Gafas
It's been too long since I've written! I've had almost a month of classes now, and I've been pretty busy. When I'm not in class, I usually want to be sleeping. I almost forgot what it's like to be a student!
A few weeks ago my program took a weekend trip to Gibraltar, Sevilla, and Córdoba. It was a lot for one weekend, but we got to see the important things. Plus, since I'm here for two semesters and this trip is included each semester, I can go along again but skip the tours and explore on my own.
Our first stop was Gibraltar which comes from the Arabic "Jebel Tariq" or "Tariq's mountain."
We only spent the day here, but I saw what I was most excited to see: the monkeys.
I took so many pictures of the monkeys that they all started to look the same, but I just couldn't believe how close we were to real monkeys that were not in a zoo!
We weren't allowed to feed them, and we didn't, but someone else gave one of the monkeys a cracker and he was nibbling on it and staring at us. They really had no fear of us. They climbed on the buses and the tour guides fed them nuts. I wanted to take one as a pet, but the lack of fear they showed for us was alarming. One of the students was leaned against a fence, and a monkey that was walking along this fence, rather than moving around the student, walked right over his shoulders as if he were part of the fence!
We walked around for a bit and saw beautiful views from which we could faintly see Morocco. We also saw a cave, which was pretty, but the highlight of that day was the monkeys.
That night we arrived at our hotel in Sevilla, and since we didn't know the area very well, we went to bed early and got sleep for the next day. The morning would be filled with tours again: a cathedral and an alcazaba.
We started at the Plaza de España, and this is where I started to get frustrated with the crowds of people. I wonder where those professional-looking postcard photos of these places come from, because all of mine are littered with tourists... Oh well, I think I could always go back on my own when I'm not in a group so I can take my time trying to find angles that don't include other people in the shot.
Then, we moved on to the alcazaba, which was, like the al-hambra, a beaufitul cluster of palaces, patios and gardens.
We passed through a garden where some scenes of Game of Thrones were filmed...
And our last stop was at the cathedral where Christopher Columbus is buried. Probably. When I was in the Dominican Republic they also brought us to where he was buried, although they refuse to have the contents of their monument tested. So, now I can say that I've seen both possible burial sites of Christopher Columbus.
We saw a lot of beautiful sights in Sevilla that day, but the highlight for me was meeting up with my Spanish friend, who I hadn't seen for four years. She was an international student at my high school for a year, and helped me a lot with Spanish. When we said goodbye in the high school parking lot, I thought I would never see her again because Spain is so far away, but here I am!
We spent the whole day together as if no time had passed.
Every time I see something related to Miguel de Cervantes, whether it's a place mentioned in one of his works or a representation of him, I get excited and have to take a picture.
Finally, we ended up going to an international fair, and I geeked out at the American food booth.
Pork ribs named after Obama, Kentucky chicken wings, chicken nuggets, French Fries, and Miller and Budweiser beer.
We spent our final day of this weekend trip in the small city of Córdoba. When we arrived, my first impression was that it seemed like a perfect little medieval town, straight out of Robin Hood: Men in Tights.
Our tour was a bit delayed by a procession of a Virgen. I've run into quite a few of these during my month in Spain, always unexpectedly when I'm trying to get somewhere. It's a really good exercise for me to learn patience and 'go with the flow' as everyone else seems to do in Spain. Anyways, I shouldn't complain; the marching band that plays is always nice and the air smells like incense.
Our tour of the city took us through its narrow roads along white buildings.
This man, Maimondes, was an important Jewish philosopher in Al-Andalus in the 12th century. He was proficient in both Arabic and Hebrew, which was something common at least among the wise people during this time. He wrote in Judeo-Arabic, with his works translated into Hebrew shortly after.
I saw some people rubbing his shoes for good luck, so I did too, but I didn't feel anything different.
Mohamed Al-Gafequi was a famous oculist in Al-Andalus and it is from his name that the Spanish word "gafas" meaning glasses is derived.
Finally, we arrived at my favorite part of Córdoba: the cathedral-mosque. After the reconquista, rather than destroying the mosque completely, the Catholics simply built on top of it, resulting in a building full of contrasts between Christian and Muslim.
The arches from the mosque were preserved, but statues of saints, Mary and Jesus have been inserted nearly everywhere one looks. This is especially striking since Islam does not allow images of people in the place of worship.
This trip is no longer fresh in my mind, so I don't remember all the impressions I had while walking through these cities. I tried to throw this post together quickly so that I can dedicate my next post about my weekend trip and hopefully have that written before I forget too much.
¡Hasta luego!