Day trip to Ronda and the Plaza de Toros

Note to self: when you are  about to upload some pictures and a box pops up that says "Are you sure you want to permanently delete these files?" think before clicking OK.  This happened before I transferred the pictures to my computer, so I couldn't even find them in the recycle bin.  So if you want to see pictures of Ronda, Google it: https://www.google.es/search?q=ronda&espv=210&es_sm=93&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=FyaRUt_AFeSk0QXo3YGgDQ&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=666#es_sm=93&espv=210&q=ronda+spain&tbm=isch

My trip today was really cool though.  We took a walking tour and saw really pretty mountains and bridges, the Arab Baths, and the Plaza de Toros.  I learned some interesting things about bullfighting here.  I knew that a lot of Spaniards are disgusted with bullfighting, and hate that this is what their country is known for. But then other people think that it is an important part of their culture.  Today I learned what really happens during these bloody spectacles.

They take bulls that have been out in the fields their whole lives, "living like kings" in the words of my tour guide, and put them in little dark cells for a few hours.  I got to step inside one of them.  It was pretty small for such a big animal.  After being deprived of sunlight for a few hours, the bull is mad.  This is all that it takes: they don't need to drug them or anything else like that.  As soon as the bull sees the sunlight again, he charges, right into the bullring. Then the torero gives them an initial strike with a spear to test out the bull's reaction.  If the bull refuses to fight, they send him to the butcher.  So, although they are purposely making the bull angry and provoking him, they don't actually force him to fight.  The other good thing is that it's possible for the bull to "win" the fight.  If the torero surrenders, they send the bull to the veterinarian, and then after he is healthy again let him go back out into the fields.  I don't think this happens very often, but at least it's a possibility.  The bull is not sentenced to certain death.  Also, it's a requirement for there to be a human hospital and a bull hospital on the premises at the Plaza de Toros.

I'm sure the actual fighting and killing part is really brutal (people have told me that it's hard to watch), but apart from that, the bulls have a pretty sweet life.  The part that actually bothered me most was when the tour guide told us that until the 1920's, the horses didn't have any sort of protection, and during the course of the fight, one bull would kill up to eight horses.  But the arenas were getting way too bloody, so they made a law that said the horses needed to wear a protective garment.  In all, I think bullfighting is a dangerous and disgusting thing that I would never want to witness or be a part of (It reminds me of ancient Rome, where people would watch slaves fight each other to the death for fun. I just don't get the appeal.), but it's less cruel than other things that people do to animals or even other people.  These bulls have way better lives than the animals that are born into factory farms or puppy mills.  I thought it was cool to see where it happened, and how it was an exciting show for some people.

A Sunday Afternoon in Córdoba

Sunday morning we had breakfast in our hotel in Seville, and then rode in the coach bus to Córdoba.  I was excited to go, because we had been learning about Córdoba in our Islamic History class.  We had a bit of free time when we arrived, so my friends and I had tapas for an early lunch. (In cities besides Granada, you have to pay for tapas, but they are a bit bigger and you get to choose what you want.)  Then we met up with our group for our walking tour.  First we walked through the Jewish Quarter, which is where the Jewish community lived a long time ago when Spain had a mix of different religions.  Today there are maybe one or two Jewish families living in Córdoba, not enough to qualify as a community.  In order to officially be considered a community, you need to have at least ten men.
 
 
 

After walking through some of the pretty streets, we headed to the main attraction of Córdoba, the Mezquita.  This is the only mosque that is still standing from the time when Muslims had control over this part of Spain (up until 1492).  Others have been built since then of course, though.  The reason this one survived the destruction of the Spanish Inquisition is that it was actually taken over by Christians two hundred years before the Inquisition.  They had already converted it into a cathedral, so they didn't knock it down when they knocked down all of the other Muslim buildings.  This history makes for a really interesting place to visit today.  For the most part, the building has very Arabic architecture.  There are bunches and bunches of arches made of red brick and white limestone (so they kind of look like candy canes.)  You can still see the part where Muslim holy services were said (and it is designed so that if you stand in a certain spot and talk, your voice carries so that everybody can hear you), and then right next to it is this super Catholic room where they have this fancy tabernacle for use during Corpus Christi parades.  Right in the middle of the building is the actual church part of the Cathedral.  It looks just like pretty much any other church, except you are surrounded by all this Muslim architecture.  It is pretty cool.

