(Due to super slow wi-fi at the hotel in Seville, I was unable to load more pics, especially of the Meqquita/Cathedral . Lo siento!)


April 2^nd:

11 am:

Now we are on our way to Cordoba and
then making our way to Seville for two nights. We are in a huge
double decker bus. The tour members are from all over – Argentina,
Costa Rica, India, Mexico, etc. The family from India lives in New
Jersey. There is also a Korean mother and son who live in the
states.

At our break/stop, Anna (our tour
guide) told us that we will have an opportunity for “artistic”
tours in Seville and Granada. Artistic means “inside” whereas
panoramic means “outside.” But we will have to pay 35 euro for
these. We also have the opportunity to see a classical flamenco show
in Seville this evening and a pure show (in a cave) in Granada.
Again, these each cost around 30 euro. If anything, I might do the
cave show, but I'm not sure I will do the artistic tours . 1) I don't
feel like shoving out more money/extras. 2) I don't mind exploring on
my own. 3) As much as Rick Steves might annoy me, his city guides
are very good.




5:10 pm:
We are now leaving Cordoba and heading
to our hotel in Seville. Cordoba means “mountain on top of the
water,” and it has around 600,000 people. We had a walking tour in
Cordoba, where we saw the Jewish Quarter and the Mezquita/Cathedral
of Cordoba. The mosque is the third largest in the world, at 24,000
square meters. This is very unique in that the cathedral is built
INSIDE the mosque. Say what? Apparently there was a San Vicente
Basilica here in the first place, but when the Muslims took over
Cordoba in 785, the basilica was torn down to build the mosque. When
King Ferdinand III (Christian) captured Cordoba back in 1236, he
wanted to rebuild a cathedral. Eventually King Charles V built the
cathedral inside the mosque. But later on when many mosques in Spain
were being destroyed, this one was saved because the Cathedral was
inside. I guess he regretted doing this. Lots of interesting
questions to ponder here.....Did he do the right thing? Was it better
to keep both rather than have one destroyed? I guess it depends whom
you ask. At any rate, it was an amazing place, as you will see by
the pictures. The Cathedral is still used today for services.







We were split into two groups, English
speakers and Spanish speakers. I must say this is the one time I'm
really glad to be an ignorant American/English speaker as there were
only 12 in our group and about 50 in the others. I'm also really
glad I did not book the flamenco show, as those folks are going there
as soon as we get to Seville. It should take about 90 minutes to
arrive there. I'm also sitting in front of the mom/son duo from
Korea. At one point I asked him if he knew the exchange rate, as I
thought he'd be up on that. He said he “had no clue, at all.”
(Translation: Mommy is paying for all this so I don't have to give a
crap.) :)



When we checked into our hotel, the nH
Plaza de Armas, it was pouring rain. None of my stuff got wet, and I
do attribute that to only having one suitcase to lug across the plaza
during the downpour. So Rick has one up on me now. Tomorrow (Tuesday)
we will spend the day in Seville!




Hasta luego!
Jamie