Cordoba and Granada

Hola!

Where does the time go? It seems to be running and running and I forget to try to blog to keep up with it.

Anyway, went to Granada and Cordoba this weekend. Cordoba is known for La Mesquita. Granada is known for the Alhambra, Generalife, and free tapas with drinks. I had the pleasure of enjoying all three. I’m sure both have many other lovely attractions, but these are what I was able to partake in during my short stays.

Cordoba was essentially just a trip to see La Mesquita, which is a mosque that was turned into a church. It’s gigantic and known for the red and white striped arches that decorate the interior. Before the Catholics came in and ruined everything, La Mesquita had perfect acoustics due to a large shell-shaped ceiling, now it has okay acoustics to a certain point before you can’t hear anything.

After the tour, we were free to wander around the city and eat the bocadillos our host moms had lovingly packed us. As we moved through the cobblestone streets, we were bombarded with gypsy’s pleas for money. All of them had babies. At first we thought, my, what a fertile population of gypsies. Then we realized that their babies all inexplicably looked exactly the same in features and dress. Yup, they were baby borrowers.

From Cordoba we took a bus ride to Granada where we had only a precious few minutes to lay down before we had to ascend a very high, very steep hill (I’ve determined people living in Granada must have spectacular legs). First we went to see a breathtaking view of La Alhambra and to watch a fire juggler/baton twirler duo fail enough times to extinguish their flames and blend shamefully into the crowd.

Next was an incredible Flamenco show. You see, Flamenco was traditionally performed in caves by gypsies and on the streets. It’s also a very expressive dance tradition that relies heavily on improvisation. Thus, the best Flamenco shows are the most organic ones, the ones where people feel moved to stand up and dance at the plucking of the guitar and the rough, wavering vocals or just at the percussion of a group. However, as one cannot plan a spontaneous show, the next best thing would be this small bar that had been built to resemble a cave. As it were, I’d been to the same place three years earlier when I went to Spain before, but I had a much greater appreciation of Flamenco this time.

It was a spectacular show. I think that the unrehearsed nature of Flamenco makes it so that when the bailaores (as they’re called in Flamenco) move, you can see in the deep lines of their forehead and tightly shut eyes their profound connection to the movements. From what I’ve seen, good dancers always seem as though they dance, first and foremost, for themselves when they perform. However, there’s still a beautiful synthesis between the entire group. If you’ve ever seen a show, the members not dancing are constantly shouting things like “ole,” this is called “jaleo” and is an integral part of Flamenco. It’s one of the ways they play off each other, the same as their complex foot stomping and clapping (as many of these people have an innate understanding of rhythm – unlike most concert clappers).

There were four dancers, three women and one man. The first two women were very young and attractive and more agile than the last woman, who was quite a bit older but had impressive usage of castanets. At the end of the show, each dancer brought an audience member up to the stage to dance. The older woman, clearly being the sassiest of the group, pulled several people to groove in the aisles and then pulled my friend up on stage and proceeded to shake her way down to the floor, daring my friend to go as low as she did (something we all hope we’ll still be able to do in our 70’s).

Post-show, we were set free and ran off to go enjoy the free tapas in Granada. Spain used to give free tapas everywhere, apparently because drunkenness was a big problem and the generous snack-sized helpings with every beverage kept people from getting too inebriated too quickly. Now Granada is one of the few cities to still offer tapas (and large ones at that) and it's a great way to grab dinner.

The next morning we trekked to La Alhambra, a Moorish/Christian palace. It was originally built by the Moors before being conquered and added on to by the Christians (much like a whole lot of Southern Spain). The walls are covered in intricately molded images of Arabic letters and important symbols. Every ceiling in stunningly crafted, one is reminiscent of the night sky. They’re still beautiful, even though the vibrant paint colors have greatly faded. Many of the doorways have what are called stalactite ceilings, which hang down in complex patterns. The whole thing is just an incredibly structure of small details and fountains (water was very important to the Moors). I kept commenting that I couldn’t imagine living there, especially as a child, wandering around and running through ornately decorated rooms as though it were perfectly natural.

Once we left the palace, we wandered through the Generalife, which is an absolutely gigantic garden. It would be a splendid place to just take walks through and to find a place to nestle into and read for hours.

From there it was lunch and going back to Sevilla, which feels so much like home now. I apologize that I’m really slacking over here on updating this blog quickly enough, but I’m sure you’ll be lenient about it, as I’ve been busy enjoying myself.

I hope to post a currently unfinished entry about a typical day here tomorrow. Hope you’re all having adventures of your own.

Love,

Natalie