Segovia: Those Romans! They'll get you every time!

Weeks and weeks and weeks ago we spent a Saturday in Segovia.  It is a City that has been home to Romans, and Kings and Queens of Spain.  It lost its importance due to a rebellion during one of Spain's many civil wars.

The roman aqueduct.  Nothing shy of impressive.  Built in the first century, at its tallest it is 16 meters and was fully functional until about 30 years ago.  Of course it is made just by stacking perfectly shaped rocks, no cement for the Romans!  This was my favorite part of the city.

The Cathedral.  Beautiful inside and out.  These really are sacred places.

 

The Castle on a hill.  So fairy tale like.

A whole room just for weapons.  Every boys dream.

Cuenca: these hills are alive! Well.... they're more like cliffs.

Cuenca!  Probably my favorite place.  It is a quaint little town a short trip outside of Madrid.  Its built up high, surrounded be beautiful country.  Everything was so incredibly beautiful that, despite the rain, I enjoyed every minute of my time there.

Looking out over the valley from the cliffs.

 Looking down on the river.  I hope you can see the color of the water.  Not exactly the most natural color, but definitely beautiful. 

 Some of those lovely Cuenca cliffs.

 Beautiful place, beautiful girls.

 From the lookout you have cliffs in one direction and the other.  So cool.

 Las casas colgadas, which means the hanging houses.  Litteraly hanging off the edge of a cliff.

I just saw this in a rock wall.  I found Cuenca to be enchanting,  I loved it.

Granada!

Granada.... such a cool city.  La Alhambra, you  know?  I had seen the pictures and had the desire to go.  Lets just say it didn't disappoint.

The gardens, incredible.  If I could choose anywhere to live it would be in an Arab palace.

El patio de los leones.  Interesting fact: the Koran counsels Muslims to not have images because it can lead to idolatry.  But its just a counsel.  Muslims have taken it as hard doctrine as a way to distance themselves from other religions.

 

Fun little pic post visit.

The view at night.  Pretty breathtaking.

Prepare for picture overload- Los Alcazares: so beautiful.

In Sevilla we went to Los Alcazares.  It was the most beautiful, inspiring place of all.  The whole time I had imaginative stories of Arab princesses in my mind.  I absolutely loved it.  And I took way too many pictures.  So bear with me.

I'm continually impressed by the details of arabic arquitecture.  They surround themselves with such beautiful things.  It was easy to understand why their culture is so advanced.

I sat here or an hour or so, just taking everything in.  So beautiful.

This flower blew into the fountain and danced on top of the water.  Natural beauty.

All in all, I think I have loved this place most because it was so uplifting and inspiring to be there.  So beautiful.  I also loved that we didn't have a guide, because it allowed me to go at my own pace, sit and enjoy the beauty of my surroundings.  So next time you're in Sevilla, be sure to visit Los Alcazares!

Que maravilla es Sevilla!

Sevilla is a beautiful city in Andalucía.  It is definitely hot (they call it the frying pan and say that you really can fry an egg on the sidewalk).  The thing I loved most about Sevilla was feeling like I was in a movie as I ate dinner next to the ancient cathedral.  Well, that's what I liked second best.  What I really liked best of all was El Alcazar, but I'm saving that for the next post.

The above pictures were all taken at La Plaza de España.  It was incredible, the pictures don't do it justice.  So incredible, in fact, that part of Star Wars was filmed there.

In the cathedral of Sevilla Christopher Columbus is buried with his family.  This is his tomb.  He left for the Americas from Sevilla and lived there for a good portion of his life.

Flamenco dancing.  So cool.

Córdoba the city

I fell in love with Córdoba.  And I bought a beautiful ring to remember it by.  Here are some pictures of this city.

La Mezquita de Córdoba

After the windmill adventure, we found ourselves in Córdoba.  This city!  There were lots of beautiful things to be seen.  But this post will focus on the mosque/cathedral.

After the Christians reconquered the Iberian Penninsula from the Muslims, all of the mosques were either destroyed or turned into cathedrals.  The mosque in Córdoba is no different- as tragic as that is. They built a cathedral inside the mosque. So what once was a mosque is now a cathedral.  It is definitely a clash of the two religions.

All the columns were taken from old Roman buildings here in Spain.

The Cathedral part.

Interesting to see Catholic images in a building that is structurally and architecturally Muslim.