Monkeys, Mezquitas, & Medieval Masonry

Well folks, we are getting into late October already. Hard to believe, right? Fall is my favorite season back home and I occasionally find myself missing changing colors, pumpkin-spiced pastries, and Halloween decorations. Luckily school, friends, and travel have been keeping me busy, so I haven't spent too much time missing home!

This weekend was filled with lots of great day trips all over Andalucía. The amount of history I've seen in the past 72 hours is incredible!!!


First up, Gibraltar:

La Roca de Gibraltar

Within CIEE, I am involved in an interest group called "Otros Realidades" or "Other Realities." Its goal is to get students to learn about and see places that you wouldn't necessarily consider as being typically "Spanish." This Friday, my group headed off to Gibraltar, the southernmost tip of the Iberian Peninsula. Gibraltar is owned by the UK and is very much an English country, although it obviously has a very large Spanish influence due to its geographical proximity.

The history and politics of Gibraltar is really interesting, so I'm going to go explain a bit. (Sorry guys, I'm a nerd :P):

Firstly, the etymology of "Gibraltar" is quite interesting. It derives from the Arabic phrase "Jabal-e Tariq," which literally means "mountain of Tariq," Tariq being a Berber general who conquered the Rock of Gibraltar in the early 8th century.

Gibraltar was conquered by the British in the 1700's during the War of the Spanish Succession. It has served as a key base for the British Royal Navy ever since.

During WWII, Franco cut off all ties and communication with Gibraltar in an attempt to weaken the territory and force it to accept Spanish sovereignty. This isolation split apart many Gibraltarian-Spanish families who had to choose between keeping their job in Gibraltar, or keeping their home in Spain. Gibraltarians have not forgotten how they were treated by Spain, and have voted almost unanimously on two different occasions (1967 & 2002) to remain a British territory.

Three languages are spoken in Gibraltar: Spanish, English, and Llanito, a kind of creole language that is a mixture of Spanish, English, Maltese, Genoese, and Portuguese.


We went up the Rock by cable car. It was definitely a bit nerve wracking, but the views from the top were completely worth it!

beautiful, blustery day in Gibraltar

Gibraltar is also famous for its Barbary Macaques, a species of wild monkey. Legend has it that if the monkeys ever leave Gibraltar, so will the British. We all spent about 40 minutes oogling over the monkeys at the look out point.

                                                                                                                                 

Just chillin'

(Money Saving Tip: It costs about 20 pounds to get into the nature preserve where the majority of the monkeys are. If you are tight on money, just pay the 10 pounds to get up and down to the lookout point by cable car. There will most likely be plenty of monkeys to see there.)

Apart from touring the rock, we walked about the town and it's many shops, and stopped to have some British fish and chips. Gibraltar was definitely a unique experience, and I'm so glad that our interest group was able to go!

Up Next, Saturday in Córdoba:

Saturday morning I headed off with CIEE to the city of Córdoba, which lies about 1.5 hours north of Sevilla. Córdoba felt so authentically, Spanish; I'm not quite sure how to describe it. Córdoba is slightly smaller than Sevilla, and everything from the buildings, to the small winding streets, to the food felt purely Andalusian.

Ready for a brief history of Córdoba? No? Too bad:

Córdoba has been the home to Carthaginians, Romans, and Visigoths, but it is most famous for being the capital of al-Andaluz (766-1031), the Muslim Empire in southern Spain. Córdoba was a large political and economic center during the Caliphate and it was during this time that the world-famous mezquita (mosque), was built. Córdoba remained a large cultural center until the Almohades, another Muslim dynasty took over, and transferred the capital to Sevilla. In 1236 it was conquered by King Fernando III during La Reconquista. The famous mezquita was converted into a cathedral, while keeping the moorish architecture intact. 

We started out the day by touring El Alcázar de Córdoba, the palace for the Christian kings. It served as one of the many homes for King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabel of Castilla. I'm going to be honest, the Alcázar of Córdoba has nothing on the Alcazar de Sevilla. I realized when I got back that I didn't even take a single picture of the physical building; it wasn't extraordinarily impressive. However within El Alcázar, we got to see many interesting things including Roman mosaics, and Arab style baths. 

