Sunday March 15th
We got up at 6:45 this morning. Breakfast was at 7:30. I ate a roll of bread, a croissant and a glass of orange juice. They don't eat much for breakfast here, since lunch is their main meal. The plane trip to Paris wasn't good. The seats were so small (no room to stretch), the food was OK (tolerable). Luckily I had a window seat. The man sitting beside me was friendly (he kept on asking me if I wanted to drink wine, coffee, tea...). He was definitely from France, I could tell by his accent. He must have pretty good alcohol tolerance - he was constantly drinking those little bottles of wine and didn't seem drunk. Unfortunately, I had a bad case of motion sickness by the end of the trip - they practically had to drag me through the Charles de Gaulle airport at our stop over in France. Surprisingly, I felt fine going from France to Madrid, but very sleepy. Once again I had a window seat. The meal was better, too. We took the tour bus to our hotel - The Hotel Opera. The rooms were small but nice. My room had a good view of the spanish style roofs of the neighbouring buildings. Anyway, after we got settled in we went to the Palacio Real (the Royal Palace) and the Royal Cathedral. The royals don't live there, though. The ceilings are all painted with murals and huge tapestries hang from them. There's a lot of old statues and furniture. Our guide, Carlos, expalined that the huge mirrors and crystal/silver chandeliers were used to reflect light in the Palace. After a short tour of the city by bus we returned to our hotel.
Monday March 16th
I got a new nickname yesterday night while we were eating churros and chocolate (churros are like long doughnuts and they come with a cup of liquid chocolate to be dipped in *delicious*). I am now called Sleeping Beauty, on account of I'm always dozing off on the bus. The day went nicely. First we went to the Prado art museum and saw many paintings by Goya and El Greco, such as the Maja vestida and Maja desnuda. After we went to an old cathedral across from the Prado and then left for El Rastro. El Rastro is a large (and very crowded) flea market for the locals. There are many thieves there, so we had to be careful. Many people here smoke like there was no tomorrow. I probably exposed myself to more secondhand smoke in that market than I have in my entire life! The Plaza Mayor was our next stop. Plaza Mayor is a large square where there are a lot of artists and shops. Next we visited the Plaza Oriental (near the Palace)and then we went to Toledo. Toledo is a beautiful city on high cliffs separated by a large river. We saw El Greco's house and a 900 year old Jewish mosque. When we returned to Madrid we saw the Puerta del Sol (the geographical heart of the city) and Plaza de Cibeles (it has a huge fountain in the middle of the road.
Today we went to Cordoba. There are many orange trees growing on the sidewalks (they're too bitter to eat, though). On the way there, we saw olive bushes and cut down grapevines. The soil is red. In Cordoba, the streets are very old and made of cobblestone. After lunch we had a tour of the Cordoba Mosque, which was built in the 8th century by the Arabs, but was renovated by the Catholics (who also built new extensions) after the Reconquest. Next we traveled to Seville and saw a Flameco show at 9 o'clock. We also saw the outside of the Maestranza (the oldest and most famous bull ring in Spain).
Tuesday March 17th
We started off with a visit to the Plaza de Espanol. This plaza was used for the latin america fair in 1929. The Seville cathedral was next on our agenda. It has a 35 story bell tower called the Giralda, and we walked all the way to the top! Christopher Columbus's tomb is inside the Cathedral. Legend has it that if you touch the foot of one of the statues holding the tomb, you will one day return to Seville. Afterwards, we visited the Royal Palace of Seville (where the royals sometimes stay). There are many fountains with fish and sweet smelling gardens. The palace is called the Alcazar (an arabic word). One story says that a king once married a lady who was from a place where they had snow, and when she moved to the Alcazar she missed the cold weather. So the king ordered trees that produce white flowers to be planted in the gardens.
After dinner, we strolled by the Guadalquivir river and the Torre de Oro. The Torre de Oro (tower of gold) was used to store all of the riches that the Spanish brought back from the new world.
Wednesday March 18th
Today we departed for the Costa del Sol. We made a stop over in Ronda and saw a bullfighting museum with old matadors' costumes. The city we are staying in is called Benalmadena, right on the Mediterranean! The hotel is called Hotel Siroco. It has a georgeous garden with a lemon tree, palm trees and many other shrubs and flowers as well as a fountain. At sunset, we went for a walk on the beach and collected some small seashells.
Thursday March 19th
We left for Mijas (a small town in the mountains) early in the morning. To begin our sightseeing, myself and a few others in the group took a horse drawn cart around the town. Lunch was gaspacho (tomato soup served cold)and a bit of a caramel flan. In the afternoon we went to the beach for a couple of hours. While we were enjoying the sun, we noticed this man taking pictures of us. I don't think he meant any harm, but still, it was creepy. After dinner, we walked around the neighbourhood. There was a huge group people on motorcycles and motor scooters in front of a strip of night clubs. Riding motorized vehicles seems to be the favourite pastime of the young men in Spain.
Friday March 20th
On our way to Granada, we saw the Sierra Nevada mountains (from far off, of course). We went to the Alhambra fortifications and palace. The Alhambra was built specifically for the muslim royalty. Inside the Alhambra there is a fountain called La Fuenta de los Leones (fountain of the lions). The sultan's harem used to stay there. Any man who entered had to be blind or castrated. There is a tale that one clear summer night, the sultan was feeling angry so he went for a walk. Then, he heard a loud noise so he went to investigate. He spotted a man with his favourite wife, but couldn't tell who the man was. He did, however, see the badge on the man's sleeve, so he knew what family he belonged to. To catch the man, the sultan had an obligatory party at the palace. He figured that whoever didn't show up would be the guilty person. Unfortunately, everyone was at the party, so one by one, he asked each of the men from the family in question to speak to him in private. Let's just say that the water that flowed by that room turned a bright shade of red that night. The sultan had beheaded all of the men from that family.
Next we saw the Generalife, the summer house of the sultan and his family. It has gorgeous gardens! Tall cypress provide shade and there are many fountains and purple clinging plants. The view is absolutely breathtaking, as the Generalife is on a small cliff overlooking the Alhambra.
After a quick lunch we went to the cathedral and royal chapel. The chapel has the tombs of King Ferdinad and Queen Isabel. At sunset, a small group of us went to the old Arab quarters to take pictures of the Alhambra from a distance.
To sum up the beauty of Granada, I will quote a verse from a pamphlet that I read:
"There is nothing in the world like the pain of being blind in Granada"
Saturday March 21st
Today we left Granada (and our beautiful room at the Hotel Luna de Granada, *sniff sniff*)and returned to Madrid. For dinner we went to a restaurant called La Paella Real (the royal paella). Paella is a Spanish rice dish with seafood. Dessert was cheesecake *yum*. The next morning we left for home.