Seville's Cathedral

Seville's Cathedral is massive. At 124,000 square feet, it is the largest cathedral in the world. There are two larger churches (including St Peter's basilica in Rome) but neither are cathedrals. It is a really amazing structure, and dwarfs the other cathedrals I have been to.

The Cathedral is also home to the largest altar piece in the world. It stands some 65 feet tall.

It is also home to tomb of Christopher Columbus. Columbus has four pall bearers, representing the four kingdoms of Spain that sent him off- Castille, Aragon, Navarre, and Leon. A spear sticks into a pomegranate (Granada in Spanish), representing the kingdom of Granada that was taken in 1492 as the last stage of the Reconquest.

The most impressive, though, in my opinion, is the most expensive crown in Spain. On the crown you can see the world's second largest pearl.
The one in the middle on the top looks kind of dinky right? There's no way that could be the one.
Look again. The cherub on the front of the crown has his entire body carved from one single pearl! There's no telling how large it was before it was carved.

Seville Alcazar

On our second day in Seville, we went to the breathtaking Alcazar. It was originally a Moorish palace, and has just the most beautiful grounds and architecture.

During my time in Spain, I've really fallen in love with the Arabic architecture. It's so beautiful and I love that it is a part of Spanish identity.

Seville Day One

Our first stop in Seville were the iconic giant mushrooms. They afforded a beautiful view of the city. I'm not sure if they were originally designed with any purpose other than as a huge work of art, but it was really fun to get a great view and run around on the massive metal mushrooms.

We also saw the last remaining "Gold Tower". During Spanish colonial times, the ships that were laden with gold from the new world would come up the river to Seville, since it has the furthest inland port, thanks to its deep river. This was to keep the gold from being accessible to coastal raids. The gold would then be stored in large towers as a defense against pirates and invading forces, particularly the French.

We went to another flamenco show that night. It was so great! While the other show was obviously a little bit improvised, this one was highly choreographed and it was just amazing. The guitarist was incredible, and is apparently well known within flamenco music. I really love the quick spins and furious feet of flamenco.

Córdoba

Córdoba is in Andalusia, and is primarily known for its mosque. The site was originally home to a visigothic church, but after the Arab conquest of the peninsula, it was turned into a mosque. The mosque went under several expansions to become one of the world's largest mosques. In the 13th century, the Christian kings conquered Córdoba and turned the mosque into a cathedral. 

Also in Córdoba is a castle with beautiful ancient Roman tile work (2nd century AD) and picturesque gardens. 

A wise philosopher was from Córdoba. The saying "Give a man a fish for a day..." has been attributed to him. To receive some of his wisdom, you can rub the feet of his statue. I was sure not to pass that up!

Flamenco

As a group, we all went to a Flamenco show at a nice restaurant. It was incredible. I've never seen anything quite like it.

The dancers were fast, showy, and amazing. There was so much emotion in the dancing, and in the singing. The singing at times seemed like a shout of joy, at others a cry of anguish and at others a flash of anger. I've heard the some people say that Jazz is a truly American music for having so much individualistic expression, and coming together to create an ensemble. But I think Flamenco embodies that idea even more so. The two guitarists played in perfect unison at some points, and at others went off on seemingly unrelated riffs, though they still blended together beautifully. The singers poured so much emotion into the pieces, as did the dancers, and it was really amazing to see the blending of instrumental and vocal music with dancing to convey emotions.

As I watched the Dancing, I thought to myself about how much I've come to love this country. Spain is beautiful for its history, its culture, its people, and I have really fallen in love with Spain.

Atletico

Madrid is home to two major soccer teams- Real Madrid, and Madrid Atletico. Both are members of the prestigious Champions League. We got tickets to an Atletico game against FC Rostov (a Russian team). It was really fun! The two games had different atmospheres, and the stadiums are very different. My professor likened the relationship between Real Madrid and Madrid Atletico to the Yankees and the Mets (respectively), both baseball teams from New York. The Yankees in some ways represent the wealthier establishment, while the Mets have more of a working class feel to them.
The game was really exciting to watch, and Atletico was clearly the better team than Rostov. They maintained possession of the ball for probably about 80% of game time. However, Rostov did have a really good goalie and a good defense, so the score ended up at 2-1.

The best part was seeing how committed the Atletico players were. They were sliding and rushing and tumbling to ensure that they were in possession of the ball, even if that meant taking a hard fall or a huge grass stain.

National Geographic Personalized

On Snapchat, I am subscribed to National Geographic. Almost everybody I've ever talked about it with has said "You're subscribed to National Geographic?? On Snapchat?! I didn't think anybody followed that!" Well. I do. Everyday I get updates on animals, climate change, world cultural events, a photo of the day, that sort of thing. And I still haven't met anyone subscribed to National Geographic on Snapchat other than myself.
Well today I got on Snapchat to find a video about a hippo getting dental work! The dentist gave the hippo a filling, and didn't even have to sedate the animal. That's pretty much my dream-- doing dental work on animals, as I mentioned in a previous post.
There was also an article about England's relationship with the Arabic world-- in response to tension with Spain; the enemy of my enemy is my friend. It was interesting learning about how other European countries interacted with Arabic culture.
There were beautiful pictures of Cheetahs, an article about unusual animals, and even an article about greyhounds in Spain.
If I am the only subscriber to National Geographic on Snapchat, I think they've caught on. There may be some benefits to this!

Faunia

I went to this huge zoo here! It's so fun! I got to feed goats.

And see Manatees for the first time ever. They were way cooler than I expected.

See ocelots running around and get up close and personal with a ton of animals including monkeys, emus, kangaroos, and wallabies.

The Emu was just like a dinosaur! 

I even got to find a dinosaur! 

It was a really fun zoo, and the animals were a bit more out in the open. At first that kind of sketched me out, but overall it was really cool being closer to them.