Flamenco and Córdoba

Exciting news of the week – my Sevici card has arrived! Downer news of the week – my camera broke ☹ I’ll try not to complain about it too much but it broke on Friday so all of the pictures of Córdoba are borrowed. Back to the good news – Sevici is the bike share program in Seville. They have tons of stations where you can take out a bike and then return it to any other station. It’s going to make getting around a lot easier since we live over 1.5 miles away from the program center/main university building which means a long walk but a very manageable bike ride. This city is also very biker friendly – they have bike paths on the sidewalks so you don’t have to risk biking right next to crazy Spanish drivers and people actually move out of your way if you ring your bell. I definitely hadn’t ridden a bike in over five years before Monday, so Maureen and I decided to practice in a park where there are wide paths and fewer pedestrians. I know the saying “it’s just like riding a bike” implies you never forget, but it was definitely still necessary to brush up on my biking skills before going out into the real streets. We decided to brave that expedition in the afternoon when fewer people are out, so we walked home from the park. On our walk, we took a different path home and explored a new area of our neighborhood. Every time I think I’m getting to know this city, I realize there are more parts I have yet to even walk through. It’s exciting and daunting at the same time. We also stopped at the soccer stadium to look into prices for the Sevilla – Real Madrid game. The cheapest tickets are 120 euro, so I think I’ll pass on that one but I definitely still want to go to a game with a team that’s a little less expensive. During lunch, I discovered that “knock on wood” is the same thing in Spain as in the US (they say “toca la madera.”) After grammar class, Maureen and I explored the neighborhood of Triana, which is right across the river from our program center. As we were heading home, storm clouds set in and as luck would have, the first sighting of rain we see in Seville coincides with our first bike ride home. Even though it started pouring about two minutes away from our house, we made it home drenched but in one piece.

sky before the storm

On Tuesday, we went to this little church called La Iglesia de San Luis, which is in the same general area as the Museum of Fine Arts. From the outside, it looks pretty large, but when you go in, the actual room is small because so much of the building is supporting the cupola. It’s almost exactly the same as it would have appeared in the 18th century because it was closed down for years and so hasn’t been worn down by churchgoers or tourists. It was very ornately decorated, although a lot of the paintings were hard to see because they were dirty – it’s going to be restored in a few months. There were four main statues of saints in the four corners of the church and Pepe explained that they were strategically placed so that during the respective festivals for each saint, the light from the windows of the cupola would be shining on the respective statue. It is pretty amazing how well designed these old buildings are to take into account things such as light that couldn’t be supplemented by modern technology. After the church visit, we wandered our way passing by this amazing looking bakery called La Campana. Of course, we had to stop in and just ogle (and make plans to return and try every type of pastry in the shop.) We also did some window shopping/browsing on one of the main shopping streets, but I exercised my self control and didn’t buy a thing. After grammar, we couldn’t resist the call of La Campana and went back to try some of the incredibly rich pastries. They didn’t have any seats at the bakery, so we walked back to a nearby plaza and found a bench on which to feast/people watch. The pastries were absolutely delicious but we probably could have just split one instead of one each since I think my stomach was about one bite away from exploding after all that cream and nuts. Then we sat on the bench for a while more, watching a group of four little boys play fighting and other little kids scootering or playing tag. Finally we returned home where a large dinner was awaiting, which I managed to finish very slowly (did I mention yet that Mati has a deep fryer next to the stove? Seriously a deep fat fryer!) 

Iglesia de San Luis

Cupola of the church

On to the next delicious meal: on Wednesday we had a lunch of lentil soup with chorizo and potatoes. The majority of the day was spent studying for our grammar test on Thursday, so no time for exploring. Thursday we visited the Real Alcázar of Seville, which is the palace in Seville where the king would stay if he visited. The gardens are gorgeous – lots of greenery, fountains and a few ponds with ducks and fish swimming around. The building itself is also really interesting – again it has a mixture of architectural styles that makes it very unique. Our tour guide was our art history culture professor instead of Pepe, which was fine except for the fact that he mumbles a lot so it’s really easy to tune him out. We saw the majority of the rooms and gardens but I’m really happy that the Alcázar is free for students because we can go back whenever we want. After lunch we had our test, which was fine, and at night we went to an “espectaculo de flamenco.” The program staff had said this one was not very touristy, but it looked like all of the people there were tourists. Still, it was really interesting and impressive. At first, there was just two men playing guitar and singing a song. Then a woman came out and started dancing flamenco on this square wooden board. She was amazing – I don’t understand how one person can move their feet that fast and move with such energy for so long, but she did it. The dance was a combination of tap dancing, step, and maybe interpretive dance. She had so much passion and I wish I had understood more of the words of the song because it seemed like she was kind of acting out the story, but either way it was really cool to watch. The building itself was also beautiful, with flowers up the back wall and a black lamp hanging from the very high ceiling. After the show, some of us went to a tapas bar nearby to have some wine and tapas before heading home to get a good night’s sleep in preparation for our trip to Córdoba.

