Andalucía

As wonderful and amazing as our Europe trip was, we surely hadn't seen all that we wanted to see, even after we returned from Paris. We had booked flights home for August 16 months in advance and so we still had two more weeks of adventuring to do! Our friend Fran and his family were so kind to let us stay at their house in Alcalá, so after hanging out there for a couple of days we rented a car and headed south!

We had planned not once, but TWICE to visit Andalucía with my parents (first during Semana Santa and then during this same week) but since all Americans were barred from entering Europe, it didn't happen. Just another excuse to go back and visit, I guess! Regardless, we couldn't leave the country without seeing one of its most beautiful regions. Andalucía is such a unique part of Europe because, unlike the rest of the continent that has mostly Christian-inspired architecture and history, this whole part of the peninsula was inhabited by the Moors, even as late as 1492. Against all recommendations, we visited the area during August, the hottest month of the year, and experienced firsthand why you should plan to visit anytime besides summer. It was HOT. And no place was hotter than our first stop: Córdoba.

We wouldn't have stopped at all in this, Spain's hottest city if it weren't for the Grand Mosque. All things considered, it was truly worth the stop, but the 105-degree heat and 90% humidity made it really tempting to just keep driving. The Great Mosque is this huge structure that was originally a Moorish mosque but, just like most other Moorish structures, was changed into a Christian place of worship. Luckily, though, the Christians recognized how absolutely beautiful it was so instead of tearing it all down, they built a cathedral just right in the center. The cathedral part is really cool and over-the-top, but I loved the columns of the Mosque section even more. Looking through the 856 columns gives the illusion of looking through to the eternities, not unlike the mirror analogy we have in our temples. If it weren't so incredibly hot in there, I could have spent hours marveling at the place. Some of the pillars even came from Egypt, they were so old! Anyway. Really cool experience.

Luckily, there were these fountains that were basically public pools just outside of the mosque where we could dip our feet and cool off just a little before exploring a bit more of the city. Of COURSE, we got some ice cream and a bocadillo, and we roamed around the cute streets (sticking to the shade) marveling about the fact that people still live in these tiny little apartments on these narrow cobblestone streets.

Oh, funny story, when we arrived in Córdoba I had to pee soooo bad. We found parking and made a beeline to the nearest open building, which happened to be a lawyer's office. When we entered, Hayden yelled at the lady at the front desk, "Esta mujer necesita un aseo, dónde está??" and the lady sort of panicked and pointed toward the bathroom. I was laughing soooo hard, because what would you think if a man came running in yelling, "This woman needs a bathroom, where is it?!" Hahaha, "esta mujer."

Anyway, so we hopped back in the car and kept traveling south to Seville, which wasn't much cooler. Despite the heat, though, we loooved Seville. The place is just magical, and I don't think we expected to love it as much as we did. Granted, we had to stay inside or at the pool for the majority of daylight time because it was just that hot, but walking around the streets at night was just enchanting.

On our first night we just explored the Old Town and got Dominoes pizza (have I mentioned that in Spain you can have all-you-can-eat pizza and all-you-can-drink fountain drinks for 7 euros a person? A SCREAMIN deal) and walked along the same river Christopher Columbus left from to sail to the New World for the first time. The ambiance was just amazing.

On our first whole day we took-- you guessed it-- Rick Steves's audio tour! It took us around the main square where the cathedral, the Alcazar, and the Jewish Quarter. I had no idea about all the significance of this beautiful city. This is where most of the goods from the New World came through before being exported to the rest of Europe, how cool is that?! We stood outside the building where much of the trading went on, and it was crazy to imagine the huge ships that came all the way upstream from the Mediterranean to trade their goods here in this city.

This is La Giralda, the tower connected to the cathedral, with its Moorish arches and style.

This the Calle de Los Besos, or the "Kissing Street," so named because it was narrow enough that you could lean out of the window and kiss your neighbors.

We toured the Alcázar next, which was really beautiful. If I wasn't already convinced, this place inspired me to want to decorate and lay out my future home Arabic-style, with pretty gardens and fountains and courtyards. A girl can dream, right? The Alcázar is a palace built for a Christian king who just loved the Moorish style. I mean, can you blame him? It's gorgeous!

How beautiful is this courtyard!? I'm seriously obsessed with the Arabic style.

Here's one of the cool ceilings in the palace.

As unflattering as this picture is, it's a pretty accurate representation of what I looked like most of the time: sweaty, wearing a mask, and reading Rick Steves.

