Hace sol en Sevilla

After many months of rain and cold weather in Logroño it was so nice to finally get some nice weather…and Sevilla was my first stop on my conquest of the south. Sevilla, known for its Flamenco, Gitano infused music, unique tapas, and unmistakable accent, make for a very distinct culture all their own. They are ‘Sevillanos’.

I was lucky enough to stay in a hostel that was located right in the center, minutes from the cathedral, the biggest cathedral in the world I might add, which made it very easy to get all around the city center. The first morning in Sevilla I was off on a walking tour of the city. This city has quite the history and I was in for a real treat with a great guide!

At one point Spain was ruled by the Moors, the medieval Muslim inhabitants of Morocco, so Sevilla still holds a mixture of the two cultures. The Moors ruled in Spain for almost 800 years, from 711 to 1492, when the Spanish finally regained control of the country. At that same time, in 1492 (that year should look familiar to all of you Americans.... ‘In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue’), Sevilla became the main trading post for all ships coming and going from the newly discovered Americas. For this, from the years 1492 to 1717, Sevilla was the ‘place to be’.

So on my walking tour we first discussed the reign of the Moors. I already mentioned that they were in Spain for about 800 years ruling Spain and Portugal (the Iberian peninsula) under the Muslim faith. Our guide started to explain the mixture of cultures that we were going to see throughout the city using the main tower of what is now the cathedral as an example. The tower is called ‘La Giralda’, it was a former minaret built by the Muslims in 1189 and the cathedral to the right of the tower was also once a mosque. But, during the ‘Reconquista’ the Spanish kings, who were Catholics, took back their country (Sevilla was taken back in 1248) and began to change and convert buildings and churches using ‘Christian’ art and building design. Only then was the mosque converted into the beginnings of what is now the cathedral and the bell tower added to the top of the tower to look more Christianesque.

This discussion of Muslim vs. Christian art then brought up the mudéjar style art, which at the time of the Reconquista was very popular in Sevilla. Mudéjar style is a mixture of both Christian and Islamic art in the same art pieces. Our guide described to us that it was difficult to find Christian architects in the time when the kings were trying to reconstruct the city because most Christians were farmers. So they had to resort to using Muslim architects and later attached Christian adornments overtop to ensure that people knew it was supposed to be ‘Christian’. So you have a mixture of both types of art together. But, our guide assured us that the Arabic inscriptions written on the buildings and art pieces during this time do not actually mean anything and are more just symbols that are supposed to represent the Muslim style.

The best representation of mudéjar can be found in the Real Alcázar, a royal palace that was originally a Moorish fort. The Moors were the first to build a palace in Sevilla and only later, in the takeover, Christian monarchs started adding their own ‘additions’ to the palace. Even today it is still the official Sevillan residence of the royal family. 

Inside, it is absolutely beautiful with all of the many rooms and courtyards and the best part are the back gardens. Right in the middle of Sevilla, a bustling city, you can go into these gardens and find complete peace. With wild peacocks roaming around, water fountains, and plenty of rose bushes and all kinds of other flowers, you can go, sit, take a snack, and just bask in the serene and ‘cool’ environment that the Alcázar gives.

Still on the walking tour, we later began to discuss the great reign of Spain, or the ‘Golden Years’, when they were receiving gold, jewels, chocolate, spices, and so many other great things from the Americas. Although, with this discussion of triumph, we also had to talk about the destruction and havoc that Spain was causing in the pursuit of these newfound resources. This topic was brought up to later discuss our next stop and how it related to the great exposition of 1929 (The World’s Fair). This was supposably the time when Spain (Sevilla) was finally going to get the world back on their side. They built great buildings, plazas, and parks to prepare for this great exposition. 

My favorite was the ‘Plaza de España’, which has a beautiful representation of each different province of Spain. Of course I had to run and find Logroño’s alcove and take lots of photos! Amazing how attached you get to a place when it feels like home! So anyways, the Spanish invited each and every Central and South American colony that they had once ruled as a way to say ‘sorry’ for what they had done to their countries almost 500 years before, hoping that they could be on somewhat good terms. 