The gardens of El Alcázar, while not as extensive as el Alcázar de Sevilla, were quite beautiful and everyone enjoyed our brief stroll through them.  

After the Alcázar, we headed of to the Synagogue of Córdoba. The synagogue was beautiful, and was built in mudéjar style (remember mudéjar? the use of moorish style and architecture?) which was very exquisite and impressive. 

Synagogue de Córdoba

After touring the Synagogue, we headed off to La Mezquita/Catedral de Córdoba, the most famous and most impressive building in Córdoba. I completely nerded out at La Mezquita. I remember learning about it many moons ago in middle school, and I've wanted to visit it ever since.

Patio in La Mezquita w/ the Christian bell tower
in the background

La Mezquita is most famous for its red and white arches and columns in the main hall of the mosque. The main hall is quite large; there are over 800 columns and arches, and it was astounding to think how many people this room housed for worshipping.

Another important part of La Mezquita is the mihrab, or the room in which the Quran is displayed. The entryway to the mihrab was absolutely gorgeous, decorated with beautiful designs in Arabic.

El mihrab

After the mihrab, we toured the Cathedral part of La Mezquita. Basically what happened after La Reconquista is that the Christian Kings just put a giant cathedral smack dab in the middle of La Mezquita, keeping all the architecture around it intact. The main altar of the cathedral was very beautiful, although I find La Catedral de Sevilla to be more impressive.

Main Altar. 

After touring La Mezquita we had time to grab lunch and stroll around the streets of Córdoba. I wish, as with all these day trips that there was more time to enjoy the city! The day went by much too fast. 

Por fin, Medieval Castles on Sunday

On Sunday, I again woke up early, this time to tour two medieval castles in the towns of Alcalá de Guadaira and Utrera, two suburbs of Sevilla. 

Castillo de 

We started out by touring El Castillo de Alcalá, which was absolutely gorgeous, illuminated by the morning sun.  

                       

After spending a few hours in Alcalá we headed off to Utrera, the hometown of Ángel, the professor for my intensive session! 

Vista

Castillo de Utrera

After touring el castillo, we took time to grab some pastries, something which Utrera is widly known for. I had a delicious piece of cake that was coated in chocolate....mmmm. 

And there you have it. One supremely awesome, supremely busy weekend here in Southern Spain. This week it will be time to hit the books. Hasta pronto :D

              

Discoveries of the Week

A pretty chill week six here in Sevilla. The oppressive 90 degree weather is finally beginning to lower into the much more tolerable 80's, and I find the 70 degree mornings to be a little chilly as I'm walking to class. (It's going to be a rough readjusting to Wisconsin weather next year, I know.) Classes are going smoothly, and it's hard to believe midterms will be upon us in a few weeks. This week I tried to blend in as a local Sevillana, doing regular things around town, and learning loads along the way. Here are a few of the things I have learned this week:

1) Learning about art is way more interesting when you get to take fieldtrips

Outside of Hospital de la Caridad

Chapel

This week my Art History class took a field trip to La Hospital de la Caridad (Charity Hospital) to see some classic examples of baroque art and architecture. The hospital was founded in the 17th century by Miguel de Mañara, a wealthy noble. Mañara lost his entire family to a flu epidemic which killed about 1/4 of Spain's population. Left alone in the world, as were many during that time, Mañara decided to create a hospital where the poor and abandoned could come to receive care. Mañara hired many famous painters to create art for the chapel in the hospital, the most notable being Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Spain's 2nd most well known Baroque painter after Velázquez.

One of Murillo's paintings,
Jesus helping a leper

Seeing art in its original home is so incredibly different than viewing slide after slide of art in a lecture hall! Walking around the chapel de La Hospital made me feel so incredibly lucky to be in Spain!

2) Spaniards can't pronounce my name. 

