NO8DO = The city has not abandoned me, Sevilla´s motto

Another weekend has flown by. This time it was spent in Sevilla, the city that you probably envision when you think of Spain--flamenco, tapas, bull fights, the works. Friday morning, per usual, we got up at 4:30am to catch our flight to Sevilla. We met our fantastic tour guide (and best friend, Meredith Kamis) who saved us money by knowing everything that would be on the audio guides. Our first stop (post-hostel) was the Alcazar.

The Alcazar is a royal palace in Sevilla with an incredible mix of cultures put into its architecture. Construction began in the 14th Century and was heavily influenced by the Moorish style, yet still contained within Christian limitations. The palace is filled with running water and pools, as it was believed that still water birthed evil, and thus the waterways are all connected. The Roman baths in the basement of the palace were bigger than most swimming pools, pretty impressive. The palace has many courtyards, lined with hedge mazes, orange trees and goldfish filled ponds. Pretty much, it was a fantastic little place to spend the morning.

After that wore us out, we needed food. Off to the Roman Baths we went. I should remember the name of the restaurant, but its currently slipping from me, that we ate at. It is a preserved underground roman bath. It was quite fun to sit in the cave-style atmosphere while enjoying my lunch.

Rejuvenated from our food, we headed off to stroll along the Guadalquivir River. This river, I am convinced, is the only reason why Sevilla was able to survive in ancient times, because without that water way, Sevilla would have been a deserted desert. The river led us to Triana, where we proceeded to explore and shop.

Since we were tired, we only went out to Calle Beatiz, (the nightlife district) for a few hours, so that we were well rested for our day in Cordoba!

Cordoba allowed us to take our first train ride in Europe, as we headed two hours north of Sevilla. Once the largest city in the world, it boasts ancient architecture and small curvaceous roads that encourage you to get lost. Luckily for us, the Mosque was peaking out over every street, so reason for coming to Cordoba was quickly found. Cordoba was continually a site of invasion, and thus every culture that came in decided to add to the marvel that is the mosque. There are not many matching columns, as they were all stolen from other Roman buildings and remains, I did happen to notice quite a few granite ones though, which of course reminded me of home. In the 13th century, the mosque (like many others at this time) was converted to a cathedral. It now still holds services and Christian events, despite the embedded Muslim influence that is literally trapped in the walls.

We felt we were leaving out Judaism, so we ventured out to the Synagogue--one of the last three that remain in Spain (the remaining two are in Toledo, the city of religion as I am now referring to it as). The Hebrew inscription on the walls tells the story of the construction of the building. Sadly, only one room was open, which made sense since we only were charged .30 to enter.

Two hours later we were back at it in Sevilla. Get showered, get ready, and lets go. Flamenco dancing is on the agenda. After a delicious dinner, we headed out to a flamenco show. It was fantastic. Only one dancer, with four musical men behind her. Very relaxed tavern like atmosphere, yet silenced by the passion on the stage. Definitely glad that I was able to watch the performance. We then decided to practice our Spanish some more by heading out for the evening at a rather upscale club (we got in free instead of paying the 500€ entrance fee). I felt a bit under dressed.

Sunday was a day of rest, so we took advantage by sleeping in until 9am, just in time to catch the free breakfast our hostel offered. Off to the main events, Plaza de España here we come. Plaza de España has a bench from every main city in Spain, EXCEPT Bilbao. I don´t know if Sevilla is aware that Bilbao is the 5th largest city, but apparently that makes no difference. Instead, they had a bench of our region, which encompassed all of the cities that are tied to ETA. That of course had no effect, as ETA is only three decades old, while the Plaza has a few hundred years on it. We then strolled through Parque Maria Luisa on our way to find lunch before scurrying off to the Cathedral.

The Cathedral is the largest Roman Catholic church (I believe in the world). It is the burial ground of Christopher Columbus. The reason why the cathedral is so big, is they wanted to cover all of the land that once belonged to the mosque that once stood in its place. The best part was the tower top view that allowed us to see for miles, as there is nothing but flat land in the south of Spain.

We had a farewell dinner to top off the evening and caught our flight in the morning in time to make it to class on Monday. Perfect. Fantastic weekend.