They built each country their own beautiful building, each one unique. These buildings are still standing and as beautiful as they are, the problem after any big exposition is the question of what do with all of these building afterwards?! Most of them are now museums or government buildings and Cuba’s building was even turned into a very famous Sevillan theatre known as ‘El teatro Lope de Vega’. 

This was a part of the city I had to visit again another day on bicycle to really get a good feel of it. I rode all around the parque de María Louisa, looking at all of the fancy buildings that framed this part of the city, especially admiring once again the Plaza de España in all of its glory!! 

The tour was quite interesting, really demonstrating all the changes that Sevilla has gone through in the past centuries and how they have managed to preserve bits of each to make up the unique culture that they still celebrate today.

I also took an afternoon tour while I was there, offered by the same group, and it was also very informative! We mostly focused on the Jewish Quarter, La Judería, which is now a quite exclusive part of the city to live in. Because of their innovative mechanics so long ago they have created a quarter of the city that never reaches 35˚C (95˚F) in a city that often reaches between 45˚-50˚C (118˚-120˚F) in the summer. They built this neighborhood in such a way that the streets are very narrow and block the sun out so that it never actually reaches the ground! Smart, huh?! We should try this in Phoenix! They also have these amazing patios that are all over the city, in ever apartment complex actually, to keep cool. The plants and foliage in the patio as well as the way that it is in the center of all of the apartments gives a breezeway into each one. You can actually feel the the temperature lower as you walk by each patio. Another great invention to beat the heat!!

This building of all of these sideways and narrow streets also came in handy during the Spanish Inquisition, because when the Christian soldiers came in to kill them, they often got lost on the narrow streets and ended up focusing on trying to find their way out of this sector of the city rather than catching anyone!

While discussing this we also learned why ‘jamón’ (ham) is so important and practically adorns every tapa and dish that is served. During the Inquisition (the expulsion of Muslims and Jewish people out of Spain), it was very easy to test people’s religious beliefs by offering them jamón. If they didn’t accept the tasty morsels it very likely meant that they were of a faith other than Christianity and killed because of it.

On a happier note…let’s talk about the food! So, as distinct as their way of speaking (eating the ‘s’ at the end of words, just to give one example) so are their tapas and special dishes of the south! With recommendations from Fermín, Jorge, and even my good friend Carolyn from Chicago that had lived in Sevilla for many years, I had quite a lot of things to try…but I did my best! :) 

It was so great because I met many people at the hostel and always had great restaurant and food recommendations for everyone!  So helpful! Not to mention how great it was to have the reassurance that you were experiencing the best the south had to offer! Some of my favorites were Salmorejo, a cold vegetable soup with jamón sprinkled over top (so refreshing on such hot days!) and of course the ‘pescaíto frito’ which is so famous down here because of the fresh fishing that goes on each day! Oh yeah, and because of the heat it is also obligatory to try a new flavor of gelato each day!! :)

As beautiful as this city is and as much as I enjoyed learning about all the history that it holds, I was ready to head off to the beach and find some nice cool breezes! Cádiz, here I come! 

¡Kalimera! - Life in the Greek Islands

Because there are more than 3,500 islands off the coast of Greece, we figured the best way to see them would be by boat! So we reserved our spots on a cruise ship and we were ready to go ‘sailing’ around the beautiful mountainous islands that make up a whole different part of Grecian culture. We were a bit hesitant to get on a boat because past sea sick experiences are never pleasant. But, with a bit of ginger in our bellies and a good attitude, we were off on our next adventure. We boarded the boat early Friday morning and would spend the next three days packed with places to go and sights to see!

As we entered the boat we were both stunned by all that the boat had to offer and how giant it was!! It took a while to get our bearings on the boat and learn where everything was…well, some of us never really learned, but that’s another story! :) We were given an itinerary of the activities they were offering and we were very excited to find that that afternoon they were going to have Greek language lessons and we were sure not to miss it. What we didn’t know is that right after Greek language lessons were Greek dancing lessons, and somehow our teacher got us reeled into that class too! With only two other guys in the dance class, the teacher took quite a liking to Jorge and made sure he was always on step. By the end of it, I would say he was the star of the class! Haha!

