day seven (part three): sevilla

after all of the sightseeing we did during the day, we took a (much needed) break before getting ready for another very cultural experience: a flamenco. (you'll remember that one of the lladros we bought is of a flamenco dancer.) in my journal from that day, i described the flamenco as a tap/pasa doble mix. that description doesn't quite give it justice. needless to say, it was a super interesting experience. the dancers, as part of the act, keep a very dramatic, strained, almost pained face when dancing. traditional music with very interesting singing accompanies the dancers. (ask denise - my mother-in-law - to demonstrate it for you some time. she does it quite well.)

on our way to the flamenco. (mom - this is where i bought your post card. you can see the post card stand on the right in the distance.)
the male dancer. usually there are two male dancers, but at our show there was only one. the guy standing in the back is one of the singers; the guy sitting in the back is one of the guitar players.all of the dancers. generally speaking, all of the dancers dance individually and then dance together at the end. you can see the three male singers and the two guitarists in the background. the female singer is not in this shot.

we attended a late flamenco (10:30 to 12:30), but it was well worth it. plus, i got to sleep in the next day. off to cadiz next!

:)

sidetrack

i'm only about halfway done blogging about spain, but i had to take a post to celebrate our third anniversary!

07.14.07love you, pumpkin. here's to many more!

:)

day seven (part two): sevilla

our hotel in sevilla was so cool. we had to take a very scary, narrow, and winding taxi ride through the old streets of sevilla to get to it. i wish we had taken pictures of our hotel/our journey to get there, but we didn't. you'll have to take our word for it. :)

after getting settled, we went to the cathedral. it is the largest gothic cathedral and the third-largest church in the world. cameron diaz and tom cruise drive past it in knight and day, so if you've seen the movie, you've seen the cathedral. it is HUGE (needless to say). this wiki picture doesn't do it justice.
outside.
inside.
the organ. gives the motab's a run for it's money. most of the organs we saw were very intricately decorated. they were amazing.the columns in this cathedral were gigantic. (the second two pictures help to give you an idea just how big they are.)
oh, and christopher columbus (cristobal colon) is buried here. this is his coffin.
we were able to climb the tower of giralda. luckily it wasn't stairs; the way up is ramped so that horses could make the journey up in the good old days.one of the views of sevilla from the top. (note the bull fighting ring.)
whew day seven was a busy day. after the cathedral we went to the alcazar. the alcazar in sevilla had huge gardens. here are some pictures of the in and out.

these archways are very distinct.
the winged alligator.
there was so much incredible detail in all the famous, historical places we went. denise and i decided that the spaniards didn't have much to do, so they spent their time decorating in great detail. this duck was a funny one. this picture doesn't quite capture it, but the duck (at one point) had it's head completely relaxed, hanging down towards the pool. now here's something special. this is the king's mistress' bath. apparently she was such a good mistress (who knew?) that men lined up just to drink the water of this bath. also, it used to be open to the sky, but an earthquake in the 1700s (i believe) changed that. it was incredibly cool in here, a nice rest from the super heat of outside!

okay, no joke. sevilla was a really long day. i don't have time to finish right now, so i'll continue with part three later.

:)

day seven (part one): cordoba

we spent monday morning/afternoon in cordoba. we got into the mezquita for free because we went before 10:00am. this cathedral is super unique because it was originally a muslim mosque, but at some point was taken over by the catholic church. the catholic church splashed catholic decorations all over this muslim mosque, which gives it an interesting look. also, this cathedral has over 850 columns - crazy!

the mezquita was one of my favorite places in spain.

after seeing the mezquita, we had some breakfast and then walked around cordoba. there is a famous street known for it's flowers (if i recall it was quite literally "flower street"), so we decided to check it out before leaving cordoba.

after walking around the narrow streets of cordoba, we packed up our things and headed out to sevilla on the high speed train. pictures of sevilla to come soon.

:)

day six: madrid & cordoba

aaaaaaaaaaaand we're back.

we spent our last day in madrid by going to retiro park and the flee market (el rastro).

retiro park is madrid's equivalent of nyc's central park. i think it might be bigger than central park, but i'm not certain of that.
after leaving retiro park, we went to el rastro, a HUGE flee market in madrid. there were so many people there. it was incredible. it wasn't even worth stopping to buy anything. this is only one of the streets we went down.

after the flee market, we said good-bye to madrid and hello to cordoba. we got to cordoba by way of high speed train. the high speed train is so cool. we rode it a few times and got up to as fast as 185 miles per hour. highly recommended mode of transportation if you go to europe.

we got to cordoba too late to visit any of the tourist attractions, so we walked around.

the sidewalks in some of the older cities were really neat. the spaniards put rocks on their side (vertical and tall as opposed to horizontal and flat) and arranged them in patterns.

the mezquita. more pictures to come.
self-portrait.
the hotel we stayed here was called maimonides. i like that name.

:)