Mountain town bliss

Beautiful arcs at Cordoba Mosque

I wanna start off by apologizing for not having written in a while but hopefully I can make up for it by writing a few at once and catching you up on my whereabouts! The weekend of March 11th ISA had planned on a two day trip to the nearby towns of Cordoba and Granada. Both of which are in the Andalusia region (along with Sevilla). We left from Sevilla friday morning and made it to Cordoba in time for a visit the infamous Mosque before lunch. Even though the weather was absolutely horrible I was still taken away by the amazing town and architecture. The mosque is an old temple that has been converted into different religious sanctuaries over the years. It is most famous for its intricate red and white striped arcs, attention to details, and the mix of styles from being renovated by different religious groups. After our walking through it we were shown around the small town for a while and then given two hours for lunch. Maria (my host mom) had made me a lunch that day so I enjoyed sitting in a neat covered courtyard for lunch and then ventured into some of the local shops. The items there were very similar to Sevilla since they are the same region but the pottery there was something that I definitely noticed. If you are ever traveling in that area and love hand painted ceramics, be sure to stop and visit this beautiful little town.

All of the beautiful flowers in Cordoba during the city walk

After lunch we all hopped back onto the buses and made way for the mountain town of Granada. It was really interesting driving into this town because it reminded me a lot of being back home in Colorado. It has beautiful snow capped mountains and the atmosphere was very reminiscent of home not to mention the frigid cold air! That evening ISA took us on a city night walk through the town which led us up a (very steep!) hill to get a beautiful view of the city before going to a cool little cliff side cave bar to watch flamenco. Flamenco is a very popular and cultural form of dance and although I had watched a show in Sevilla, the one in Granada was just as spectacular.

City view from the hill in Granada

Flamenco dancer at the cliffside flamenco bar

On saturday, before heading back to Sevilla, ISA took us all on a tour of the 'palace city' containing a Moorish palace Alhambra and the Generalife which is a royal garden next to the Alhambra. This is one the most famous and touristic sites in all of Andalucia and I can definitely see why; even through the rain and dark clouds the palace and gardens were unbelievable. It took about three hours to walk through everything but nothing could really out do the beauty and mountain views we all were able to experience. This is another must see if you are ever traveling through Spain!  

Palace of Carlos V

Royal Garden

Map of Cordoba, Spain

Map of Granada, Spain