Sur España

18 junio 2012


So, I have returned from Southern Spain, safe and sound. No pickpocketing experiences or anything terrible like that. Just a super busy whirlwind tour where we did our best to act like tourists, snapping pictures and sweating like crazy.

This was at the beginning, before we got burned out. Me, Crystal and Whitney.

First of all, the bus ride. Oh, just 12 hours, no big deal. Bah! It wasn't quite as bad as I thought it'd be. Because there are only 22 of us in the group, we all got our own section of seats to ourselves, which helped a lot. The knots in my back from sleeping on the bus though, those are ridículo.

So we finally arrived after some shady truck stops and lots of uncomfortable sleeping, we arrived to the Alhambra in Granada. After that long 12-hour ride, yes, we of course went for a four-hour tour of an amazing fortress first thing. We somehow survived walking around in the heat. It's way crazy hot in Southern Spain.

I'll spare you the literal 500+ photos I took on this three-day adventure, but I'll give you the surface gist of what I got to see. It was all very epic and exciting, but there was a lot to it. I'll share my favorites though. : ]

The Alhambra is magnificent, with all of its great intricate architecture on the inside and a vast expanse of castle-like structure on the outside. Definitely worth seeing. The architecture inside it is incredible.

Me inside the Alhambra

The architecture is amazing. Every corner we turned showed us something even more incredible.

This is my whole group in the Alhambra. My teacher is the one next to me.

Then we headed to our hostel, which was a step up from my Madrid hostel, thank goodness (I'll post about Madrid eventually). Me, Crystal and Whitney got to share a room, and we're all used to each other by now, so that was good.

The Alhambra at night. Magnífico. : ]

Swirls and hearts on the ceiling. Can you get any more guapa??

Then we headed out for a cathedral. I didn't really understand where we were (half asleep after the insane ride and a kind of monotone tour guide) but I realized where we were when I saw the tombs in the cathedral. There lay Isabel and Carlos V, the first king and queen of Spain. It was incredible to see their tombs, especially after we had discussed it in class and learned all about the history. They didn't allow pictures in there though, so no picture to report for that amazing experience. It was so worth seeing though. You go down some steps to see it and I made it a point to walk down twice.

The next day we headed on a trip over to Córdoba to see the sights. Our tour guide here spoke much more slowly and she was the best we had. The best part of this day though was when Isabel, the professor guiding our trip, decided to make an impromptu stop. First of all, she bribed our bus driver with a box full of cherries which we all shared (Southern Spanish cherries are so, so, so, so I can't say enough sos, good) and then we ventured up a hill and to a castle. : ]

Check out this view. I yelled over the ledge as loud as I could, "Hoooolllaaaa..."

I really enjoyed not having to puppy dog trail a tour guide here. We all explored on our own and took a ton of fun pictures. The castle was really amazing and I'm super happy we stopped by there.

I simply could not get enough of this view.

That night was pretty awesome too, let me tell you why: flamenco. We splurged for a flamenco show and it was definitely worth it.

Waiting for the flamenco show to begin. In case anyone cares, I have a lovely fishtail braid.

This was probably my favorite flamenco dancer. Isn't it amazing? They put so much heart and soul into their dancing.

Then, off to Sevilla. Another tour guide who was kinda hard to listen to (Hello, thick accent and gazillion degree weather) and then, my favorite part, exploring on our own. The highlight of the day was exploring the Giralda Catedral. It was amazing. We climbed up to the bell tower and got to be in it while it rang out. Christopher Columbus' tomb is there and a Goya painting as well. There was a ton to see and we had a blast. I read from my Rick Steves' Spain book, which helped us know what exactly we were seeing. 

Not the best pic, but it's the tomb of Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus). He's being carried by 4 kings.

Then we got lost getting back to our hotel (yes, hotel this time, not hostel. WAY nicer). Don't worry, we bought fans, saw a little band and I had the wits scared out of me in an alley when someone jumped out, yelled and then hid. You know, just normal Spanish activity in the streets.

Bell tower of the Giralda Cathedral, the third largest cathedral in Spain.

Anyway, then that night we headed for the Plaza de España, which was really enjoyable and relaxing. I loved it there. The bridges and river were amazing as well, and we saw the Torre de Oro (Tower of Gold), which didn't actually have any gold on it, surprisingly. Afterward we had a life-changing experience—finding smoothies. We hadn't seen any in all of Spain, so this was amazing. We were wiped out by that point. A bunch of our amigos left the hotel at 1 a.m. to go dancing. Crazy people. We slept and woke up early to endure that bus ride again and head back to Asturias (the providence Gijón is in). We stopped in Salamanca on the way back home. It was an awesome town, home to Spain's first university.

Don't I look so scholarly with my book, backpack, glasses and university shirt. Just on my way to Spain's oldest university, no big deal.

Trust me, I greeted that rain in Gijón with a smile. I was so happy to be back in my own room with my own bed and bathroom. And it's not even really my bed at home in Utah. I'm sure that'll be great to get back to. Two and a half weeks left, folks. One and a half left in Gijón and then, I've decided to venture to Barcelona for the last week.


Well, all for now. I'm back to lovely Asturias in Gijón. I'm gonna make the most out of my last week and a half here. I'll see you all soon!

Hasta luego.