A Holiday in Spain

Southern Spain was amazing

First we traveled to Madrid, (Plaza Mayor)

Second was Cordoba (The Mesquite)

Third: Granada (La Alhambra)

and Fourth: Sevilla (Real Alcazar de Sevilla)







MADRID was kind of rainy but the day we went to Plaza Mayor was nice, if you found a place to sketch in the sun (it ment risking sitting in bird poop though).

EJ and Christy found some sun

The Picasso exhibit in the MCARS where the Guernica is housed was closed, we still got to sketch in the museo and parts of the extension to the museum were nice, just not so much the cafe. I would like to go back to Madrid, because as of now I don’t love it , but I think it was just because of our experience and I could love it, just not as much as Barcelona.

We ate Chinese food and watched the Super Bowl in a Packed Irish Pub. The Giants won! It was ridiculous. But even the Giants winning couldn’t take the cake compared to our walk through a park in Madrid where Adrienne gave us botany lessons and Eric and Christy gave us architecture lessons of course. My favorite thing about Madrid though had to be the Metro Tickets, they were little and pink.

CORDOBA was beautiful; we went to the Mesquite a.k.a. the Cathedral of Cordoba. I never realized how many times control of Spain waffled between the Islamic Empire and the Catholics until we traveled to Cordoba and were able to see how the Cathedral had been expanded over the years. There’s a very romantic story behind the creation of the Mesquite and the vibrancy of the city which you feel while walking down every narrow street. This is probably one of the most romantic cities I’ve ever been to (if anyone’s looking for a honeymoon recommendation than check it out.)

This was the first place I’ve ever run into Gypsies before, I didn’t even think they realy existed any more until the gaggle of women came over to our taxi and tried to shove Rosemary in our hand so we’d give them money.
We got to be pampered for a night in the largest remaining and still in use Arab baths in Europe. That was my first professional massage I’ve ever received (besides from Irene) and in combination with jumping from warm to hot to cold pools, I’ve never been so relaxed.

The weather was gorgeous in Cordoba, except in the Mesquite which was icy cold due to the stone construction. The food in Cordoba was decent, I had some authentic cuisine one night, but I had Burger Kind another, that was the first time I ate fast food in Europe, it wasn’t too bad, some stuff was better than home.

GRANADA was also gorgeous and the great weather followed us from Cordoba along with the romantic aura. We got to watch the sunset over the Alhambra, which had another romantic story to go with its creation.

Hawra wrote in Arabic in my sketchbook, I think any alphabet that you cannot read is gorgeous, they use it as a decoration on the walls of the Alhambra, and other Islamic buildings. They write “There is only one God” and other excerpts from the Koran. I also find the patterns and shapes used in Islamic design intriguing and tried to figure out one of the patterns I saw. There is a huge Islamic influence over the entire city which you can see in everything from what they sell in the stores to

To me, Granada is more real than Cordoba. Cordoba is quaint and romantic an tiny, but Granada is somewhere you can actually live, it’s more of a metropolis and less of a tourist attraction, at least when you get away from the Alhambra.

At night we went to a Flamenco show, it was like some college-age, maybe a little older group of friends that had one dancer, one singer and one guitarist. It was cozy and inspiring, it made me realize that I love it when it sounds like a woman is going to cry in the middle of the song she is singing. That’s the kind of voice that you need to sing Flamenco music because it is so emotional. I never knew this, but Christy told us that in real Flamenco dancing, the singer follows the steps of the dancer and as the dancer speeds up or becomes more dramatic, the singer does the same.


SEVILLA was greate, I think I love any city that's on the water. The first day we got to explore on our own and made our way to the river walk. There was a regatta with teams from around the world and I cheared on one of the english doubles. I would love to row under all the beautiful, some Calatrava-esk bridges in Sevilla.

We explored the Royal Palace in Sevilla and the Cathedral Sevilla which had also undergone the same Cathedral-Mosque-Cathedral transformation that we saw earlier in Granada and Cordoba. Christopher Columbus is burried in the Cathedral.

We had some of the most amazing food near the hotel in Sevilla, we listened to the waiter and got what he recomended, beef with olive oil and roasted potatoes, that was probably one of the most delicious meals I've ever eaten and even writing this now, I crave them. That night we got to sit on the roof of our hotel for dinner and drink wine remeniscing about our trip with a view of the Cathedral.