Our last ISA excursion: Sevilla & Cordoba

Last weekend we went on our last excursion as a group, to Sevilla and Cordoba. I fell in love with Sevilla! I would definitely have to say it is my second favorite city that I have visited in Spain (next to Granada of course!). We left Friday afternoon and spent Friday and Saturday in Sevilla. Sunday morning we left on the bus for Cordoba and spent a few hours there, then headed back to Granada. On Friday night we walked around the city with our directors as they explained historical aspects of the city. The beautiful river that they city was built around is called El Rio Guadalquivir. The river is navigable and was extremely important throughout history, as ships would come from the colonies in America bringing goods to Spain. Christopher Columbus set sail from the river in Sevilla. My favorite part of the trip was walking along the river, it is gorgeous!

On Saturday morning we woke up early to get started with our sightseeing plans. We had professional tour guides showing us around, which is always really interesting because we learn so much history from them! First we went to the Royal Palace in Sevilla, El Real Alcazar. The palace has many different buildings, built during various centuries in Spanish history. One of the most beautiful buildings was built during the ninth and tenth centuries when the Arabs ruled Spain. Arabic architecture is extremely detailed, intelligent and beautiful. The building does not look like much from the outside, but is incredible on the inside. The Arabic rulers, and the culture in general, did not like to show wealth to everyone which is why they kept all the beauty to the insides of their buildings. The Arabic buildings were so well built architecturally that they were the only ones that were not damaged during a huge earthquake in the 1700's. The Arabs also engineered their buildings to create natural air conditioning and heating systems. It is amazing to see how ingeniously these buildings were built so long ago. We also walked through various other palaces built in later centuries by the Catholic Kings and Queens.

After visiting the Palacio Alcazar, we went on a tour through the Cathedral in Sevilla. The cathedral is the third largest cathedral in Europe...it is gigantic! La Catedral de Sevilla houses the remains of Christopher Columbus, or at least some of them. The Dominican Republic also claims to have some of his remains, but no one is certain. One of his sons is also buried in the Cathedral. The Cathedral also has a beautiful tower, La Torre de Giralda, which we walked up at the end of our tour. The view of Sevilla is beautiful from the top. After spending the morning and afternoon touring the historical sites of Sevilla, my friends and I took a carriage ride around the city! We thought it was appropriate considering it's now Christmas season :) The carriage ride was really fun, especially since we were able to see different parts of the city that we otherwise would not have seen.

On Sunday we left the hotel and took the 2 hour bus ride to Cordoba, another city in Southern Spain. Cordoba is a lot smaller than Sevilla, but still beautiful! We spent most of our time touring the Cathedral of Cordoba, which is a very unique cathedral. Originally, this cathedral was a mosque which began being constructed in 785 by Islamic Kings. Construction and expansion continued over various centuries. When King Ferdinand III conquered Cordoba in 1236, the Catholics began destructing the mosque and building a Christian cathedral within it. The entire mosque was not destroyed, and it is now the only mosque still standing in Spain. Although it is not used as a mosque, it is extremely fortunate that it was not completely ruined because the original building is beautiful and encompasses rich history, art and culture of Arabic Spain. The mosque portion of the cathedral is filled with arches that look like candy canes! Overall, I really enjoyed this excursion! I can't believe it is already our last excursion with ISA. Time is flying, I only have 18 days left in Spain!