Hi everyone! So during the last two weeks I have gone from Segovia/Madrid and worked my way south via bus and train. I started out by going to Toledo for one night, about a 45 minute bus ride, then to Cordoba (a 1 hour train ride south) for 2 nights. Toledo is a fun little city on a hill. Kinda reminds me of Main Street Park City, but with more history and elevation! The cathedral there has the most fascinating and detailed capilla I have seen so far...and believe me I have seen a lot of cathedrals and churches this summer!
Cordoba was also a neat town. The only thing that sucked for me is that the streets are not labeled! I got SOOOOOOOO [did you catch the emphasis on SO?] L-O-S-T. Regardless, the Mezquita there had the best mudejar architecture I have seen so far. From there, it was off to Sevilla, which took 3 hours by bus.
Sevilla, known for its flamenco and bull fighting, was just splendid. It was scorching hot...like in the high 90s...but I hear Utah is like that too right now! I saw the cathedral there, which is the largest gothic building in the world, and the third largest cathedral behind St. Peter´s in Rome and St. Paul´s in London. I also walked 44 stories up to the top of the Giralda tower...what a view! Thankfully, there were not any steps like the castle in Segovia. It was all ramp! They built it this way so the imam could ride his horse up when he was doing the call to prayer. Oh yeah, if you´re confused, I forgot to mention that a lot of the churches here used to be mosques! There is so much religious history here with Judaism, Islam and Christianity.
From Sevilla, I took another bus to Algeciras, where I stayed for two nights. I used this as base camp to go to Gibraltar. To get to Gibraltar, you take a 30 minute bus ride to the town of La Linea. You then walk 5 minutes across the border to Gibraltar. Although connected to Spain, Gibraltar - with its famed rock - is still controversially a British colony. After crossing the border, you definately notice too! The British flag is the first thing you see, followed by a red pay phone booth..HOW BRITISH! Everything changes to english language as well, and the currency changes to Sterling pounds. I paid $10 for a burger at Burger King!!! Insane.
Gibraltar has been one of my most favorite places so far during this trip. The views, the weather, the monkeys...pics forthcoming which will explain all. I also met some cool people from Texas: Val, Paul and Stephen!
After spending 3 days there I took a 3 hour bus ride to Malaga. This was such a beautiful ride...it was all coast and beaches! It´s funny to think that last year I was on the other side of the Mediterranean in Mexico. It´s just as beautiful on this side too! It reminds me so much of San Diego, where I lived last summer.
The weather is a nice relief from the scorching Andalusian. Today I went to the Alcazaba. The Alcazaba is an old city founded by the Phoenicians. Malaga was one of the first Roman cities...there is 3000 years of history here folks! Malaga is also the birthplace of one Pablo Picasso. Ever heard of him???
Tomorrow I am going to the beach. I am kinda upset right now as I just put my USB flash drive thingy in (why be technical!) and it won´t work at the internet cafe I am at. Uggh. I will try to go to a different internet place tomorrow and upload pics from Toleda, Cordoba, Sevilla, and Gibraltar. Get ready for picture overload!!! Malaga pics will be coming soon!
Miss you all!
----PICS COMING SOON---
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