Andalusian Nights: Sevilla & Córdoba!

This past weekend I went to Sevilla and Córdoba with my program! We started off in Sevilla which is about a 3 hour drive straight west of Granada. We first visited the cathedral which is where Christopher Columbus is buried. The cathedral is built kind of like a mosque because it was built very shortly after the Arabs had been conquered. We climbed the tower and got a beautiful view of the city. After lunch and a little bit of shopping we went to see the royal palaces. The gardens were so beautiful and the palace itself was like a smaller version of the Alhambra. We headed back to the hotel for some R&R (Tess got to room with Jasmine and I, heck yes!) and we all got dinner together. Dinner wasn't that good.... it was really just like 5 rounds of tapas and most of them I didn't enjoy (squid, mushrooms, beefy soup).

The next morning we drove to Córdoba (and after a pit stop so I could throw up... perhaps I had a bit too much wine the night before... sorry mom) and went to the old synagogue and walked around the city a bit. Then we had lunch (same tapas thing as dinner the night before but better food) and afterwards went to the Great Mosque!

I first studied this mosque in art history in high school so I was really pumped for this. It was so beautiful and so big! Sometime after the Catholics took over the south of Spain they decided they didnt like the mosque there so they destroyed a huge section in the middle and built a cathedral right in the middle. Now it technically is a cathedral and some people get offended when you call it a mosque. It probably is the best example of Spain's amazing mix of Catholics and Arabic influences.