Ronda and Granada

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Sorry for the delay on the blog lately I have been busy traveling and with homework. Last weekend I went to a small town called Ronda for the day with some friends. Ronda is situated up in the mountains and is absolutely breathtaking. There is a huge bridge that connects the old and new portions of the city and is over three hundred years old. We visited the Museum of Peinado, a friend of Picasso that studied with him. Nearly all of his work is there and he used styles of cubism, realism, and impressionism. The weather was great and it has finally stopped raining here, which has been great. 70s and better has been great and the people here are coming out of hiding. This past weekend I headed to Granada with my school. We toured the Cathedral there, which is renaissance style and influenced by Greek and Roman architecture. The exhibit in the building connected to the Cathedral has old garments from Ferdinand and Isabella more than 300 years old. After the Cathedral we headed to Capilla Real which has two large sarcophaguses. They are enormous and in size and pure marble. The detail is immaculate and photos were not allowed but I highly recommend taking a look at some of the photos online. Underneath them were the crypts of Ferdinand and Isabella, it was very cool to be in the presence of the bodies of some of the most powerful people in the history of the world. Afterwards some friends and I walked up one of the hills that the city is situated on and were able to see the sun set on the city and the Alhambra, a Moorish and Christian fortress from the 10^th century. Friday night we headed out on the city and one of the cool aspects of Granada is that it still follows the old tradition of Tapas. For every beer you order you get some sort of a tapa. We had a few rounds of beers and got battered fried shrimp, fried eggplants with a brown sugar honey sauce, Calamari, and buttered and salted little clams. Saturday we had a tour of the Alhambra, which is without doubt, one of the coolest things I have seen in Spain. It was a stronghold of the Muslim occupation of Spain and a military fortress. There are multiple palaces and gardens inside and only one half remains because Napoleons invasion destroyed the other half. There is a story that a Spanish soldier cut the fuse to the bombs in the part that remains otherwise the whole of it would have been destroyed. After the Alhambra I headed to the science museum in Granda and was very impressed by the physics, human body, and Darwin exhibits. Lately in Sevilla the preparations for Semana Santa (holy week) has begun. During holy week hundreds of year old statues positioned on alter that are carried through the city by upwards of 40 men. They begin at their respective churches and one from every church, there are many in Sevilla, are carried to the Cathedral on respective days for a blessing and then return that night to their church. It is the largest celebration of its type in the world and the altars are breathtaking. I suggest watching a video on youtube to get an idea of the magnitude and reverence during the festival. Next week I am heading to Paris for 5 days and then Pamplona to meet my aunt Gloria’s side of the family. I will post the pictures from the last two weeks on facebook and will put the links up here so you can all view them. If you have any questions be sure to let me know.

Morocco

Morocco was absolutely incredible, I have uploaded a bunch of pictures on my facebook and will put the link at the end of the page. I left for Morocco last Satruday and got back Monday night. I was very surprised by how green it was there since i had envisioned a desert but it was about as far from that as possible. We crossed the straits of gibraltar by ferry and arrived in the Spanish province of Ceuta. It is similar to the united States Puerto Rico, and nearly impossible to tell that you are in Africa. After a bus tour of the city we headed across the border and headed south to Tetuon. We got in there late and ate dinner which was a vegetable tray of beats, carrots, rice, cucumbers, and tomatoes. For dinner was fried fish and more rice. The next morning we got up early had breakfast which was definitely quite an experience, there were crossiants, coffee, and tea...but there was also some small date filled pastries and pan fried flatbread that resembled a crepe but was a lot blander, chewier, and drier. We got things going relativey early and finally were explained why everywhere we looked was covered in these enormous red flags with a green star on them, the flag is that of Morocco and the reason why there were so many of them is because Morocco is a Kingdom of Mohammad VI and since he was visiting the area because it was the birthday of the prophet Mohammad, founder of Islam. We took a bus south to Chefchaouen which is situated very high up in the RIF mountains. The mountains are absolutely breathtaking and every thing was so green, I felt as if i was back in Ireland. When we got into Chefchaouen we has a tour of the city and weaved in and out of these small streets. There are very few cars there and only on the main roads of the city, much of the city is only accessible on foot. An interesting part of the city is that all of the buildings were painted blue since it is symbolic in the Islamic religion of

Godly love.

The city is nestled high up on one of the ridges and there is a great deal of elevation change within the city, making it quite a workout to get around. After our tour we visited a tapestry store and learned how they were made and some of the history behind them in terms of patterns and designs. After the presentation i headed upstairs to wander around and was able to see the loom that they have been using for over a 100 years and meet a man known as one of the most skilled in the world. After Chefchaouen we headed back to Teuton for lunch in this old Islamic building. We had more vegetables like the night before, lamb kabobs, and chicken, it was all very good.

After lunch we had a tour of the markets in Teuton which had very narrow streets and tiny stores. After the fresh food markets we passed into the old jewish quarter which while is still owned by many of the same jewish families as in the past many of the stores are rented and it is well known as a leather and gold area. In the Islamic religion, weddings last for three days and the women are required to wear a gold belt, but not plated, these belts are 18k pure gold and diamonds and can cost anywhere around 16,000 dollars.

After the markets we headed to an Herbaleria and learned about the many different herbs prevalent in Moroccan culture in their cooking, healthcare, and dying of fabrics. While the practice of using herbs is no longer as prevalent as it once was, it is definitely still a large part of the culture. We then hopped back on the bus and headed to the coastal city of Tanger. We had a wonderful dinner and Moroccan Folklore show. The show started with some singing and dancing, then a man who danced with a tray of candles on his head. At this point i was called up from the audience and attempted to replicate one of the things he was doing, by leaving his hand flat on the ground and spinning around it 360 degrees. I failed miserably on my first two attempts and looked like a fish out of water, but on the third attempt with a little help I was able to make it happen, I will post the link to the video online. The act was followed by some belly dancing and acrobats which were both very impressive. The food was a typical Islamic soup during Ramadan called Harare, next was some meatballs and eggs followed by Couscous with chicken and all sorts of vegetables.

The next day we had our camel rides in the morning and then headed off to the Point of Hercules where the Altantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea meet. The beaches were absolutely gorgeous and the cave was pretty cool too. Our drive back to Ceuta was all along between the coast and was absolutely incredible. The ferry ride on the way back included perfect weather and views and we were able to see Africa and Europe at the same time, it was unbelievable.

The pictures

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2028612&id=1607400358&l=403ae73923

The Video

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1238201687647