With the Sirtaki melody still ringing in our ears we were back to our cabin to get ready for our first stop off the boat!! During our time on the boat we would see five different islands, so we had a very strict and busy schedule! First on the list…MYKONOS!

Mykonos

Not to ruin the rest of the blog reading, but Mykonos was by far our favorite island!! We docked at about 6pm, and we were off to explore. (oh p.s. coming into port is so beautiful and such a different experience that coming in on a plane because you really get to see the whole island from afar and then gradually get up close and personal!) 

We walked into town from the port and from the minute we turned the corner onto the main square I was in disbelief. It was perfect, just like a movie: all the white houses and little finishing boats in the marina, small white Byzantine churches with the notorious blue domed roofs…just exactly what I always imagined it would look like. On our way to the island we had done our research with our handy dandy ‘Greek Islands’ travel guide (an awesome gift from Jorge’s mom) so we were ready to explore and knew exactly what we wanted to see. On our list: the pelican (the mascot of Mykonos for over 25 years), the molinos (old windmills constructed in the 16^th century), and a part of the island called ‘Little Venice’. So we hopped off the boat in pursuit of the things on our list while still in awe of the views all around us. 

We stopped at a few white byzantine churches to capture some beautiful photos and as we turned around there was ‘Petros’, the pelican. We tried to get a photo, but he did not want to cooperate. I’m sure he gets tired of all the tourists sometimes!

As we walked down the immaculate white cobblestone streets past cute little shops and restaurants, I felt something telling me to keep walking and as we turned the corner on to Little Venice, I knew this was why. Wow. All I can really say is Wow. It was absolutely a sight to be seen. These little stores and restaurants are seated right up next to the water and the waves splash up against the side of the buildings, truly looking like Venice. On the opposite side were all of these little bars serving amazing fruity drinks and fresh seafood with views of Little Venice, the amazing sun as it began to set, as well as the windmills. Could there be a better setting anywhere in the world?! I don’t think so. And if so, I haven’t found it yet. 

We made our way through the crowds of chattering happy folks, (who wouldn’t be happy looking out onto that?!), and we headed over to get a better look at the perfectly preserved windmills. As we got closer the sun began to set over the rippling ocean and it seemed that everyone on the whole island had come out to say goodbye to another beautiful day. After snapping some fantastic photos of the windmills with the sun setting in the background, we made our way back over to one of the restaurants to grab a quick appetizer of fresh mussels, sip some white wine, and just be part of this beautiful setting that was just another Friday night on the island of Mykonos. 

Everyone was so friendly and our neighbor table started chatting with us and before I knew it everyone around us started clapping. I, oblivious to the situation, asked what was going on and Jorge said… ‘The sun just set.’! Clapping for the sunset?! That is my kind of place. And what a show it was indeed! It definitely deserved our praises!! 

As we finished our appetizer and hurried back to the boat (we didn’t want to miss it at our very first stop), we laughed and joked about a life here in Mykonos: what it would be like everyday waking up on this gorgeous island, getting along with the locals, and having your biggest worry of the day be figuring out which lovely bar or restaurant you were going to sit at to enjoy another divine sunset!! Oh it would be the life….

Kusadasi

The next morning bright and early we were docked at our next stop in Kusadasi, a Turkish island. Unfortunately, we weren’t given much time on this island (unless you were up and ready to get off the boat at 6am, which we were not!) so we just had a look around and took our time climbing up and around an old walled castle and watching the crystal-clear, emerald water splash up onto the rocks around us. We sat at a café and enjoyed the views while also enjoying some Turkish tea! Then, it was time again to get back on the boat once again!

Cruising throughout the day was so nice because no matter what we were doing: eating lunch on the upper deck, enjoying a smoothie by the pool, or playing cards on the balcony off the stern, we were surrounded by great views of little tiny islands and blue green water everywhere we looked. A marvelous way to travel!

Patmos

The Island of Patmos had a completely different feel and personality all it’s own. During our research earlier that day we had found that this island claimed to be the place where St. Paul lived while he wrote/dictated the book of Revelations. We were quite intrigued by this and as we got off the boat this taxi man offered to take us up to the cave where Paul had been living and later up to the monastery that was built about 1000 years after to honor this holy place. 