 
 
 
 

On the bus ride back to Granada, we drove through so many olive groves.  We stopped at a little shop that reminded me of Held's Cheese in Wisconsin, except instead of cheese they sold olive products.  It was crazy busy, but I bought a few bottles of olive oil to take home, because this is the place to get the best olive oil in the world.
 

La lluvia en Sevilla es una maravilla

Friday morning I woke up bright and early to get on a coach bus to Sevilla with ISA.  As we entered the city, our program director was telling us about how when they had the world fair in 1929, a pavilion was built for each Spanish speaking country.  We got to see some of them from the bus, kind of interesting looking buildings that are now used for government services, offices, schools, and other such things.  Then we got out to see the one for Spain.  It was incredible.  It is very ornate, and circles about halfway around a really pretty plaza.  What made it even better was that the weather was nice.  They were saying that it was going to be really cold this weekend, but I think they have a very different idea of what really cold is than I do.

Then we all got back on the bus and finally arrived at our hotel, which was really luxurious.  It was the same brand as the hotel we stayed at in Madrid.  We had a few hours before our next scheduled activity, and I was eager to explore this beautiful city.  One of my friends had found out that there was an art museum close to where we were staying, so we went to check it out.  I think it's a rule that art museums have to be in really gorgeous buildings.  There were pretty courtyards, and one of the galleries looked like a church it was so big and fancy.  The artwork was interesting, too, and there was a lot more of it than I had been expecting.  It was mostly religious paintings, as well as some scenes typical of Seville.  

Later we met back up with the rest of the group for our activity. They had told us that we were going to see a flamenco show, which was exciting, because Seville is the capital of flamenco.  First the bus drove us around a bit, and we saw a bridge that is famous for looking like a horse, an amusement park, and some of the structures that were set up for the world expo in 1992.  Some people said that it reminded them of EPCOT, and that Seville is the Florida of Spain.

Then we arrived at a University building.  We walked through a cafeteria and were ushered into an auditorium.  Somebody was already speaking, and I thought we were late for the performance.  But I soon realized that this had nothing to do with flamenco.  The speaker was comparing social networks in Spain to those in his home country of Norway.  Then it was the next speaker's turn.  She discussed online shopping in China.  It turned out to be some sort of intercultural forum.  When they were done, they told us that the flamenco show was going to start in five minutes, but we had to leave the auditorium so they could prepare the stage.  

When we were back in the atrium, some other people from our group asked us if we had seen the flamenco show.  Apparently they were pulled into a separate room to watch a documentary about Nicaragua.  Yeah, this whole situation was weird.  But then we finally filed back into the auditorium for the flamenco show, and it was really good.  Afterwards I went out for tapas with some friends, and then turned in early for a luxurious, relaxing night in the hotel.

The next morning after breakfast we set out on our walking tours of Sevilla.  First we went to Alcázar, which was the Muslim fortress of Sevilla.  It is comparable to the Alhambra of Granada, but I think it is even more interesting because of the mix of completely different time periods and styles of architecture.  We learned a lot of things that we already knew, but also some new things too.  

For example, in all of the courtyards there is some type of water, usually a fountain or a reflecting pond.  This was important to keep the buildings cool in the summer.  The way the water reflects the building surrounding it is really pretty, but it is also symbolic too.  It is a reminder that all of the buildings are a reflection of man. They might look really cool now, but they cannot last forever.  But the reflection of the sky in the water is a reflection of God's work, and that is eternal.  Also, the orange trees are planted on a level that is lower than the walking level.  This is because the idea is that life in paradise is so easy, you don't even need to climb up to pick fruit off of treetops.  I thought that was kind of cool.

 

 

I got really camera happy during this tour, but I am ok with that because everything was just so cool looking. Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks so.  There was a couple taking wedding photos here, and I took a snapshot of them, because it just looked so pretty.

 

 

Next we went to the Cathedral.  It's really big.  Almost too big.  It was actually kind of hard to orient yourself in there because it was just so massive.  But I got to see Christopher Columbus's coffin, so that was cool.  There are a lot of places that claim to have his remains, but this one actually has DNA evidence.  They don't have his whole body, though, so the other places might be right, too.

Then we climbed up to the top of the Giralda, which is the big tower.  It was a really pretty view of the city from the top, but it was kind of hard to see it, because the place was just so crowded with people, and you had to actually step up into these little alcoves in order to look out and enjoy the view.

