Sevilla, architecture and azulejos

Sevilla was a fun visit, but we felt like there was a lot we weren't able to see that we would've liked to. Like the Plaza de Toros, the Archivo de Indias and Museo de Bellas Artes. Still, we were able to see the Alcázar and the Plaza de España. See the first; but skip the second. In homage to all the beautiful azulejos and yeso carvings we saw on our journey, here are pictures we took of architectural details in Sevilla (Alcázar), Granada (Alhambra) and Córdoba (Meziquita):


The most trouble we ran into in Sevilla when it came time for tapas was that all the cheap places were standing-room only, and all the places where you could sit weren't cheap. I'm sorry to say we didn't make it to a flamenco bar that night, being pretty tired from our whirwind tour of Andalucía. We resolved to go see live flamenco in Madrid, perhaps for example at Cardamomo.

Granada and the Alhambra

Granada...magical city. The closest I think I've ever been to Morrocco, literally and figuratively. Its main attraction, of course, is the stunning palace of El Alhambra. I had my fst chance to visit it in 2004 and I had anticipated the place for a long time. That's because way back in middle school, I had played a piano duet in three parts: "The Alhambra Suite."

When we arrived by bus from Córdoba, we decided we'd try to squeeze that landmark in during the afternoon, but after a quick falafel and catching a bus to the Alhambra, we realized all the tickets earmarked for that day had been sold out. Word to the wise: buy them in advance.

We resolved to rise really early to stand in line for same-day tickets and spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the labyrinthine Albayzin area, and encountering lots of Grenadine life--like impromptu flamenco practices in a park with the Alhambra brooding in the sunset (too bad we had no audio recorder with us to pick up the live guitar). We would recommend going to the mosque instead of the mirador for your least crowded viewing experience.

Leaving the Albayzin area just after dark didn't seem like the greatest idea when we were all by ourselves in a very, ahem, bohemian area, but soon enough we were back down near the city center on backstreets modeled after Arabic bazaars. We were enticed by scarves and slippers and in our hunt for silk teabags for a gift, we met a really great shopkeeper at the Flor de la Té (everyone sent us his way and he turned out to be the premier supplier of everyone else).

We especially loved the teterías and the dulces árabes you can buy in this area. I think those two items alone could convince me to join one of Granada's hippie-student communes.

We ate at an OK Lebanese restaurant, but I regret not having sought out the pitch-perfect couscous at Restaurante Arrayanes, which comes highly recommended.

In the morning, we were at the Alhambra entrance at 7 a.m. and were able to get tickets for the complex. It felt uncomfortably crowded, moreso than I'd remembered, but out in the Generalife gardens it felt more private.

The strangest part was seeing the showpiece Court of Lions, which normally has a fountain surrounded by 12 lions in the center, but due to restoration has...a big box.

Córdoba

Shame on me for waiting what is an eternity in blog-time to catch up on posting. All one of my readers has complained. ; ) Without further ado, here's my write-up of the earliest backlog--our December trip to Andalucía...

In case you didn't know, Spaniards have a habit of taking an extra day off if it happens to fall between a Thursday or Tuesday holiday and the weekend. This is codified into many school calendars at various times throughout the year, and the result is referred to as a "bridge," or puente.

For our early December puente, we were very ambitious, and decided we could visit 3 cities in the south in 4 days. The first city we hit was beautiful Córdoba. After a quick chocolate and churros breakfast at El Brillante, we hopped on a Talgo express train from Atocha to Córdoba a city that harks back to Al-Andalus, or Muslim-ruled Spain.

Upon getting off, we were very hungry and searched for too long for food before deciding on a so-so place "Ohlalá" for nourishing bocadillos. We then had only an hour or so to catch the mezquita-catedral and we didn't have a hostal yet so went there with our rolling luggage in hand, bouncing along the narrow cobblestone roads.

The mosque-turned-cathedral is amazing and definitely one of the top historical architectures I've ever visited, with its hundreds of red and white arches.

Unfortunately, the original beauty of the mezquita is considerably marred by the walling in and conversion to a cathedral that was started in the 1200s, upon Córdoba's reconquest. While the entire building is rather incongruous, it does provide interesting juxtapositions for photographs. Like this crucifixion scene:

My favorite part of the building is the mihrab, from where prayers were led. It reminds me of the Spanish scenes in The Fountain.

After the mezquita we found a nice place to stay at 30 euros a night. It was called Pensión El Portillo. We dumped our stuff, got ready, and went out for tapas. And oh, what tapas we had. First stop was a buzzing place we had seen tucked away off Calle Judíos called Taberna Guzmán. The place is covered with bullfighting memorabilia and they serve a fantastic tapa called berenjenas aliñadas.

Our next stop was right near the hostal, appetizingly called "Taberna Sociedad de Plateros" (Silversmiths Society Tavern?) (Calle San Francisco 6). We had mouthwatering carne con tomate and torta de gambas in a cute covered patio with friendly waitstaff.

Aside from that we had a leisurely walk along the historic streets of near the mezquita, enjoying the warm Andalucian weather. In the morning, we breakfasted on fresh tartas del Alcázar and visited the Julio Romero de Torres Museum (famous Andalucía/flamenco culture paintins, free on Saturdas), the synagogue, and the Casa Andalusí (plenty of photo opps there). By mid-day we were on a long bus headed for Granada and the magical Alhambra.