Sevilla Has Soul!

They say Cordoba has the amazing Mezquita and Granada has the great Alhambra, but Sevilla has a soul. Bullfighting and flamenco still thrive in this city of Carmen and Don Juan. This lively, flamboyant city boasts of being the gateway to the New World in the 16th century and thrived when Spain did. We arrive at our hotel from Cordoba too early to check-in, so we decide to take a walk and get our bearings. We discover our hotel is central to everything we want to see, so we’ll be doing miles of walking once again. After checking in and having dinner at a local restaurant we decide to call it an early night. All the dust and dirt in the old streets and buildings has brought on some allergy attacks for both of us, so we want to be fresh tomorrow with so much to see. On Wednesday morning we have a wonderful breakfast at the hotel and head out early. The Cathedral and Giralda Bell Tower are only about a mile away, so we head out through the cobblestone streets and shops and take in the lively neighborhoods along the way. This remarkable Cathedral is the third largest church in Europe and the world’s largest Gothic church (it’s in the Guiness Book of Records), where Christopher Columbus’ tomb lies, where paintings by famous artists hang and, once again, we are awestruck by the incredible artistry of the church. Luckily we’re allowed to take pictures inside, so John is snapping shots left and right. After an hour or so of touring this ancient place, we decide to sit down and try to take it all in, but we feel overwhelmed. Once we complete our tour of the Cathedral a few hours later, we decide to visit the Alcazar, not another church. Boy, are we glad we did! This was originally a palace built for the governors of the local Moorish state in 10th century and still serves as a royal palace, the oldest in use in Europe. Major renovations were done in the 14th century and, as we saw outside, they are still excavating parts of the palace. The Admiral’s Apartments are where Queen Isabel met with Christopher Columbus after his New World discoveries and where plans were made for such adventures in the New World. The Alcazar is filled with many apartments where royalty lived, gave birth, conducted business, and enjoyed entertaining dignitaries. Outside are various gardens with exotic plants, fountains, private courtyards and all surrounded by walls, like a fortress. It’s so large it resembles a park but feels tranquil and relaxing.

We closed out our day in Sevilla with dinner at a sidewalk café. In Spain, as well as in France, sidewalk cafes are the place to be. Whether meeting with friends for a bebida and a bocadillo (beverage and a light sandwich) or having dinner with the one they love, a sidewalk café is the place to be. Aside from having a place to refresh yourself, you will find yourself part of the ambience that makes a trip to Spain an experience to treasure.

Buenos noches y hasta luego!

From Ancient Cordoba

We left Madrid on Sunday, May 24th for our next destination, Cordoba. We spent a busy 4 days in Madrid with all its modernity juxtaposed with old Spain and have little expectations of what lies ahead in Cordoba. Our ride is quiet and comfortable as we drive along the autovia. Our drive takes us through a modern country past fertile farmland amidst gently rolling hills and towns named after saints such as Santa Cruz de la Mudela. We drive past thriving factories making the goods that Spain uses and supplies to the rest of Europe. In the province of Jaen we are treated to a breathtaking view of an imposing mountain pass that seems to be sliced from the highway we are traveling on.

We finally reach our destination after 3 and a half hour drive. Our first taste of Cordoba is being detoured from the street that we are seeking due to a festival. We cross the muddy Gualdalquivir River into what seems to be a gateway into the past. The modern age convenience of our GPS has directed us onto streets that left little tolerance for horse drawn carts let alone modes of travel like a car. We drive through streets that are barely wide enough for the car, in fact in many areas we are straddle the street with our wheels on what pass for sidewalks. Pedestrians duck into doorways to allow us room to pass as we navigate past buildings with just inches to spare. We finally reach our destination, the Hotel Maestre Minotel. Actually we had to park about 2 blocks away and walk down to the hotel to make sure it was the correct one and that they had a parking garage. Once that was established I went back to get the car while Gerri got things situated in our room.

The Peugeot that I am driving is an outstanding product of European engineering. One of the fine features that I have come to rely on is the proximity warning system. On each corner of the car and at the front and back there are sensors that give a visible and audible warning whenever the car is too close to any object. The warnings have been coming fast and furious as I navigate the streets of old Cordoba and now into the hotels underground garage. This trip has really shown me why Europeans value small cars and motorbikes, if I lived here I would be right there with them in my choice of vehicle to drive.