 

After that is was lunch time.  My friends and I went to an Italian restaurant and had pizza, which was nice because I hadn't had Italian food since coming here.  The restaurant actually turned out to be part of a really fancy hotel, with pretty courtyards and terraces, and a really interesting bathroom, so we explored for a bit. At this point my friends were splitting up to go do different things, but I was being indecisive and ended up separated from everybody.  

It didn't even concern me that I was wandering around by myself in a big city I was completely unfamiliar with.  I just wanted to explore.  I stumbled upon the shopping district, which worked out well, because I had forgotten to pack something nice to wear to Los Miserables that night, so I bought a few presents for myself. 

I found my way back to the hotel with enough time to chill for a bit and get ready to go out.  My friends and I took a taxi to where the theater was and found a place to eat around there.  It was kind of funny, because none of us were really sure what it was we were ordering, but it all turned out really good.  I had a dish that was kind of like scrambled eggs with potatoes, and chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream for dessert.  It was yummy.

Then we walked over to the theater for Los Miserables.  ¡It was fantástico!  The performance was really amazing.  The set design was the best I had ever seen. All of the songs and everything were translated into Spanish, so that was cool to see how they did that.  I'm glad I was already familiar with the story and the music, though, because otherwise I would have been pretty lost. It is a long show, and we were all getting pretty tired by the time it ended at 1 am, but it didn't seem to drag on too long at all.  I would have gladly watched it again right away.

Bon Voyage!

Last week I had midterms, so I decided to treat myself to a little trip to Paris.  On Wednesday, my friends and I took a bus to Málaga, and we spent the night in a hostel there.  Unfortunately, one of my friends was very sick, and during the night she realized she would not be able to make the trip to Paris, so she returned to Granada early in the morning.  So it was just me and my roommate Cindy en route to Paris that morning.

After dropping off our bags in the hostel, we set off exploring (and in search of food).  By this point, I was already in love with Paris.  I really enjoyed seeing grass on the train ride from the airport to the city, and the streets and buildings were all just so beautiful.  And then we stopped in a café for lunch.  I had a cheese panini on the most delicious bread I had ever tasted.  And I have spent the last two months in Spain, so I was already accustomed to good bread.  After lunch, we set off exploring some more.  Of course, when we discovered a pretty looking staircase, we knew that we had to climb it.  We do live in Granada, you know.

 
 
 

At the top, we were at Sacré Coeur.  We enjoyed our view of Paris for a bit before going inside to explore the Basilica.  It was huge and gorgeous.  There was another church that was really close, and it looked like a dollhouse in comparison.  We went back down the hill using another set of stairs, and walked down a pretty parkway.
 

 


Our next stop was to the Eiffel Tower, but we had some time to wander before it was our time to go up. (It was very fortunate that we had bought tickets beforehand, because we didn't have to wait at all, and the line to buy tickets was super long.)  Once we had oggled at the pretty lights of the Eiffel Tower for a bit, we stopped in a café for a crepe.  I had mine with Nutella and bananas, and very much enjoyed eating it at a table outside with a view of the Eiffel Tower.  I felt like I was doing Paris right.
 

Pretty soon it was time for us to go up.  First we took a diagonal elevator up to the second floor (where it the angle shifts from being so slanty to more straight up).  This was made especially exciting by the fact that it was sparkling right when we were in it.  There is a special set of lights that glitter every hour on the hour, and I was literally standing right there, looking up at the top half of the Tower while this was happening.  We also had a pretty view of the city from this balcony, but I was eager to all the way to the top, so we got on another elevator (this one went straight up).  By the time we got to the top, it was raining pretty hard, but you could only feel the winds on one side.  It actually felt quite adventurous.  After enjoying the view and the excitement of being at the top of the Eiffel Tower, we made our way back down and headed toward the metro stop.  We were treated with the sparkling lights again as we looked back up at the Tower once we reached the ground.


Friday morning we enjoyed some croissants, cereal, and bread with jam at our hostel before heading out on our next adventure.  Our first stop was to the Catacombs of Paris.  This was an ancient quarry that had been abandoned for hundreds of years before they rediscovered it shortly after the French Revolution.  It was perfect timing, because the cemeteries in Paris were getting overcrowded, so they decided to dump some old bodies in there.  At first they just kind of threw them in haphazardly, but then the realized they should maybe treat the dead with some respect, so they started to organize the bones more carefully, mark which cemeteries they had come from, and add little monuments and plaques.  To get down there, we had to walk down a really tight spiral staircase that seemed to go down forever.  It was a little disorienting, because you had no way of knowing how much longer you would be trapped going down like that.  Then we walked through some dark narrow passages that were a little creepy.  At some points passages split off, and these were not lit at all, so I took some pictures of them so that I could see what they looked like.