Caitlin. It's a pretty common name back in the States. People often don't know how to spell it, but there is never a problem with pronunciation back home. However, when I introduce myself here in Spain, people repeat my name 4 or 5 times before they get it right or just give up. If my host mom uses my real name, she ends up calling me "Cotleen," although she often just calls me Nicole because apparently I am a dead ringer for Nicole Kidman (I don't see it either, but I roll with it) and it is much easier to pronounce. Thanks to my phonetics class I've come to realize why it's so hard for people to pronounce my name. I'm going to take this time to go on a bit of a phonetics tangent, so feel free to skip over if you do not appreciate the awesomeness that is phonetics :P

The two vowels in my name [ei] and [ɪ] do not exist in Spanish. Also the "t" in my name is a type of "t" called a glottal stop (a stopping of the air in the vocal tract) that does not exist in Spanish. This is the same kind of "t" as found in "gluten" or "pet." 

With 3 of the 6 sounds in my name being hard for Spaniards to pronounce, it is no wonder they can't get it most of the time. The other day I was at a restaurant with some friends, and when the cashier asked for my name to call me when my order was ready, he looked at me like I had about 7 heads when I said Caitlin. He responded, "No, no no, you're Pepa, ok?" I laughed and went with it, although I'm considering adopting Pepa as my official nickname here in Spain.

My new name!

3) You should always try new foods

This weekend I went out for tapas, the typical way of Spanish dining. Tapas are essentially little appetizers, or taste of things. You and your amigos order a bunch of different plates, and share them all family style. It's a great way to dine; you get to experience a variety of flavors and tastes, and you don't feel overly stuffed at the end. I went to tapas with a Spaniard who did most of the ordering, which was a good thing because I got to try things I normally would never order:                

Pork

Swordfish

   

Mushrooms stuffed with a
pesto mayonnaise 

Calamari

Sheep's cheese and jam

I never would have ordered the mushrooms or the calamari because I am not really a fan of chewy textures, but both turned out to be surprisingly delicious, especially the mushrooms! I'm hoping to go out for tapas again soon. There is so much good Spanish food I still haven't experienced yet!!

4) I really love silent film. 

Apart from tapas this weekend, I also went to go see the Spanish silent film "Blancanieves." blanca = white & nieves = snow, so put them together and..... yes! I went to go see a Spanish version of Snow White. This film was incredibly cool for many reasons. First off, it was a silent film, an art form rarely used today. People are often turned off by the idea of silent film. How can a movie be exciting without hearing the actors? Believe me, if the plot is gripping enough, words are not even really necessary. The plot in this movie is so incredibly interesting. In this version of the story, Snow White is the daughter of a famous bullfighter and equally famous flamenco dancer, both who end up dying. She is left in the care of her evil stepmother, who inherits her father's fortune. The way Spanish culture is incorporated into the story made it a really interesting and charming to watch. "Blancanieves" is in the running to be nominated for "Best Foreign Film" in the Oscars, so if you find a theater in the States that is playing it, I highly recommend seeing it!

       Trailer for Blancanieves. "You will never find a story like this"

5) Cathedral Organs are Bad-Ass

Organ in the Seville Cathedral

This Sunday, I decided to attend mass at Seville's gothic cathedral. Walking in to the Cathedral is an overwhelming experience. The vaulted ceilings, the architecture, the ornateness of every single statue... all of it is just astounding. The mass was partially in Latin, partially in Spanish. Thanks to my Catholic background, it was easy for me to tell what was happening in the mass. If I wasn't Catholic, however, I feel like it would have been much harder to follow along. The most impressive thing about the mass was the organ. The organ was HUGE and the sound filled up the entire cathedral. Chills definitely went down my spine. I probably won't return to the Cathedral until Semana Santa, or Holy Week, Seville's biggest celebration of the year. 

Altar in the Seville Cathedral

Well, that was my week in a nutshell! The next few weeks are going to be super busy between class, homework and weekends full of traveling (Gibraltar, Córdoba, Morocco, and Belgium!!!!!) I don't know how well I will be able to keep up blogging, but I will sure try! Have a great week, all!