Flamenco dancer

Gardens of the Real Alcázar

               
Córdoba is about an hour and a half away from Seville, so we took a bus rented by the program to get there. We pulled up right next to the Roman bridge that crosses the Guadalquivir. Even though it’s the same river in both cities, the Guadalquivir in Córdoba is shallow and muddy – I definitely prefer the green version in Seville. Once we crossed the bridge, we were at La Mezquita – the mosque/cathedral for which Córdoba is famous. It was constructed as a mosque in the 8th century, but was converted into a cathedral during the Reconquest. It still retains a lot of the Islamic architecture and design but also has a huge chapel right in the middle of the building with a large organ and altar. It’s a really interesting mix of styles – you stand in one place and you think mosque and then ten feet away you see a crucifix and stained glass window. The Christians covered up a lot of the Islamic designs but they have since been restored and there are some amazing carvings in plaster at the back of the building. There is also a patio of orange trees that looks very similar to the patio in the Cathedral of Seville and a large bell tower that was once a minaret. After the tour of La Mezquita, we continued with our tour of the old Jewish neighborhood. The streets are very small and cobblestoned and the buildings are covered with flowers in windowboxes – it lends an overall quaint feeling to the city. We walked down La Calle de Las Flores (the street of flowers), which has flowers covering the walls of the buildings and a great view of the tower of La Mezquita. We also passed through a tiny square, which has some of the artisan collectives in the city – Córdoba is a center of silver jewelry but somehow I managed to leave without buying any but a definitely a few ideas of things to make on my own. We also visited the old synagogue of Córdoba and I took a picture with one of my other Jewish friends in front of the menorah – the most Jewish thing I did for Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) this year. The temple was really tiny inside and I don’t really understand how services were conducted but it was cool to see such an old synagogue and think about the history of Jews in Spain. After the tour, we went to get lunch at a restaurant our guide had recommended. I got fried eggplant and a kebob type thing. It was delicious – especially the eggplant dipped in the tomato soup my friend had ordered. After we wandered around a while in the touristy stores looking for souvenirs and postcards before one of my friends and I decided to go to the gardens of the Real Alcázar of Córdoba. They were even better than the ones is Seville because they still had tons of flowers blooming and a long pond down the middle with fountains crossing over it. We also saw a bride and groom taking pictures in the gardens – seems like a pretty good place for a wedding photo shoot to me! After sitting in the gardens a while to enjoy the view and the warm weather, we headed back to catch the bus. For dinner Mati made us stuff eggplants with ground beef and cheese and peppers. It was delicious but extremely filling and I was going to tapas with the people in my discussion group because the teacher had invited us. I still went of course but ate the tiniest bites of the tapas – just so I could taste the flavors. The restaurant we went to is the oldest tapas restaurant in Seville – maybe Spain – and it has a really fun atmosphere with pork legs hanging from the ceiling and everyone who orders tapas has to stand so there are lots of people standing around the front of the restaurant. The food was also really tasty – and this was after I was stuffed from dinner so I bet it’s even better on an empty stomach. Afterward we went for ice cream where I definitely did not get anything but tried a bite of a friend’s and can say it too was a delicious place.

                                           La Mezquita

Roman bridge and La Mezquita in the distance

Saturday, we went to an amusement park called “Isla Mágica” in the morning. It turned out to be really fun despite the fact that it’s a tiny park with only one real rollercoaster, which I didn’t even go on because I hate upside down ones. I did go on some water rides and get soaked and got to see a ridiculous “musical” during lunch. It was a show for little kids with pirates and crazy costumes and the songs and dancing were so insanely cheesy it was great. The only weird thing about going to the amusement park was that it didn’t feel like being in Spain at all. Of course all of the signs were in Spanish and the majority of the people were speaking Spanish, but it was the same as an American amusement park with the same rides and the same cheesy decorations. I exited the park gates and kind of felt like I would be back in the States. After wandering around Triana again to find the synagogue I thought I had passed on my last exploration (see at least I tried a little bit) I headed home unsuccessful. After dinner we decided to go see a Spanish movie that has won some awards and we had heard was good called “Gordos.” The movie didn’t start until midnight so we decided to go for ice cream beforehand. One friend mentioned she really wanted a brownie sundae and once she said it, it sounded amazing to me too, so I’m embarrassed to say we went to TGIFridays. I haven’t been to one in the US so I can’t exactly compare but the decoration there was so in your face and obnoxious – probably exactly what they think of Americans. We saw some people dressed way too nicely for TGIFridays and the waiters all had to wear funny little hats. Probably the major difference is that there was a soccer game playing instead of football or baseball. At least the brownie sundae really hit the spot, so I feel like my transgression into American culture was worth it. Then we headed to the movie theater, which is a normal theater not an outdoor one so it was similar to ones in the US with overpriced popcorn and much comfier seats than lawn chairs. The movie was really good – it was weird in that way that most Spanish movies that I have seen are but interesting in how they wove the plots of the different characters together. I felt good because I understood almost all of it – I realized that even though I can never read lips in English it is really helpful in understanding a language because this movie was ten times easier than Burn After Reading dubbed into Spanish. Yet again, I exited thinking I would be back in the US. Even though the movie was entirely in Spanish, going to the movies feels so much like home to me and the fact that I didn’t have to struggle too much to understand made me forget a little bit that I was in Spain. I guess overall this was a very American day for me and I’ll have to do something really Spanish soon to re-immerse myself.

the aisle of oil in the grocery store - and that is just one side

On Sunday, I stayed inside all day being a bum because I had gotten a bug bite on my face that made my eyelid swell and my eye was half shut.  Per the request of my mother, I will include the somewhat frantic email that I sent to my parents because I am extremely sensitive about things happening to my eyes. Please keep in mind that in their kindness they took a whole 8 hours to respond to this email.

subject: go on skype!!

hello padres
so yesterday i got what i'm pretty sure was a bug bite on my face (always lovely) but since i've been having such bad reactions to the spanish bugs (bug bites the size of golf balls) of course now one of my eyelids is pretty swollen and my eye only opens about half way. i know it's just a bug bite and it will be fine but i need you (especially the doctor) to assure me of that so go on skype when you have a chance so i can show you my lovely distorted face.
i knew there would be consequences for not going to temple yesterday :)

love,
rachel (your deformed daughter)