by Amanda Pretti
I am still backtracking to catch you up on where we have been. This all occurred before Madrid.
Sevilla: our first taste of Spain, tapas everywhere, a jumbled maze of narrow streets. Reaching our hotel was no small feat. We had to fold in the mirrors to get through the narrow streets of the old Moorish district of the Barrio Santa Cruz. Getting to the room added an extra challenge that included taking two elevators and finding our way through an underground tunnel, then crossing the street to a different building. You only forget your car keys once! But I must tell you, the gelato is to die for! I cannot linger on the subject of food forever, so I will begin by telling you about our tour. We met up with a group to tour the city with a local guide. My favorite part of the tour was seeing the Alcazar Palace built by Muslims who used old Roman columns (you can tell because each column is different) that later turned into a Catholic church. It reminded me of America because it was like a melting pot of all different cultures. Also, it was the highest part of the city. We saw the exact place in the Alcazar where Christopher Columbus told the Queen about his findings of the New World! After the tour, we spoiled ourselved by entering the city's cathedral. We were delighted by the staiined glass windows and indulged by the detailed wood carvings. We climbed to the top. We were soon enchanted by the the gorgeous overlook of Sevilla. After that we went to the bullfighting museum and saw the bullfighting arena and the whole package! The stadium looks a lot smaller with nobody in it, little did we know we would actually see a bullfight soon!
Gibralter: Our next stop on the list was the Rock of Gibralter. It seems crazy that Britain owns this tiny part of Spain! We climbed the rock and saw the apes of Gibralter roaming around as if they owned the place. Our most vivid memory that gave us quite a laugh was when Aidan got bitten by an overly aggressive one when he startled it! (Usually they just try to steal your backpack). Besides that, we enjoyed an extraordinary view with the sea in the background and the apes by our sides. Our short time in Gibralter gave me an amazing taste of what it is like there.
Ronda: Our next stop was Ronda, one of the white hilltowns of Andalucia. We stayed several miles outside of the city on a farm. Upon our arrival, we were greeted by El Toro staring at us as we pulled into the parking area of the farm. At first we thought it belonged on the farm but later found out it was an intruder. Ronda sits on a huge river gorge, and we stood on the "new bridge" which crossed the gorge. The "new bridge" was 500 years old! The gorge was a spectacular sight with the rocks barely clinging to the mountainside, and the sky dangling over us. There were houses and ranches as far as the eye could see and the whole city of Ronda unraveled itself and was laid out and spread across the flat surface. We loved Ronda and the unique style of its culture.
Our time in Spain continues as we head to Granada next!
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