Starting from where I left off, last Thursday I went with my host sister and her friend Sergio to Monfrague National Park, which is about one hour out of Caceres by car. It was perfect weather-like 75 degrees and sunny! We stopped at a castle and walked up very narrow steps to the top. There were no guard rails on the top of the castle so we had to be careful not to get too close to the edge but it was very cool looking out over the park. There were lots of olive trees and the Tajo River (I think). There were also a lot of red/orange rocks. I think the soil is pretty much the same color and it is hard to believe that so much can grow in this soil since it is nothing like the black soil of Iowa. We also stopped at a lookout to see some birds. The bird of Extremadura (the state Caceres is in) is the stork so there were a lot of storks we could see on top of a cliff. We kept driving and got to a town that has only one street and only 4 houses that are inhabited. Apparently they are trying to build cabins and make it into a touristy area. The town was having a bird convention last weekend so there were actually quite a few people walking around. Thursday night I packed and got ready for our trip.
On Friday, we got on a bus at 8am and left for Granada. We all slept almost the whole bus ride. We had to stop twice for the driver and to eat. At one of the rest stops, we found 2 very scragly dogs that we gave some extra food to. They ate it right up. As a note, there are quite a few stray cats who live in the street in Caceres. I wish they were safe to pet. We got to Granada around 4pm and went to La Capilla Real and La Catedral first. Basically it is 3 cathedrals built connected to each other. Our professor thinks it is the only place in the world that has such a thing. The first cathedral was built by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella (If you remember, they were the people that Christopher Columbus got money from to go on his expedition to America). It was a pretty simple building with little decoration on the walls because Queen Isabella wanted it to be decorated in a humble manner. The king and queen were also buried in this cathedral in addition to their daughter, a prince, and another person. We got to see the crypt which had a window so you could see the lead caskets. Before the construction of that cathedral was finished, their son decided to have another cathedral built next door that was much more extravagant to show the prosper of Spain during their rule. This cathedral was huge and extravagantly decorated. It had 2 huge pipe organs.
After seeing the cathedrals, we went to our albergue. An albergue is like a cheap hostel that offers meals. We had a room with two beds and our own shower and bathroom! We ate at the dinning room in the hostel and then got ready to go out. We went to two bars in the city and then went to check out a discoteca. While we were talking as a group to decide whether or not to pay 10 euro to get into the discoteca, we were escorted out of the lobby by some security guards...guess we took to long! Oh well. We got to bed at about 4am.
On Saturday, we had breakfast at the albergue and left at 10am to go to La Alhambra, which translates into "The Red Fort" because the walls of made of a red clay like substance. Apparently Bill Clinton was very inspired by his visit here and thinks it is the most beautiful thing he has seen. I thought it was absolutely HUGE!! The palace is where the Muslim King lived. The outside walls have no decoration but the inside is absolutely covered with intricate design and decoration. I think that relates to a Muslim belief that the inside of a person is much more important than the outside. The main thing that we saw is the Palacio Nazaries. It is divided into 3 parts. The first part is where the King would receive citizens who had complaints. It is the public part of the palace. We saw where the king would sit, etc. There were a lot of mosaics on the walls and some that were actually poems or stories about the construction of the Alhambra. Each of the three parts had a patio with lots of vegetation and water because the Muslim's idea of paradise is a place filled with water and vegetation. Next, we moved to the semi-private part of the palace. This is where the king would receive diplomats from other nations. We saw where his throne would sit as well as where the people he consulted with would sit. The ceilings and walls were much more detailed in the architecture. There was also this beautiful, long fountain that we saw. Finally, we reached the private part of the palace. This is where the king, his wife, his mistresses, and his children lived. The king had a lot of women because that was a sign of power. They were not allowed to leave the palace or by seen by anyone from the outside. We saw the royal bedrooms and also a famous Fountain of Lions, which was a gift from another country.
After our visit to the Alhambra, we got back on the bus and went to Cordoba. It was about a 3 hour bus ride so we arrived at 10pm, had supper, and I went to bed. On Sunday morning, we got up early to try to get to Mass before we had to leave. We walked all over the city trying to find churches, which was difficult since they were not on our map. Eventually we found our way to the Monasterio de la Incarnacion-Monastery of the Incarnation. They had Mass at 9:30am so we decided to go. When we walked in, we were very surprised to see about 20 nuns sitting in the choir loft at the back of the church, dressed in black habits and white robes. There were about 6 older adults in the church and the 11 of us Americans. The nuns sang all of the songs for Mass and we all felt a little like we were in The Sound of Music. It was definitely a type of Mass none of us had ever experienced before. The priest directed the homily to us "jovenes"-young people-telling us to not be afraid to get to know God and that we should use Mary as an example for our lives, since she was once a young person like us. When we went up for Communion, they took the host and dipped it in wine. This was the first time we had experienced this too.
After Mass, we went back to the albergue to meet the rest of the group and go to an old city of ruins on the top of a hill just a short trip outside of the city. It wasn't really that exciting, just really windy! After that, we went back to the city, got lunch and ice cream and then went to La Mezquita-the Mosque. This was probably my favorite part of the weekend. First a little history: When the Christians/Catholics conquered a Muslim city, usually they destroyed the mosques or religious buildings and then built a Catholic Church over it to show their power. However, in Cordoba, they decided to keep the mosque and just build a cathedral inside and over part of the mosque. They also put lots of crosses around on the walls of the mosque part. The mosque is the only mosque in the world that was not built aligned with Meca. It was built in the direction that people would go if they would take a pilgramage to Meca. The cathedral was SO pretty and I will try to get pictures up sometime. I just don't think I can describe it well enough because it was so gorgeous.
After the mosque, we walked across a bridge that covers the river that Christopher Columbus set sail from when he went to America. We got back on the bus and got back to Caceres at 10:30pm. I skyped a few friends and went to bed.
Today, I got up and walked to school. I had 2 classes and then we finally booked our tickets for spring break. We will be going to Rome from the Wednesday before until the Monday after Palm Sunday and then will be going to Barcelona, Spain for about 4 days. It is going to be a lot of fun. Going to Rome is like my dream come true! I can't wait!!
Also, Sunday marked the end of our first month here in Spain! So much has happened and I can't wait for everything that we have coming up in the next couple months. Miss you all!!!
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