Ronda and Seville

I just got back from our weekend trip to Ronda and Seville. I have included a nice little map so you can see where they are in relation to Granada. Both places are warmer than Granada because Granada is the coldest area in Andalucia, due to the mountains surrounding it. That being said, the weather in both Ronda and Seville was incredible. I honestly don’t think there are clouds here ever, just loads of sunshine.

Bright and early Friday off we went to Ronda for the morning. When we arrived, we went on a longgg walk touring the city and learning about the history of Ronda. Being the nerd that I am, I was so excited to learn about the history of Andalucía, and I learned so much this weekend, most of which I am trying really hard not to forget, because my brain is already literally packed with information.

 I think my favorite part of Ronda was going into an ancient bathhouse, which was located right inside where the oldest walls of the city were. It was where people would go to socialize and, obviously, clean themselves, which is an essential part of Islamic culture. Just being in somewhere so old is crazy, and the more I learned about it, the more I could imagine what it would be like to live there SO long ago, and it blew my mind (I know, I’m a nerd). Also, we watched a video about how the bathhouse “worked”, as in how the water was heated and distributed, and honestly, I’m so impressed with the intelligence of the system, its pretty legit.

 After we went on our walk, we had lunch overlooking everything, check out this view! With our tummy’s full, we went on to Seville.

After we arrived and dropped off everything in our awesome hotel, we went on another longgg walk (walking is a common theme here). We went to Plaza de Espana, which was beautiful. Also, for all you Star Wars lovers, I’m told it was in one of those movies. After our walk and some food, we went to see a private flamenco show, which was one of the highlights of the trips. We weren’t allowed to take pictures, but I don’t think they would have accurately portrayed the emotion of the dancers anyway. The dance told a story, I’m pretty sure about love and life and all the good things like that, and it was crazy impressive, and the guitar player was awesome.

 The next day, we went to the Alcazar of Seville, which is the oldest royal palace still in use in Europe, then to the Seville Cathedral, which is the third largest church in the world. I feel like I don’t have enough adjectives to describe how perfect everything was, and how informative it was. I learned so much about the mix of cultures and the stark differences between Christian and Islamic religions and cultures. Abd Al Rahman III, who was a Muslim ruler in the 900’s, originally built the palace and as Christians took over the city, they changed the palace over the thousands of years. Therefore, parts of the palace are REALLY OLD, and some are just OLD. Sometimes it is hard to tell which parts are from the Muslim dynasty and which parts are more recent, because some Christian rulers imitated the Muslim designs. But because they did not actually respect the culture, there are slight differences between the real and “fake” Muslim parts (parts that were constructed much later than when the Muslims built the palace) of the palace. In some areas, the imitation of the Islamic style is very accurate, but in other parts, my teacher, who was leading us around, said it was “so obviously fake” (it kinda all looked the same to me). She pointed out differences such as “fake” Arabic writing, and the depiction of gods, which would not have been displayed in Muslim religion. The tiles here, if I remember correctly, were actually constructed during the Muslim dynasty. If you look really closely, you can tell that every piece was hand cut and put in carefully, how cool is that?!

 The cathedral was build over a mosque, so there is obviously Muslim influence. For example, the bell tower was actually part of the mosque, but it was used to call people from the town to prayer everyday. The view from the top is so crazy! Also, the inside of the church was huge and beautiful. Some people speculate that the bones of Christopher Columbus are in here, but it is highly unlikely. Interesting fact, people are actually buried in the church, if they were rich enough. It was believed that the closer you were to the alter, the closer you were to redemption. Weird, but who am I to judge...whatever their beliefs might have been, the Cathedral is breathtaking; I cannot even imagine the amount of work that was put into the construction.







 In other news, my classes start bright and early tomorrow, and I think my internship will start someday next week. After this weekend, I am actually really ready for my classes, because they should be so interesting. Also, it will be nice to get into more of a regular schedule!