This weekend-Cordoba and Sevilla

This weekend was an adventure, to say the least.

I learned a lot. We went to Cordoba, and saw a HIGE mosque, which was amazing. I can´t tell you how beautiful it was. I had some trouble taking pictures of this building, because I didn´t feel as if I could capture it in just pictures. You really have to see it to believe it. There were many different cultures that have built on top of other cultures. This one started with the Romans, then went to the Viasgoths, and then to the Arabs, and fianlly to the Christians (Roman Catholics), so every building that we go to has SEVERAL layers.

We spent a long time going around Cordoba as well. Overall, worth going to for the Mosquita, but the city wasn´t nearly as impressive as Sevilla. Which is ok, because that´s what we did on Saturday.

We stared off with a place called "La Casa" (The house) which is a castle that was built when Sevilla was the capital of Spain. One cool fact about this was we got to go in the room where Queen Isabella gave Christopher Columbus the blessing to go exploring for the new world. We actually saw the alter that he prayed to before he left, The Alter of Explorers. All in all, beautiful gardens, an awesome veranda, and a still lived in castle for royalty. Really incredible.

Then we went to La Giralda and the Cathedral.....can you say majestical? The biggest Gothic cathedral in the world, the 3rd largest Christian cathedral in world, just behind the Vatican city and one other. Pretty impressive, huh? I thought so. An alter, from floor to ceiling made of solid gold, Christopher Columbus' tomb, King Ferdinand is burried there(the indstructable body-still intact, skin and teeth, since the 1700's when he died)and the most beautiful architecture ever...

I could ramble on about lots of facts about this for hours. Trust me though, it left me speechless....really. I just had to sigh and walk away. The good news is that I will be able to go back and visit any time I please, because I live in this city!

Maggie (my roommate) and I went to a 4-string quartet Saturday evening, in the palace gardens with my host sister and her fiance. Then we went out for a night near El Rio.

All in all, a memorable weekend....More later!