Weekend in Granada

Well, folks, another week has flown by here in Spain. I honestly can't believe that week 6 is starting tomorrow! I've been pretty busy now that the semester is in full swing. As predicted, Don Quijote has been taking up the majority of my time, but I managed to do a few other things with my week ;) Here are the highlights!

1) Extending my Visa

Before coming to Spain, I received a visa for 90 days. However, as a yearlong student, I have to apply to extend my visa in order to stay until June. This past Tuesday, I had my appointment with the Spanish government to process all the necessary paperwork and whatnot. The department of foreign affairs is located in La Plaza de España, my absolute favorite building in Sevilla. We visited this impressive building on my first day here, and I immediately fell in love with it.

La Plaza de España

While this building is fun to walk around as a tourist, it was quite intimidating to have to come here for official business. However, everything went smoothly; my paperwork got processed, I got fingerprinted, and I will be able to pick up my yearlong visa in a month!

2) Olive Oil Tasting

This week in my Spanish Culture and Cuisine class, we learned all about Spanish olive oil, which was incredibly interesting and delicious. Olive trees are native to the Mediterranean, and people have been harvesting them for centuries. There are about 10 different types of olive trees that grow in Spain, each one producing a distinct type of olive. We tried olive oils from 3 different regions in Spain: Alicante (northern spain), Jaen (southeastern spain), and Sevilla.

olive trees grow all over Spain!

My professor poured each oil into a separate cup. Before we tasted it with bread, we had to sip the olive oil and drink it plain. I was a little bit grossed out by this idea, because I've only ever had olive oil when mixed with other foods or with bread. While the taste was a bit strange, it was not terrible, and I found out that it makes a big difference when you are taste testing. Trying the olive oils by themselves, I was able to pick up different tastes that were completely masked when eating them with bread! My professor has made me kind of olive oil crazy, and I want to go around and try more types of olive oils while I'm here!!

3) Weekend in Granada

La Alhambra

Obviously the highlight of my week, my two days in the city of Granada were absolutely fabulous. Granada is about three hours east of Sevilla by bus, and is located at the base of the Sierra Nevada mountains. It was definitely nice to be in a more mountainous area, because it was slightly cooler, and I had been craving some fall weather! 

Upon arriving on Saturday afternoon, we headed to La Alhambra, the most iconic site in Granada, and possibly all of southern Spain. The Alhambra was a fortress of the Nazari Empire, the last Muslim empire in all of Spain. The architecture here is absolutely stunning. Every room or courtyard we walked into was decorated using primarily tiles, wood, or stucco, but each had a very unique, ornate design. 

Perhaps the most well known room in La Alhambra is El Patio de los Leones (Courtyard of Lions), the main patio of the Nazari dynasty. This courtyard is extremely beautiful. In the center is a fountain with 12 lions, representing the twelve tribes of Israel. 

Gardens at La Alhambra

The gardens of the Alhambra are extraordinary as well. One could easily spend hours meandering through them. We spent only 3 hours at La Alhambra, and I desperately want to return in order to have more time to tour!! 

After visiting the Alhambra on Saturday, we had free time to tour around the city to sightsee and have dinner. One of the things Granada is most famous for is its tea, so on Saturday night, a few friends and I went to a tetería, or a tea shop and tasted chai, vanilla, and a typical spanish black tea, all of which were delicious!! If you are ever in Granada, I highly recommend going to a tea tasting.

Typical tea pot and cup in Granada

On Sunday we got up early and went and walked around El Albaicín, the historic neighborhood in Granada. The highlight of this tour was going into one of the chapels in the Granada Cathedral to see where King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel of Spain were buried. In the US, Ferdinand and Isabel are most famous for being the ones who funded Christopher Columbus' trip to Spain. Here they are most famous for their role in La Reconquista, or the Catholic Reconquest of Spain. It was Ferdinand and Isabel who defeated the Nazari empire in Granada in 1492 (coincidentally the same year Columbus set sail!)

Catedral de Granada

After our tour of the Cathedral, we had a little free time to ourselves, and then we returned to Sevilla post lunch. My two days in Granada went by so fast. If possible I would love to return and explore this city more. If you are ever in southern Spain, Granada is a must!!!