Andalucia

Seventh lesson: Everybody hangs their clothes out to dry, so whatever you put in the wash won't be dry for about 5 days. A fact I overlooked when I packed only one pair of winter pyjamas.


This weekend I took my first trip out of the city to explore the outlying towns and countryside of Andalucia (the "province" I live in). Together with all the Calgary girls from UofC, we set out bright and early Friday morning to the Renfe station (train station) for the 9:39 train to Córdoba. This town is most famous for its mosque/Cathedral aka La Mezquita. This building started out as a pagan temple like 900 years ago, and as different cultures invaded Spain they just simply converted it to suit their religious needs. When the Muslims were here for 700  years they went all out and made the building into a beautiful mosque, and when the Catholics re-conquered Spain they added a few wings to the building and made it their Cathedral. We arrived in the town we hopped on the #4 bus, because according to our hostel's website it would drop us off fairly close to them. Apparently not. We rode the whole bus route, for an hour, waiting for the street where our stop should have been. Instead we got a nice scenic drive around the city, went back to the Renfe station and took a cab to the hostel. The first thing we did was go to the Mezquita, which was absolutely amazing and absolutely freezing. It's crazy how all the Catholic and Islamic architectural styles are combined. After grabbing lunch and sitting in the sun, we made 'reservations' for the Arab baths. The concept for this is that you have to alternate between cold, tepid and hot pools. We got the student deal which also included massages. We killed a good 2 or 3 hours there, just floating and being quiet. For dinner, we went to a Moroccan restaurant and had some good couscous, and other dishes that Spaniards don't eat too frequently. We even got a belly-dancing show! Even though Córdoba is a small town we managed to find the busy shopping street where all the Asian dollar stores are, and most of us managed to find all the things we need for our costumes next weekend (Carnival).


Saturday morning we packed up and went to the bus station to catch the mid-morning bus to Granada. The drive through Andalucia is breath-taking. Some parts reminded me a little bit of California. But for the most part it was full of olive trees, and continuously rolling hills. The soil here is very red. We even saw a random castle on top of a hill, but that's not unusual in Spain, especially as you go further north. As we drove closer to Granada this GIANT mountain comes out of nowhere... covered in snow. We all unanimously said how much we missed the rockies. When we got to the city we immediately found some cabs, and headed to our second hostel. Between 3 or 4 people, cab rides were like $2 each. It turned out that the hostel we booked was in the Bermuda Triangle or something because the cab driver had no idea where the street was. We eventually did find it, after walking up and down the same street for 20 minutes. It was an unexpected surprise to see that our hostel was in fact not a hostel, but a floor that the owner must rent out on weekends. So we had a full apartment, with a living room, kitchen, etc. Our day in Granada was basically just a shopping day, all of us definitely put a good dent in our credit cards. With the mountain in the background it felt like we were in the Alps or something crazy like that. We initially planned to go out that night but it was so cold outside, we bought a couple bottles of wine and ordered some good old Domino's pizza. Proof that we were in the Bermuda Triangle.... when the pizza guy finally showed up he said he had no idea that place even existed.


Granada is famous for its Alhambra, or "fortress" built by the Moors back in the day. One of the girls (Andrea) had already been there, and I won a trip for March to go see it, so both of us decided it would be redundant to go again. While the other girls went to the Alhambra on Sunday, Andrea and I took a train to another town called Ronda. We were up and out of the apartment by 6 to catch the 6:50 train, and by 9:30 we were pulling up into the town. I really had no idea what to expect or anything because it was Andrea who planned it all and I just kind of tagged along. Ronda is basically the Spanish equivalent of Banff. Its a small town, you can walk anywhere. So we're exploring, find a fountain covered in icicles (proof that its cold here), then we find a sweet-looking bridge. No big deal, this bridge is like a million years old, massive, and in the middle of these CLIFFS that the town is built on. I still cannot get over how amazing it was. I have never seen anything like that before, and for some reason it reminded me of Lord of the Rings. Hands down, one of my favourite places so far.


We got back into Sevilla at around 2:30, and its so nice to be back "home" in "my" bed with all my stuff. After almost a month here I'm starting to feel less like a guest in the house. And the travel bug has bitten.... But at the same time... I miss steak, and central heating.