Week 4: Cádiz, Córdoba and Granada

It happened, just as I knew it would, but it was still not welcome... sesion 1 is over and part of the progam is back in the states. Sadly, many of my friends are gone too (Joanne, Meredith, Alison...) but the show must go on. Session 2 is now here, and as you would expect, there seems to be an invisible wall seperating most of session 1 from 2. Anybody that has gone to school for the first time knows what it is like; you get there, don´t know anybody and its easier to stick with everyone thats in the same boat, so naturally its been slow going mixing the group, but I think it is now finally happening. Without further ado, this is what I did last week.

Cádiz:

Cádiz was the day trip for session 2. It is one of the southernmost cities in all of Spain and it is the oldest city in Europe. It was plundered by pirates, besieged by the french and was the site of the Spanish constitution (Washington on the Brazos ring a bell ???). When we got there, we started on our trip through the city. We saw the wall that seperates the new from the old, what used to protect the city (I´ve seen a lot of these walls this summer...). Then our group moved through the city too see all that was to be seen. It was a lot smaller than I thought it would be, but was FULL with people for two reasons: 1. It is the time of the year that spaniards travel, 2. It was the celabration of Corpus Cristi. We were actually really lucky to be there the day we were because I missed the parade in Seville and they were celebrating it later in Cádiz. It is an 800 year old celebration of communion in the Catholic church at is supposed to increase followers faith. While we were touring the cathedral, a marching band (hats of to spaniards... meghan would be proud cause these bands are popular here) was playing through town and went into the Cathedral too.

Not long after our trip through the cathedral it was free time, so we went to the beach. The same beach that they filmed James Bond´s movie "Die Another Day". It wasn´t as nice as Lagos, but we didn´t have to get rental cars to get there so I´m not gonna complain... We went there along with about 3,000 of my closest vacationers from all over Spain. It was packed. All those boats you see are the fishing boats that the locals use, and by the time we left the tide went out so far that they were all resting on sand.

Córdoba:

Córdoba was a trip we took for my 3 cultures class. This is pretty much the best class ever. We are in class talking about the history of Spain for about an hour and a half, and then we walk somewhere in the city and see famous monuments/sites/ruins that are hundreds of years old and we go with someone who knows more about stuff in Sevilla than I do about all things period.

So, when we got off the bus, we saw old Roman aqueducts that remained from over 1000 years ago, then we walked up a hill and saw once again the old wall that protected the city (again over 1000 years old) and then we went into what is now a Catholic church that used to be an Islamic Mezquita. It would take me way too long to describe everything on this trip, and it is hard to know what is relevant because we were hearing facts, stories and legends for about 3 hours, but suffice it to say that it was good times.

After we walked around the city and saw the Mezquita, we had free time. This meant we walked around the city, got hit up for money/food from beggars and ate tapaz. Me and couple friends went to a small hole in the wall restaurant and ate some good food instead of going to Burger King... big mistake! The kids that went saw the American soccer team that was there on a day off between games. They didn´t get any pictures because they didn´t want to be "that guy", but believe me... they were there.

Granada:

Granada was the overnight trip for Session 2... guess they are trying to pack it all in early. We got there Saturday afternoon and checked in to our 4 star hotel at the top of a mountain (I know... roughing it). Next to where we were staying was La Alhambra, the most visited monument in Spain and candidate to be one of the new Wonders of the World.

First on our list of things to do was as you might guess... walk around the city. Granada was under Islamic rule until 1492 (it didn´t stop just because Columbus found the Americas, but that was my guess too) and because of that, the older part of the city is all built with elements of Muslim arquitecture. What does that mean? Building contructed with bruick, plaster, arches and homes that don´t have windows to the outside. This was all done because the materials were cheap and functional. The windowless buildings was supposed to make it so outsiders couldn´t see what happened inside. They muslims were a people that valued family privacy (where they spend most of their time), so they had open patios in the center of the house to get sunlight and fresh air without the Jones´prying eyes next door. Also, the streets were all kinds of messed up. Dad, you thought you needed a compass to get around Brenham at first? You should of seen this. Instead of laying out streets and then building houses like sensible people, they built their houses wherever they wanted to first and THEN built the roads. You really couldn´t go more than 30 feet without having to turn.

After walking through the city, we saw the Capilla Real, the resting place of D. Fernando of Aragón y Queen Isabel of Spain, Juana I, Felipe I y of prince Miguel. We got to walk all around the Cathedral and then went down where there was a viewing of the coffins of all those listed above. Some of the things we saw were 500 year old clothes, memoires of somebody listed above and old artifacts of the royal family.

Interesting story. When Christopher Columbus needed funding for his trip to America (India), he came to the Queen. Story has it that she sold her jewelry to fund the trip. We saw that jewelrey box! Picture mom´s wooden box, then imagine the exact opposite (sorry mom...).

That night when we went out, the night was cut short because we wanted to get into this club that apparently had a dress code, and my friends shorts and sandals didn´t fit the bill. But on a lighter note, watching him change into someone else´s pants and try to get in throught the same people as before had to have been the funniest thing of the entire trip. The bouncer told him "Did you think I couldn´t see you behind that car? go home." Priceless...

The following day, we saw that Wonder of the World hopeful. Again, too much to describe, but it was the size of a small city, within Granada. It was were the king lived until the Christians conquored Granada in 1492. The chair I´m sitting in that picture is where the king did all his official business. The room was REALLY dark, and that was to make it hard to see the king when you came in from the very bright adjoining room. To make him seem untouchable or something to that effect.

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Wow. That was a lot of writing, so congrats to those of you who read to the bottom. Just for that, you can go to sleep easily tonight knowing that I´m going to Africa on Saturday.

PEACE!