We decided that this was a great idea because the monastery as well as the cave looked quite far and with our time constraints with the boat we wanted to make sure we had enough time to see everything. We jumped into the cab and he took us up to the cave. Already with spectacular views of the entire island and the ocean beyond, we entered into the cave to find the actual place where St. Paul laid his head at night and also the rock that split and spoke the words of Revelation to Paul. There was a Greek Orthodox monk who did not speak any English, but as he gave a description of the cave and what had happened there to Greek visitors, you could feel the devotion and belief that he had within him. Quite a thing to witness. 

Then, right on time, our taxi guy was waiting to take us up to monastery above. From here we had unbelievable views and the sun was just beginning to reflect on the water! Wow…again! We entered into the monastery and it was beautiful. It had frescos on all of the walls inside and outside of the chapel and there was also a museum above that had many different books and other important artifacts. 

As we headed back down the mountain we talked about the island a bit with the taxi driver, a native of Patmos. You could just tell that this island had a sense of peace about it. Very different from our night before in Mykonos, but a wonderful island all its own. We had some time, so we decided to have a walk along the waterfront, stopped for some more great tapas, and watched the sunset and the waves role in before we had to get back to the tender boat that would get us back to the ship! Another great day on the Aegean sea!

Crete

Another early morning stop. We did get a little more time on this island, but still were a little rushed to see what we wanted to see. We were able to walk to the city center and out onto a great boardwalk were we saw the freshest ‘fish market’ I had ever seen, if you can call it a fish market. All of the fish were still flopping around in their boxes, obviously just caught earlier that morning. This was not affecting the buyers though, they were happy to get this fish as fresh as it came. We also met an artist who was sharing his story with us about his life as a Greek artist and how lately times have changed for him. Although he had quite a sad story, he still had a smile on his face and was happy to sell us a beautiful, homemade piece of pottery with a carving of Hippocrates, the first ancient Greek physician. We made it back on the boat just in time to sail off to our last and final island, Santorini.

Santorini

One of the more well known islands, I wasn’t sure what to expect from Santorini, but I was surprised right as we started getting close to the island. The island, what is left after a huge volcanic explosion, is now in a half moon shape. The ship cruised through the opening of the moon shape and what we saw was astonishing. All of these little white houses up on the very tiptop of the island. Incredible. I had never seen anything like it and I just kept wondering ‘How did they get up there?!’. We had read that we were in for quite a hike to get up to the top to where the actual town was located.

You had three options of getting to the top: 1) cable car, 2) donkey, or 3) climbing 588 steps! So guess which one we chose…you guessed it, hiking up all those stairs….what a joy! And not only that, watching out to not be trampled by donkeys randomly running up and down the mountain slipping and sliding as they came… ay ay ay! What a trip. But we made it, all 588 steps, and as you can see they even numbered the last couple to keep you going! So we got to the top and the reward was so worth the hike! 

When we looked back over the seas we saw these amazing islands peaking up in the distance and to the left on the island a stream of white houses flowing over the mountainside. You know that picture you always see of Greece and think ‘Someday I want to go there.’? Well this was that picture…except in person!! We were stunned by the view and just kind of stood there and looked out feeling like we were on the top of the world for a few moments!

We still had quite a bit of time on the island, surprisingly after all that climbing, so we headed a bit farther into town and found quads for rent. Jorge, very excited about this idea, was on board within seconds! So we rented our quad, put our lovely helmets on, and were off to explore the island! Luckily they guy gave us a map and we had kind of an idea of where we wanted to go, so we just drove and enjoyed the views that surrounded us… 

We made a quick stop at a little beach, which was covered in black sand from the volcanic ash. We stopped and stuck our feet in the water for a bit and enjoyed the waves crashing in onto the rocks. Cutting it close to our tender boat time, we quickly made it back down the 588 stairs and made it just in time to get back on the boat to spend our last night and our last sunset on the ship, enjoying a lovely dinner of Greek favorites!!

