Descanso!

For our break (descanso) Ashley and I stayed in town because we both wanted to spend some time with our host mom, relax, and explore the city around us since we hadn’t really gotten the chance to do before. The weekend wasn’t really too exciting but here’s what happened throughout the week:

On Wednesday, I went hiking with two friends from the program. We went past the neighborhood of Sacromonte. The views were incredible and the hike wasn’t too difficult. We ended up finding a nice area to stop for awhile and take in the beauty around us. Quietly taking everything in, the very first verse of the bible popped into my head, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” Genesis 1:1. God’s mighty hand created all of this: the mountains, the valley, the sky, the sun, me….all of it. How beautiful and magnificent is His work! 

Thursday was family day. It rained pretty much the whole day, so we couldn’t really do anything but Ashley and I got to spend lots of time talking and hanging out. And then Maria told us that she wanted to go to tapas with us during the evening. So we all went to different restaurants/bars and got drinks and tapas. It was fun going with Maria because she showed us which places had the best food. It was also nice to spend some time together, learning more about her and her family-good bonding night!

Ashley, my roommate, and Maria, my host mom!

 Friday, Ashley and I wanted to go see the sunset at one of the Plazas our group went to during one of our Saturday walks around the city. It was a PERFECT evening! No clouds, a little chilly but not too cold, and we got front row seats!

The way the sun hit the Alhambra and the Sierra Nevadas was gorgeous!

Then a song came to mind that I sang to my campers all summer long-How Great is Our God, specifically the verse “He wraps Himself in Light, and Darkness tries to hide…” Watching the sunlight touch every inch of the city and the indescribable colors it created was an out of body experience to witness. I’ve seen many sunsets in my days-each and every one is different, unique…special.  We, in a sense, are like sunsets. We all live our lives just like everyday the sun sets, but each and every one of us is unique, created by God, with different “colors” or spiritual gifts and placed in certain locations, similarly as the sun sets over different backdrops around the world, to shine out towards everyone around us sharing God’s love and grace.

Cordoba!

Last day of January and our entire program headed off to Cordoba-a smaller town about two and a half hours away from Granada. The bus we had was REALLY nice-nicer than the greyhound buses I’ve been on-and the views on the way to the city were pretty. They reminded me a lot of the views on the drive between my house and Canon Beach as well as the drive from Tacoma/Seattle to Spokane/Coeur d’Alene, although the street signs were in Spanish haha. A little bit of the old with a little bit of the new.

Cordoba

When we got to Cordoba we were given about three hours of free time to just roam the streets, check out the shops, and see some of the landmarks of Cordoba. A group of us decided to head to the Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos-a military base constructed by King Alfonso XI of Castilla en 1328.

My favorite part about this historical site was the fact that we got to climb up the very tall towers and look out around the city. Being on the tower made me want to sing Love Story by Taylor Swift…I felt like a princess! Haha.

Then we all decided to roam the streets a little while before we all stopped to eat some lunch that our host families packed us. The biggest difference I noticed walking around the streets was that Cordoba was a lot more peaceful than Granada. There weren’t as many cars or people walking around rather horses and carriages and small groups of friends and families. It seemed more relaxing and quiet in the smaller city. There were also lots of workers picking oranges off of the trees in the main plaza, Patio de los Naranjos, making the surrounding area smell wonderful!

El Torre de Alminar in El Patio de Naranjos.

Our group then met up with our coordinators and we got split into two-my group got to visit the Mezquita-Catedral (Mosque-Cathedral) which is Cordoba’s landmark first. The Umayyad Moors built the mosque but after the Spanish Reconquista it became a Roman Catholic Church, with a cathedral inserted into the centre of the Moorish building. Taking a tour of this huge building, the history of the mixture of these two religions is obvious.

The main room is clearly Moorish. It holds arches of red and white as well as 856 columns of jasper, marble and granite lined all in a row. This room was most likely used for teachings and/or managing laws and order. The lighting in this room was very dark-with only a couple skylights to bring in the sunlight, but we all got the very peaceful, meditative feeling.

 Then you go down a hallway, turn the corner and you see the inserted cathedral part-which I may add was UNBELIEVEABLY BREATHTAKING! With it’s renaissance décor, lots of detailed carving with gold outlining, and marble statues of the catholic saints this section was gorgeous.

 On the other side of the cathedral was another spectacular area that held two grand organs, detailed carved story of Jesus in deep dark wood that were also seats, and more gold carving ceilings.

After our tour of the Mesquita-Catedral our group got to participate in a spa-like practice. Called Los Baños it’s a place of relaxation and inner cleansing. There were three rooms with three different types of pools-the first a pool of cold water, second a pool of temperate water, and thirdly a pool of very hot water as well as a sauna. We would all rotate around between the different pools spending three to four minutes in the cold, ten minutes in the temperate, and six minutes in the hot. I had never really experienced a Baño before so it was really really neat to undergo something that Spaniards and others have been doing for quite a lot time. There was minimal talking so it was a good time to just relax and reflect on my entire first month and all that I’ve witnessed and have gotten the chance to see. We also were given free massages as well which was much needed after a month of walking the streets and exploring.

The baño, with its many relaxing scents, music, and soothing water treatments made me very tired which was great on our trip back home on the bus. I fell asleep and woke up as we pulled into Granada. What a great way to finish up the intensivo course and first month of Spain. I cannot believe everything that I’ve been through this far and makes me very excited for all the new adventures and sights I still have to experience while being in Granada!