 1200 'nazarenos' go by and you start to get antsy to see something else.

Back in March!

We have been incredibly busy as of late. I have not been able to write many blogs, and so I am a bit behind. Spring is here. The weather is consistently in the 60s everyday (though some days it does decide to rain a little bit) and the flowers and blooming all over town. The grass is bright green, the birds are everywhere, the cafes have put out the chairs and tables on their terraces, and the people are in better moods overall.




These pictures are of us and our friends. Abby's friend Tina from California came to visit us. In the first picture she and Abby are on one of the tapas streets in town with our Italian friend from the program Luisa. The second picture they are there with our English friend Stuart from the program. And in the third they are having my famous tortilla dinner with Tim (New Mexico) from the program.

London, England

Abby and I took an extra day off of class and went to London, England, for three days. It was a short trip, but we were really busy running around and seeing everything. London is a huge city; and though it has some good public transportation options, it stills takes a little while to get around.

We had the luck to stay with a friend of Abby's while we were there. Katie, who lives with her boyfriend in Darenth (an hour east of London), came and picked us up at Gatwick airport even! Which was fantastic! Thanks again Katie and Wayne for being so nice to us!

We were able to take the train from Darenth to the center of London, and on the first night Katie gave us a tour, including a walk along the Thames River (which the British call the 'Tems', I learned). There are many monuments along the river, and so we caught our first sight of them the very first night. I remember that the weather was really cold and windy, which was exactly what we were in store for the next two days also.

She also took us by Buckingham Palace, a residence of the Queen of England. We didn't see the changing of the guards though... we were too late in the day.

Fortunately, though, we were able to get a picture with a London guard. This guy was stationed outside of the royal stables, which were in the area of Buckingham Palace and parliament. It's true: they're not supposed to move. Though I did see him nod at someone who asked to take a picture.
Finally... a picture with the big guy. One of my inherit goals as a Ben is now accomplished. Now that I've taken a picture with 'Big Ben' I can focus on other Ben goals: invent something and contribute to the US Constitution, and host a gameshow with Jimmie Kimmel rarely losing to the competition--not to mention doing Visine eyedrops commercials.


Here above is Westminster Abbey. Abby and I didn´t arrive in time to visit the church during visiting hours, and so we went to a service instead! We heard brilliant music from several local choirs. It wasn´t a regular mass, and they played a lot of special music, which was good for me. I couldn´t take pictures of the inside, however, because I felt bad with so many people there and so many ushers keeping watch. The security for this church was much more than what I´ve seen in the numerous Spanish churches I´ve visited. They wanted to make sure that the service was uninterrupted I think by tourists and the like.
I have to tell you though that the Abbey was probably the most beautiful gothic style church I have ever been in. The chapels and the corridors were absolutely pristine. It´s size wasn´t so astounding as the pilars and all of the marble statues situated throughout the corridors were.
Here's another shot of parliament (Big Ben is the bell in the tower) and the London Eye in the background. The London Eye is a giant ferris wheel directly next to the Thames River. The tower was much more impressive than I thought it would be. The color that shines off it at night is very illuminating, and it really shows off the exquisite design of the structure. The most impressive part for me was its detail and its condition. Most everything in London was very well conditioned.

Here´s me with the Thames River and St. Paul´s Cathedral in the background. St. Paul´s is a definite landmark along the river, along with the dozen or so bridges that stretch across, making London´s centre accesible from all areas of the vast city.
Here above is Shakespeare´s Globe Theatre! It was one of the most interesting things Ab and I saw in London. It was a reproduction of the original theatre, made in nearly the same location. The project was started by an American back in 1950 or so, when he discovered that London had nothing to commemorate the great writer or his famous theatre house. He started raising money with no help from the State, and the production wasn´t finished until 1997! Unfortunately we learned that he died before it was even finished. I think he would be proud of what it is today though.

We had a tour of the place, which was constructed in the manner that the original (from 1600 would have been constructed). They used goat hair to paint, big tall wooden beams for support, and installed a thatch roof. The original thatch roof was the reason why the Globe Theatre actually burned down during Shakespeare´s life (thereafter they rebuilt it), and of course today in London it would have been against safety standards. So they installed a modern sprinkler system to go on top of the thatch roof.

The theatre still has the traditional set up for those going to see the plays. Though the stage is covered, there is an open area (with an open roof), and this is where the people paying the lowest amount to see the show would stand (sometimes for as long as three hours!) to watch. The seats (there were three decks of them) were covered by roof, of course, and they were for customers paying a little bit more. Strangely enough, the royal seats in the theatre were actually behind the actors on stage in a center location. I guess this is because they wanted everyone to see them.

Return to Vitoria

Abby, our friend Kara, and I traveled to nearby Vitoria, the capital of the Basque Country, to visit a cathedral that is under restoration. It was a special situation because most cathedrals in restoration aren't open for visitors. This cathedral is an exception. We had to get reservations ahead of time, and when we got there we had to wear helmets for the tour! It was fantastic. We walked through the cathedral on scaffolding and saw all of the different projects inside the giant church.

Besides the cathedral, we also toured the city a little bit also. The Basque Country is the autonomous community in Spain directly above La Rioja, so it shares a similar climate and culture for great tapas and food. This tapa shown above was probably one of the best I have ever eaten. I don't know it's specific name, but I can tell you the contents. Bread on the bottom, then a slice of jamon serrano (special Spanish ham), then some really rich goat cheese, and on top a caramelized onion. I think they call it pure heaven... I'm not sure.

Here is a typical Spanish cafe at around midday (not really lunch time, not really breakfast time). And when it's not mealtime in Spain, that means that it's perfect time for tapas; so, you can see all the tapas out on dishes. You don't even have to know Spanish... just look, find something good, and point.

Here is a main plaza in Vitoria where they had an afternoon street sale the day we were there (Sunday). I bought a book at one of the tables: El Alquimista (in English, The Alquemist). I've read it in English, and it's a pretty straightforward read, so I thought I'd read it in Spanish too. Abby got the same book and we're now reading it together.

Here is me standing in front of the new cathedral in Vitoria. We didn't get to go inside this one... it's not the old one under restoration that we toured... This is the new cathedral they built after the Basque Country became an autonomous community of Spain and Vitoria became it's capital. They decided that they needed a new bigger cathedral, so they built this monstrosity.