Passing through Andulucía

It has been quite a while since my last blog entry, so there is quite a lot to get you all caught up on.  Since the last time I wrote, I have been adjusting myself to living in rural Spain.  When I've had time to get away, I've been making trips around Spain.  Frequent trips were made to Cuenca.  I always enjoy going back to visit my friends from last year.  It has been tough not getting to see as often as I did last year.  Luckily, once I get back to Cuenca we are able to pick up right where we left off last year.  I've also made trips to various places around Andulucía.  One weekend I traveled with the other Americans who are living here in Siles to Granada.  It was nice being in a city, like Granada, after being in the mountains for so long.  On Saturday, we spent the majority of the day visiting the Alhambra.  The Alhambra is probably one of the most spectacular things I've seen in Spain.  It was a Moorish palace and fortress, which was the last thing to fall to the Christians during the reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula.  The palace was spectacular.  It was incredible to see the color and the detail in the designs that covered the palace walls.  Every time you turned the corner, you would see something as spectacular as the last.  Above is a picture of one of the many ponds and courtyards in the Alhambra.

A few weekends later I traveled again with my US compatriots from Siles, but this time we went to visit Sevilla (Seville).  Sevilla, just like Granada, was quite picturesque.  It was even more so because they had just hung the Christmas lights all around the city.  The first thing we checked out the was cathedral of Sevilla.  One interesting thing about the Cathedral is the remains of Christopher Columbus are allegedly buried there.  There is a debate whether the remains that are buried there actually belong to the famous navigator.  Another interesting aspect of the cathedral was the bell tower, which was actually part of the old mosque that was on the site during the Moorish rule of Spain.  This was evident in the many designs on the sides of the bell tower.  We were able to climb to the very top and get a nice view of Sevilla.  Other highlights of the trip were seeing flamenco at a bar in the Santa Cruz neighborhood, seeing Roman ruins outside the city and just cruising through the streets of Sevilla and taking in the sights.