Friday, February 18, 2011

Córdoba and Granada TAKE TWO!

The Alhambra





Mezquita in Córdoba
Want to go to Córdoba and Granada again? Don't mind if I do. I mean, if you insist NYU :). So, last weekend I headed back to Andalucía on a school sponsored trip that was so much fun! We went to the Mezquita in Córdoba and also toured the Jewish Quarters. In the Jewish Quarters we went to a synagogue that I didn't see when I was there with my dad. The weather was nice, perhaps a bit brisk, but I really shouldn't complain seeing as NY has experienced one of the worst winters in the history of the universe.

We only stayed in Córdoba for a few hours and then we were off to Granada. What do you know? We stayed in the same hotel that I stayed in with my dad and Irene back in December! I was soo happy because the breakfast is amazing and the rooms are super nice. I didn't know who my roommates were going to be, but guess one of them was? One of the girls now living with Elena! AH! Her name is Hannah and she's very nice and certainly would not overuse tp haha. The other girl, Yenna, was also very nice and we had a nice dinner together at a vegetarian place that Friday.

Saturday was a very intense day. We started out early with a tour of the Alhambra. Still awesome a few months later. It was great to have a guide who gave detailed info about everything. I'd love to go back at night and see it lit up! After the Alhambra we were all starving, but didn't know we were going to have to work for our food. Well, not exactly work for our food, but rather WALK for our food. Caridad, one of the administrators (who is lovely btw) said it would be about a ten minute walk. Last time I checked ten minutes was composed of 600 seconds. This walk was not 600 seconds. It was approximately one million seconds up (and I mean UP and then UP again) winding cobblestone streets. The lunch was good, but I'm not sure if it was worth the walk. The view perhaps, but not for the food. Although the bread was good, as is most bread in Spain :)
Córdoba
We also saw the tombs of Ferdinand and Isabella and the cathedral after lunch. Then I was dead and wanted to sleep. Sorry I have no interesting night life tales from Granda. But...the next day was awesome because we walked through the Arabic section--Albaycin (not really sure how to spell that in neither Spanish or English). I went into a shop with Hannah and the man working there was from Morocco and I was able to speak some Arabic with him. It was really a mixture of Spanish and Arabic, which I've come to class Sparabic. Therefore, I really speak English, Spanish, and Sparabic. (sidenote--I told this to Eva and Violeta and we started combing other languages...Español and Ruso (Russian in Spanish) =...Espruso!)
View from the Alhambra

Oh, and then on Sunday we had over a 6 hour bus ride back to Madrid which for me meant trying to read Don Quijote while movies were blasting on the tvs on the bus. No worries not much has changed I'm still a nerd, just a slightly more relaxed one :)
View from the Alhambra