What a Wonderfully Welcome Weekend

First things first. Damn that was a great weekend!

Okay, now that that's out, here's how it went down. Saturday the whole program went to Cordoba, a very old Spanish city (possibly built by the Romans?) north of Sevilla. After that, some of us went to a Sevilla FC football match (and I mean real football, not the pansy American kind). Finally, on Sunday, a group of us caught a bus to the coast and spent the day in the beachtown of Cadiz.

But what kind of post would this be without details?

Cordoba was an absolutely gorgeous city. Situated closer to the source of the Guadalquivir River that also runs through Sevilla, Cordoba flanks the river with its majestic and predominately Islamic and Judeo architecture (ignoring the modern stuff like cranes and Burger Kings). We first went to an old decomissioned synagogue (do you decomission something like a temple? Or does it just stop getting used?) I doffed my cap, and almost felt awkward walking in without a yamalcha. San Fernando started talking about the history of that particular synagogue (none of which I particularly remember) and then went into the architecture. It's really cool, because there were 15 windows in the upper walls (none in the East Wall, I never did find out why) and 3 of them in the West Wall were closed up. The remaining 12 open windows signify the 12 Tribes of Israel. I really thought that was cool. Took a bunch of pictures that should explain the rest, if I can remember when I post them...

After that, we strolled through some quaint Spanish alleyways, took a quick stop in a small plaza filled with the scent of fresh flowers, and then moved on to the Mezquita (mosque in Spanish). This is the Mezquita mayor (Major Mosque...kinda like how most Italian cities have their own Duomos? Similar deal) and it was serious. Somewhere around 1,000 years old, this place had been added to several times by various Muslim rulers and Christian kings. Now it's practically the size of the Vatican, but I would wager prettier. The Mezquita had been converted from a mosque to a cathedral after the Christians retook Cordoba under the reign of Fernando III, aka San Fernando (no relation to our guide and teacher). I took an absurd amount of pictures while I was there, and there are no words to describe the simple magnificence of that temple. But what the hell, I'll give it a shot. When we entered, directly in front of us was a 20' tall altar with paintings of Jesus and Mary. But that wasn't the impressive bit. Fully entering into the original portion of la Mezquita, you stare out at hundreds of archs, all held aloft by marble columns with different heads. Even the feet of the columns were different, some higher or lower, or with different designs, but every one of the archs was the same. They were beautiful and they ran the length and breadth of the entire building. We continued around that amazing place with its alternating red and grey marble columns, finding the original Islamic decorations either subverted for Christian use or redone. There was relatively little of the original decor, but the ceiling in certain parts was. Let me tell you, apart from a ceiling painted by Michaelangelo, I have never seen anything like it. And it was merely designed and carved and lightly gilded, not painted. Easily the most beautiful ceiling I've ever seen (and I'm talking about a ceiling here, imagine the rest of this place). The Christian portions of the Mezquita were equally as beautiful, though more brazen and pompous in its beauty. Whereas the original Islamic portions had mind-boggling geometric designs, flowing scripts and simple beauty in their choice of marble columns and archs, the Christian additions were carved and sculpted and gilded and ornate to the extreme. The domes were done in pure white marble with carvings everywhere of angels and cherubs etc. There was just too much to take in with the naked eye. Good thing I had my camera.

The craziest part about that place was how it made me feel. Now don't go jumping to conclusions that I had some crazy religious experience...This was something more terretrial, closer to the earth and stone of that place. Brushing a pillar, I'd feel a little shiver go down my back. Holding my hand to one (which, after the first time, I did everytime we paused) my heartrate jacked up, my breath came fast, and I felt like I wasn't quite locked into that Time anymore...like if I concentrated really hard, I'd be able to open my eyes and see the Mezquita as it was 500, 800, 1000 years ago, people and all. I even knelt down to touch the floor and I nearly fell over from that sensation. It was the weirdest thing, and I felt it even as I left, even as I became surrounded with the trappings of modernity again. That overwhelming sense of history...of life, power, hope, dreams, faith, awe...as if every sensation of all the people who have passed through there was somehow gathered and collected between the tall stone arches. It took at least 20 minutes and at least a quarter mile of distance before I felt that feeling subside...and I was both thankful and disappointed when I later returned and sat next to the outer wall.

Anyway, after we left the Mezquita we were given a few hours of free time, to do with what we would. Some of us went exploring, some of us went looking for food (myself included), some went shopping. Most of us generally stayed around the Mezquita for until it was time to find the bus, mainly because Cordoba is a veritable warren of small alleys and sidestreets that anyone inexperienced with the city would quickly lose themselves in. My little group decided to try picking up some souvenirs, I picked up some postcards, Chris got a shotglass, and that was about it. We returned the bus to happily nap on en route home.

Saturday night, although not as majestic, was equally superb. We returned to Sevilla and those of us headed to the Sevilla FC match decided to hold 8pm Drinking Club a little early, in order to prepare for the game. So we drank a little, talked a little, then headed off to dinner. We were initially going to this place called Wok, an all-you-can-eat buffet for 12 euro, but it was closed (false advertising bastards). So we finally ended up at a little Chinese place across the street from our building where the food was cheap but rightfully so. Not the most pleasant Chinese food experience. After that, we retired to the park again before the game for a bit, then headed out into Nervion to the stadium. Got there, I ducked into the Team Shop, bought myself a killer shirt and a scarf for mi hermano to give him when I get back, we all got our tickets and then spent the next 15 minutes searching around the Visitor's Section of the stands for our seats (apparently true Sevillan fans splurge more than 35 euro for seats...though we wouldn't). The game was a victory for Sevilla, though they scared the crap out of us when they went down 2-0 in the first twenty minutes (all because Konko got beat twice on the same lousy move. Pitiful). The final score was 4-3 and we happily marched home victorious.

Sunday morning came very early for some of us, especially after the very long day before. Chris and I got up at 8 and hurried our butts down to the bus station. Fortunately, it's only about a 15 minute walk, so we were in good shape. Loaded up on the bus, and half of us promptly fell asleep again. When we woke, we were in sunny beautiful Cadiz. For your North Carolina people, the Myrtle Beach of Spain (least that's how we figured it...). We got there relatively early, so we managed to snag some decent spots on the beach. What we didn't know was that it was also the one-day-only Aero Festival de Cadiz, their big yearly (I'm guessing) air show. Now I won't say it wasn't impressive (it was, very much so) but most of us just wanted the absurdly loud jets to shut up and go away so we could go back to lounging peacefully on the strand and in the warm water. We spent all day there, filling our hours with some beach futbol, lunch in a local restaurant, or just jamming out to a mini-iPod speaker system. A very relaxing and lovely day was had by all, until we left. We got on the bus, which was quite full, and some people sat down in whatever seats were available and some people began freaking out about not sitting in their assigned seats (all of them women...not to make any judgements, just an observation). Of course, in the end, I was the guy led off the bus without a seat. Then again, I actually had the best end of the deal. I was put on the very next bus which was fairly empty, so I got to stretch out across my seats, and we ended up getting back to Sevilla before the other bus.

Overall, not too bad a weekend for any of us, though some of us had to use siesta yesterday to do some serious catching up on sleep. This coming weekend a group of us are headed to Gibraltar, and I'm very excited about that trip too.

For everyone back home keeping up with this, I miss and love you all. For all my Carolina readers, know that I miss you too, and I keep getting pangs of homesickness for our beautiful campus. Despite the beauty in Spain, there is no place more beautiful than Carolina with my friends.