Cordoba, Spain in the Springtime!

Cordoba, Spain is an absolute beautiful city in the springtime! On March 27, 28 and 29 Ben and I went to discover the great city of Cordoba that I had also traveled to before. The city fragrantly smelled of fresh orange blossoms everywhere! We happened to find one of the best hostels that we have stayed in so far that gave us a cool attic-style room with a nice terrace to sit out on to enjoy the wonderful weather we had. We were also lucky to share that terrace with an older couple that came to Cordoba from Belgium. It was great to meet other travelers.

There are many different sights to see in Cordoba such as the Mezquita, a 14th century synagogue, the Alcazar of the Christian Kings, the Palace of Viana with its many patios, and many presevered Arab baths.

The Mezquita, which means 'The Mosque', dates back to the year 784 when its construction started and was eventually converted into a Cathedral after the Reconquista in Spain. Below are a few photos inside and outside the Mezquita.




Our hostel was near The Alcazar of the Christian Kings. This palace was very beautiful and had excellent gardens to walk around in. The next photos are from The Alcazar of the Christian Kings.



Another famous place to see in Cordoba is the Calleja de las Flores which means in English 'Street of Flowers'. The flowers are beautiful in this small street in the old part of the city. When you get to the very end of the street it provides an excellent photo with the street and the Mezquita in the distance. I love this photo of Ben as his sweatshirt really brings out the red flowers on the street.


This photo is one of the bridges in Cordoba. The river didn't have much water in it when we were there. This bridge leads to The Tower of Calahorra which was under restoration. Usually the tower provides a great look out point to view the city of Cordoba from above.

Cordoba is a great city. I think Cordoba would be one of my favorite cities in southern Spain right now. The people were friendly, the sights were beautiful to see, and our hostel was excellent. If you like flowers, this is the place to visit. The next few photos are just some of the flower photos I took while I was in Cordoba.



After Cordoba Ben and I had a long day of traveling to get back home to Logrono. We had to take two different bus rides which equaled to be about 9 hours of sitting in a bus. After seeing all the different cities and their beautiful sights during Easter Break, I know that my adventure through the south of Spain was definitively worth it all!

Easter Break: Sevilla

Ben and I started our Easter break in Sevilla, Spain along with my friend Tina that came to visit us from California for a week. Sevilla, Spain is most known for their religious processions during Easter. Processions go on all of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday. The processions can take up to more than 14 hours. There are many different processions each day. Each procession is done by a different brotherhood of a church in Sevilla. The way the processions work is that the brotherhood starts at their own church and walk to the main central Cathedral in the old part of the city.

After they arrive at the Cathedral, they walk around the outside of it and continue walking in the procession until they reach their church again. The processions can take any amount of time. It depends on how big the brotherhood is and how far away the church is away from the Cathedral. The biggest processions of all go on during the late hours of the night on Holy Thursday until midday the next day. Some of these processions had more than 2,500 people in it!

Ben, Tina and I decided to stay up the entire night with the millions of other people in the tiny streets of the old part the city. It is an incredible experience to be in Sevilla during Easter Break. Words cannot describe how much I enjoyed the time in Sevilla for Easter. People all have mini chairs or stand all day and night watching the slow processions go by them. There are many people lined up along the streets with just enough space to let the brotherhood walk through it. It is a very emotional and jubilant time for many. Here are some photos below of the night processions that went on during Holy Thursday and Good Friday.

First, is a photo with many candles and the Virgin Mary. These are very common in the processions. About 25 - 35 men of a brotherhood are below carrying this very heavy float throughout the streets of Sevilla. All of the men below cannot see where they are going. They are led by somebody else outside of the float. They take many breaks during the procession due to how heavy it is! The floats are used to reenact the events of Easter of each of the corresponding days.

Men walk through the streets carrying very large candles for hours in the processions. They always have their faces covered and are all in matching different colored outfits for each of the different brotherhoods. A lot of the men would even go barefoot to feel the pain that Christ had felt.

Here is a photo depicting Christ on 'Judgment Day'. This float was part of the biggest processions of all called ' La Macarena'. In Spain, 'La Macarena' is another name to refer to the Virgin Mary.
Below is a photo of men carrying crosses. Each of those crosses are very heavy and they usually walk barefoot as well! On these crosses below you can read 'Pasion' which is the same in English for 'Passion'.
During Easter break we also had time to visit many of the monuments that Sevilla has to offer. Ben and I toured the Bull Fighting ring in Sevilla. Sevilla is very known for their bullfighting. The Sunday we were in Sevilla was the opening day of the bullfighting season.

Below is the main Cathedral in Sevilla that all the processions would walk to. The Cathedral in Sevilla is the largest in Spain and also the third largest Gothic style Cathedral in the world. It was very beautiful inside. Inside the Cathedral is a tomb with the suspected remains of Christopher Colombus.

I am in the gardens at the Alcazar in Sevilla. They were very beautiful.

Tina and I are hanging out by a park. It was great having her come and visit us and getting to share the experience of Sevilla during Easter with her!

These are the customary outfits of the brotherhoods that they wear during the processions. They can range in many different colors depending on the day during Easter and the brotherhood.

After five days in Sevilla for all of the Easter celebrations Ben and I traveled on to Gibraltar to go to the top of the rock and see the monkeys of Gibraltar.