We also saw a sculpture of a palace-like building.  The artist had been a prisoner of war for 20 years, and he had a view of this building. When he was released, he sculpted it from memory.  He died in a cave in when he was trying to dig a passage from where his sculpture was up to the street.  After a few more windy tunnels, we got to the cemetery part.  I must admit, it was a little weird to be so close to all those dead bodies (even though they were only bones), but what was really eye-opening was just how many there were.  The passages that we walked through seemed to go on for a long time, and there were a whole bunch more passages branching off that we didn't even go through.  The bones were completely lining the walls, and you could see at some points that they were stashed really thick, too.  A sign said that there were about 6 million people buried in there.  6 million is a low estimate for the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust.  That is A LOT.  Being surrounded by that many dead bodies was a strange sensation.  It was kind of funny, though, because they had signs all over saying "Do not touch the human bones," and they checked our purses at the exit to make sure we hadn't taken any.  Once we got out of this part, we were still in cool looking tunnels where they were telling us all about quarries and cave-ins.  Then we had to walk up another scarily tight spiral staircase, and we were back in the daylight.

From here, we took the metro to Notre Dame, where we were to meet with a walking tour group.  Our guide took us around the Latin Quarter, which is an artsy, academic part of Paris.  He was really excited about what he was talking about, which made us excited too.  He showed us Shakespeare and Company, an English language bookstore where authors from all over met in the 1920's (like in the movie Midnight in Paris), and he told us the history of universities while we were standing right where it all happened.  He also told us the story of St. Julian, because it was depicted on one of the oldest shop signs in the city, and he told us about this really sweet love story (the story of Cyrano de Bergerac) at the place where it ended.  So, it was a really good tour.  Afterwards, we had lunch at a brasserie, and then headed onward to the Louvre.




I don't know if I can begin to do the Louvre justice in one measly blog post.  It is simply stunning.  It is huge, it is gorgeous, and each gallery is designed in its own style.  To top it off, it's also filled with beautiful artwork, but I think I would still love the building without that.

The next day we enjoyed another breakfast in our hostel before heading out to enjoy one last day in the most beautiful city in the world.  First, we went on another walking tour.  This one met at the Opera House (which is actually a place for dance shows more so than opera).We saw the Anglophile quarter, the plaza with the fanciest, most expensive jewelry stores in the world, and a really pretty park.  We also learned about the history of cinema at the site where they showed some of the earliest films, including The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station, which actually caused some of the audience to panic and run out of the building, which drew quite a crowd.  I guess people liked horror movies even from the very beginning.

  


After the tour, we  walked down Avenue des Champs-Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe.  From there, we headed toward the Eiffel Tower, so we could get another view of it during the day.  We got distracted by a street market, that sold everything from clothes, jewelry, and souvenirs, to fruits, meats, and cheeses.  I bought some blueberries for myself (because I think other than that all I had been eating was bread and cheese), and a galette, which is similar to a crepe, but has savory food inside instead of sweets like fruit and chocolate.  Mine had cheese (of course), and it was quite good. After we caught another glimpse of the Eiffel  Tower, we headed back to the hostel for a bit to change our shoes, because it was raining.  It rained a lot in Paris, actually, but it was prettier there than anywhere else.

 

We headed back out and took a bus to La Seine.  I wanted to get back to the Louvre so I could revel in its Majesty some more.  On our way, we stumbled upon the love lock bridge, where a lot of couples had written their names on locks and thrown the key in the river.  I thought it was hilarious that some of them used combination locks.  After walking through the absolutely gorgeous park by the Louvre for a bit, we headed back down the river to Notre Dame.  This time we went inside.  It is huge. And very Gothic.  It was cool.
 
 
Then we had plans to meet a friend of Cindy's who is studying abroad in Barcelona and happened to be in Paris this weekend, too.  He brought a friend of his from his study abroad program, and a German girl they had met in their hostel.  She spoke French, so it was really nice having her in the restaurant so I knew what I was ordering.  (It was bread and cheese, did you even have to ask?)  We talked about the education systems in Europe, and it was interesting to think what someone from Germany thought of the education in Spain.  After dinner we went back up to the Sacré Coeur, which seemed a lot smaller now after visiting Notre Dame, and walked around some more, enjoying the beautiful streets of Paris for one last night.