The gardens were filled with these beautiful pools and fountains and if I didn't have even the slightest bit of shame I would have jumped right in.

Like I said, we couldn't stay for too long in the sun, so we went back to our hotel for the Spanish siesta time and then some. The hotel had a nice little pool on the rooftop, and we couldn't stay outside the pool for more than a few minutes, even in the shade, without burning up and having to jump back in. This was no St. George dry heat-- this was incredibly humid heat that, after being in northern Europe for a few weeks, we were not prepared for.

After our long siesta, we hit the town once again to do some exploring and eating. We crossed the river to Triana and found a nice restaurant right there on the river. What we thought was a 30 euro per-person dinner was actually a full 3-course-meal for two that was only 30 euros total, what a deal! And the food...wow, the food. It was really great. Fish in Utah is just not the same as what they catch fresh daily in Spain. At dinner, we met a really nice Brazilian couple who gave us an open invitation to stay with them in Murcia any time we'd like. They even said we could bring our kids when we have them! They were so kind and generous, and they even paid for our dessert. We love Brazilians!

And here we are on the bridge between Seville and Triana. Columbus set sail from this very river! A few miles downstream, but, the same river! So neat.

After dinner, we hit up the bar (a regular occurrence in Spain) and made our way home. Before leaving the next morning, we stopped by the Plaza de España where a few minutes of Star Wars was filmed.

The place was really neat, but I thought it was even cooler at night. After snapping a pic, we made our way back to the rental car and headed for the beach.

I forgot to mention, Hayden really wanted to learn how to drive a stick, so we purposely rented a manual car. I drove the whole time, but Hayden got to practice in the parking lot and he was obviously very, very proud.

Haha anyway, we drove to a beach near Tarifa called Bolonia where there are Roman ruins right there in the sand. This beach was amazing! Perfect sand, clear blue, warm water, and a nice breeze...or, we thought it was nice. In reality, the breeze masked the fact that we were getting absolutely ROASTED in the sun, and Hayden got burned worse than I did for once. Granted, I think I was the only person on the beach wearing a top (man or woman) so I had that advantage.

Hayden wishes he had worn THIS getup the whole time instead...perhaps he would have been spared.

After spending the hottest part of the day at the beach, we drove (for longer than I had expected) to Granada. We had met an American woman and her Spanish husband in Madrid a couple of months earlier who recommended we stay with this English lady named Alice. I blindly took their advice and called her up to reserve a room, and I'm sure glad I did! Her location was perfect: right across from the Alhambra and a gorgeous view from the pool. This became our respite from the heat during those toasty afternoon hours. Alice was really sweet too. She moved to Granada about 30 years earlier to be close to her daughter and just never left because she loved it so much. Comparing the weather with England and Spain, I don't blame any of the English for making the move down south.

Here's us with, yet again, some kebabs. We couldn't stay away, ya know? The stuff was just way too good and cheap. We even went back the next day and took some kebabs for the road.

Granada was the last stronghold of the Moors before the Christians officially kicked them out in 1492. We got to see where Ferdinand and Isabel were buried and peek into the caves where flamenco began. We even got to watch another flamenco show even though we thought all shows would be canceled. Our favorite thing, though, and one of the biggest reasons we wanted to come to southern Spain so badly, was the Alhambra. Hayden had been dreaming about seeing it ever since he took an Islamic humanities class freshman year, and it certainly lived up to our expectations. We started our tour early in the morning walking around the Generalife gardens, and then we made our way through the gorgeous buildings. One of our favorite places was the Hall of the Ambassadors where the Sultan would sit and, later, where Columbus stood to petition Isabel and Ferdinand for funds to sail to the Americas.

I loved these gardens! There was just such beautiful hedge work and fountains and tiled floors...

...and arches. Gotta love those arches.

I think this pic is pretty cool...a view of the city looking through a keyhole arch.

And the fountains! I loved these little pools.

Here's the ceiling of the Hall of the Ambassadors. It's made up of over 2,000 pieces of wood and is designed to look like the night sky.

I think this is a pretty iconic spot. I guess this is where the Sultan's wives and concubines would gather...awk.

Here's another one of the many cool ceilings. At this point, wearing a mask was getting really, really old.

This is the fortress on the cliffside overlooking the Granada valley, and our last stop before we got so hot that we just had to call it a day.

And finally, a view of the entire city from the fortress.

I'm so, so glad we got to make our southern Spain trip happen despite all the setbacks, and I can't wait to return someday to learn even more about the coolest country in Europe!