The next morning we docked in Athens at the lovely hour of 6am and were off the boat back to our hotel for one more night. We loved every minute of our trip and have been replaying every moment of our journey ever since we’ve been back! It will be difficult to top this trip…ever.  

Dabbling in Grecian History - Day Excursions

Delphi

After spending many wonderful days in Athens we figured we should see what else we could learn about Grecian history while still staying on the peninsula (the islands would come later!) Our first day trip was to Delphi, another ‘acropolis’ dedicated to honor Apollo, the god of music, civilization, and light. This was a very interesting archeological site about two and a half hours outside of Athens and luckily our tour guide was super informative and was giving us tidbits of knowledge all along the ride. When we arrived in Delphi we were surrounded by such a beautiful setting: green trees, high mountains, and to top it off, more Greek ruins! We were ready to learn all about it!

Our guide discussed a couple of different reasons that made this site very popular. First was the Delphic oracle, the most important prophet in the classical Greek world. People would come from near and far, nobility and townsfolk alike, to hear the prophecies of the Delphic oracle and what she would tell them about their future. As the story goes, the Delphic oracle known as Pythia, was usually quite ‘high’ on vapors rising up from a break in the rocks and this is how she ‘connected with the divine’. Luckily, or not so luckily, the priests claimed that they could interpret her babbling and shared their own ideas with the people. Our guide told us that they were very well known for giving responses or prophecies that ‘didn’t really tell the people anything’, inconclusive answers that would always seem to ‘come true’ in the end…hmmm.

Second, Delphi was also the site of the Pythian Games, starting in 586BC, which were a kind of precursor to the later modern Olympics. As it was quite a warm day, our guide gave us the choice if we wanted to climb up to the top to see the stadium where the games were performed. Of course we trekked up to the top, ‘shade hopping’ from under one tree to another. We walked up past the remains of the Temple of Apollo, past the theatre, and up to the ‘mountain-top stadium’. From there we had great views of all of Delphi and we could see all that it once was in its ‘glory days’.

Later, the group met at the bottom of the site where we all entered the museum together. Nicely enough, the museum is right on the same site so we could just walk right in and see all of the artifacts we had just learned so much about! Inside there were some very interesting Sphinx statues as well as some more of those Caryatids statues that we liked so much. Although these were not in quite as good of shape and some were displayed in pieces. 

The most famous thing that was found at this site was a life-size, bronze statue called ‘The Charioteer of Delphi’. (Whole bronze statues are hard to find because of the value of bronze, many scavengers went into the ruins sites and melted down the bronze to sell or to make other things like armor.) Luckily this statue had been buried underneath a rock-fall and was found in its entirety in the year 1896, yet the cast of the sculpture was made in the year 478BC. So it was found more than 2,300 years later in this good of condition!

 

After the museum we had a nice lunch with the group. More Greek salads with feta, chicken souvlaki, pita bread, and tzatziki sauce, yes please!! ¡Ne parakalo! Delicious!! To finish off our trip, we had a nice siesta as we headed back into Athens on the bus! Once again, another great day filled with so much history!  

Cape Sounion - Temple of Poseidon

The following afternoon we were off again on another trip, not quite so far this time, to Cape Sounion, about 80km south of Athens. This time, during the entire trip we traveled along the Aegean Sea, which made it a beautiful drive out to see the Temple of Poseidon. Poseidon, the god of the sea, is usually portrayed with holding his trident and this temple is so uniquely placed to honor him. Perfectly enough, the temple is surrounded on three side by the Aegean sea, which makes for wonderful views as you look onto the majestic columns still boldly standing on the top of the cape.

During this trip our guide shared a very interesting fact with us. She said that the three temples, that of Athena (on the Acropolis), Poseidon (on Cape Sounion), and Aphaia (on the island of Aegina) are perfectly distanced to make a perfect equilateral triangle. Ok, how did they know how to do that?! I’m not sure we could even figure that out today…Wow! And Jorge, already having been to the Temple of Aphaia on another trip to Greece, found out at that moment, that he had just completed the triangle!! So fascinating to find out when you’re standing out looking over the majestic temple with the beautiful sea in the background as the sun begins to set. A perfect way to end our time in Athens! Now…to the islands!! :)