After settling into our hotel, we set off to see the sights. Cordoba is a centuries old city that was once the center of intellectual pursuits while much of Europe was still in the Dark Ages, Christianity, Judaism and Islam thrived here as equal partners in the social order. A famous scholar and philosopher was Maimonides (1135-1204) who was raised on Jewish scripture and Aristotle’s philosophy. He wrote the Guide of the Perplexed in Arabic, in which he asserted, as the Christian scholar St.Thomas Aquinas later would, that secular knowledge and religious faith could go hand-in-hand. Maimonides was eventually driven out when starting in 1147 the fundamentalist Almophads assumed power. He was driven out and went to Cairo where he eventually found work as the Sultan’s doctor.

Gerri and I explored the city enthusiastically and spent hours at the famous Mesquita. The Mesquita was built in 784 A.D. and for centuries was the center for the Islamic faithful. Walking into this ancient temple you can’t help but be impressed with its size. We learn that 5 times a day a mullah would ride a horse to the top of the tower to issue a call to prayer. The Reconquista (Reconquer) of Moorish Spain was completed in the 1200’s, after armies led by leaders such as El Cid drove out the Moorish occupiers and re-established Christianity in Spain. The Mesquita was left intact for the most part but was converted into a cathedral. When seeing all the chapels and the main altar as well as all the artwork by Goya and other renowned artists you can’t help but feel that the Christian re-conquest was meant to be noticed and adhered to by all. Walking into the Mesquita is a jaw dropping experience; we spent hours there spellbound by artwork of famous artists, gold and silver gilded altars, not to mention artifacts and tapestries from as early as the 6th century.

For more than 2 centuries after the re-conquest Jews lived peacefully under Christian Spanish rule. But starting in the 1400’s the Inquisition began and eventually they too were forced out. Learning more of Phillip II we gain the impression that it was his failure as a military leader and as a king that caused him to look for scapegoats in order to improve his stature.

We finished up our visit by walking to the modern part of Cordoba to see the contrast between the ancient city and what is now a large thriving metropolis. We are struck by the contrast between old and new.

As we walk the cobblestone streets I can’t help but wonder what it must have been like for my great great grandfather, Marcos Evangelista, as he walked these same streets as a young man. What expectations could he have held as he left this ancient city for a life in a new world of 1825? What would he think of the city he knew then and what it has now become?

El Escorial

It’s Saturday, May 23, 2009 and after a few days of humid, hot weather in Madrid, we wake up to a somewhat drizzley and a cloudy day. We got a late start today because we were waiting for someone from the rental office who never showed up, but we didn’t let that dampen our spirits. Today we visited the Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial which was highly recommended by a friend. After a short, enjoyable ride just outside of Madrid, we come to the impressive building which is considered a historic legacy of the Spanish Crown and helped form Spain’s cultural identity. The Monastery was built between 1563 and 1584, designed by Juan Bautista de Toledo and Juan de Herrera and founded by Philip II. It was intended as a mausoleum for his father, Charles V and a monument to commemorate the victory in the battle of Saint Quentin on August 10, 1557. In touring the ancient structure, we are treated to a gallery of paintings by famous artists such as El Greco and Ribera, an architecture museum of materials, machinery tools and plans, a royal pantheon where Kings of Spain from Charles V to the present day are actually buried (a little eerie), a basilica which is the center of the Monastery with 45 altars, gardens, and a royal palace of rooms used by Philip II, one in which he lived his last days. Unfortunately, we are not permitted to take any pictures inside. The starkness of the stone walls and floors contrast some of the royal rooms decorated with ornate paintings and woodwork. Many of the vaulted ceilings were painted by famous Italian and Spanish painters and depict various styles. All the winding stairways, the drafty rooms and hallways, made us feel like we had stepped back in time, walking through a castle. One of the rooms is filled with a Gallery of Battles, depicting famous battle scenes and formations. This huge room was extremely impressive. The artwork and craftsmanship needed to build such a structure so many years ago is extraordinary. We are amazed at the precision achieved using such basic, primitive tools. The grandeur of this monastery with all of its treasures belies the fact that it was with Phillip’s reign that the decline of the Spanish empire began, ending with the defeat of the Spanish Armada by the British.

It’s getting late and the tour is over, so we decide to go over to the Valley of the Fallen, to see if it’s open. It’s only 6 miles away and a 500-foot-tall granite cross marks an immense and powerful underground monument to the victims of Spain’s 20th-century Civil War. John wanted to visit it, but we arrive too late, it’s closed. So we decide to head back to Madrid and have dinner. We return to a little neighborhood restaurant we ate at Thursday night and order something from the menu that we have NO idea what it is…it was delicious. We have been very adventurous in trying different foods and have been lucky because everything has been good so far. Tomorrow we head for Cordoba, a place of special significance to the Gonzalez clan