Córdoba

Córdoba is a beautiful city and we went there on a trip with our program. The first half of the day, we got to walk around the city and just explore. In the beginning of the day we visited one of two synagogues in Spain that was from before the 15th century. The second part of the trip we visited the Mosque there, which is famous because when the city was later conquered by the Romans, they built a cathedral in the center of it. It is an interesting mixture of architecture and both parts are absolutely beautiful. It is very strange going from one portion to the other.

It is definitely a city to put on the list to visit simply for it's architecture and also for a relaxed, site-seeing day.

Bridge to Córdoba

The building that Christopher Columbus mapped his voyage!

Artisan plaza

Random fountain

Roman bath...part of it has some graffiti on it...

Roman ruin in the center of town

Ancient plaza for bull fighting. Now just filled with tapas restaurants.

•  Cathedral built on top of/in the center of a mosque (built centuries later when the Romans conquered Córdoba.

Mosque's magreb

And that's just the ceiling

wow

Many of the pictures aren't annotated because there are too many of them, but they are all from walking around, the mosque/cathedral and the synagogue. The architecture throughout the city is beautiful and throughout the entire city, there are remnants of old roman buildings or baths. It's very different than a city in the US, since the US's history can only go back a little over 200 years, whereas this city has endured several conquerors. There are still burger kings and other fast food chains throughout Córdoba, it's just interesting to see the ancient roman ruins amidst all the new.

This week is my birthday week as well as I leave for Barcelona on Friday. I will update the blog after with hopefully many things to share.

Un beso,

Steph

La Corrida de Toros (Bullfight)

 If you are squimish and don't like the site of blood...I suggest you skip this entry. This is my experience of the bullfight and there are pictures to go along.

A bullfight consists of:

• 6 Toros (Bulls)--meaning 6 rounds of the same fight roughly
• 3 Matadors (Each fight two bulls)
• One of the bulls' ears is given to the matador at the end of each round if the audience likes him and both ears if he was exceptional
• Lasts about and hour and a half

Keri and Natalie at the stadium (before the fight)

Bullfighting stadium

Procession of Toreros

Ending of the procession

Dance

First charge

Second charge (The red is not blood, they are banderillas

Pobrecito :(

Second bull thinks he's escaping and ends up in a circular ring

OLÉ

This is the final charge with the sword

After this I didn't take any more pictures since I couldn't really take it anymore. It's an experience, definitely, just not a good one. I would never pay for a bullfight ever again. After the first bull, you kind of want to leave since it is far too cruel to the bulls. I don't understand the "art"...and yes, bullfight is considered an "art", not a "sport". Three words: terrible. terrible. terrible.

Additional note: I hate bullfighting. (in case that didn't come across)

Un beso,

Steph

Sacramonte Caves

The first part of the weekend of October 16- 17, we explored the caves of the sacremonte. These caves are what surround Granada on one side in the Sierra Nevada mountains. They were the caves of the gypsies many years ago when they arrived in Granada. The caves were very tiny and it's hard to believe people lived about 10 people (about how may were in each family) per cave. Here are some pictures of the tour along with a few pictures of a great view of the Alhambra.

Lavender- They'd use it as perfume and to keep bugs away

The Alhambra from afar

Basket-weaving

Kitchen

Caves...They've been updated a bit

Loom

Yolks and such

Pottery

Me and Natalie with the Alhambra behind us

 Sunday is on to the bullfight....blech.

Un beso,

Steph

Lagos, Portugal: The End of the World

So for the weekend of October 9-10, I went to Portugal. It was beautiful...until it started raining....and it didn't stop until we were leaving. Although, it was quite a landscape with all the cliffs and the different types of towns.

The first night we decided to stay in the hotel and make our own food. Being in Granada and living with a family that cooks everything for you made us finally want to cook something for ourselves. 

The cooks

We also got to see "the end of the world", which is basically the place back before they figured out that the earth was round. People thought that the end of the world was right off of the cliffs of Portugal and passed where you could see, there was nothing.

Me along the cliffs at the end of Portugal

Our core traveling group at the End of the World (The World drops off near that sunset)

More pictures at the end of the world: Natalie, Lauren and Ashley

  Surfing: by far the best part of the trip. It was the first time I had ever been surfing and between the constant rain and being a nube...the ocean was not my friend. I never knew it was possible to involuntarily take in that much salt water. Surfing is just not my thing. I'll take a snowboard over a surfboard any day. It was an experience, but I think I'll stick with snowboarding and leave the surfing to Doug. Anyway, here are some pictures of my experience...

 The best burger I have ever tasted is below and found at a place called Nah Nah Bahs in Lagos Portugal.

Most delicious Burger I have ever tasted: Bacon, pineapple, cheese and grilled onions in BBQ sauce

Keri, Ashley and Natalie during dinner

Natalie testing her skills of disc tossing...

The Beach was a little colder than we would have liked...

Beach in Lagos

Dressed to take on surfing: Me, Keri and Lauren

Our surfing beach

My Classic surfing pose...that's about as comfortable as I was that day (Clearly a before picture)

This entry is a bit late, but two things I've learned. 1. Surfing is just not my thing. and 2. I must try and recreate that cheeseburger.

Until next entry, un beso,

Steph