First stop in Andalucía!

6/22/10

Goodbye Madrid, Hello Andalucía. It has been such an eventful day. Over 6 hours on a bus and 3 cities later, we are officially exhausted.

It was a 5-minute cab ride to our meeting place this morning. We were so surprised to see how close we were to things in Madrid but had no idea because we always took the metro! At 9:00 we left and headed to the famous windmills in Don Quixote! It was BEAUTIFUL. Little did we know that was just the beginning of the breathtaking scenery we would see.

I learned today, that Spain is known for its sunflowers. Now I know why. We saw fields and fields of sunflowers. Bright yellow flowers, everywhere. It made for a beautiful drive down to southern Spain. Truly took my breath away. The hills really are alive and there are rows and rows of olive trees everywhere. There isn’t a view that’s not stunning.

Sunflowers and happiness with a house in the distance

After lunch we went to a mosque that still has original Muslim architecture but with additions such as a cathedral and a chapel. There was an old version of a Catholic confessional, beautiful alters and intricate walls and ceilings. I know it is quite the combination but I have never seen something this beautiful and unique. In the same little town we also saw an Arab market and an original Jewish synagogue.

These are the original Muslim-designed arches

An outside shot of the Mosque

Beautiful stained glass!

Now we are in Sevila in a hotel that used to be a part of mansion… wow. We have the cutest little room with 2 showers, beautiful intricate designs, and it’s COOL.. literally! I may even get to sleep under the blankets for the first time since I've been in Spain! Oh, it's the little things.

Emily on our cute beds!

We even have a chair! Oh, and check out our bathroom in the background!

We had dinner at the hotel and had a 3-course meal! I actually ate the appetizer despite the fact it was covered in mushrooms! I’m branching out these days. The main course was chicken, potatoes and what I think was bacon. Our dessert was this fruity, super sweet sorbet type ice cream—very good!

All in all it’s been a beautiful, hot first day in the South. Tomorrow should be just as eventful and beautiful!

This is an orange tree we found in a nearby park!

6/23/10

Day number 2 in Andalucia! It's been EXHAUSTING so far! But first things first. Breakfast. Emily and I have been used to slices of white bread and "mister choc" every morning.... but today we had a HOT breakfast. Oh yeah, let me tell you about it. These were our options, every kind of bread you can imagine, fruit (sliced OR whole), bacon, eggs, cheesy eggs, sausage, cereal, yogurt, pastries, oh my gosh every kind of cheese imaginable. It was never ending and fantastic. Oh I almost forgot... we had COFFEE too!

Then, we went to "Italica" too see Roman ruins. I wasn't really looking forward to it, but oh my word it was absolutely incredible! There was an old arena, yes I walked where gladiators walked! We saw the foundations of old roman houses and businesses! It was super interesting.

After that we toured other hot spots in the city and saw the place where the world fair was in the 90's and also the famous bridges in Star Wars II. We toured a beautiful castle and the oldest gothic cathedral in the world! We are completely exhausted, but had lunch at a cute little cafe. Now we are relaxing and will get ready soon for dinner and then to see a Flamenco show tonight! I'm very excited about this! I will post pictures from today as soon as I have internet connection again!

Bye for now :)