Andalusia had been on my bucket list for quite a while. This is probably my inner historian's fault, of course the region is one of the hot spots in Europe when you like places where different cultures have melted into one. We had one week and decided to stay for a few days each in Seville and Granada and taking a day trip to Córdoba. The spanish train company offers a good service connecting the three cities, so we didn't need a car.
When we landed in Seville we felt like we had finally found the summer we had missed so badly in Switzerland. It was warm, the sun was shining, and the light didn't give a November impression. A wonderful feeling! We took the train to Granada where we had booked a hotel room for the first few nights of the trip.
The Khu Hotel is in the very centre of Granada, the perfect starting point for exploring the city by foot. Granada is beautiful, and in autum the colours of the trees are a great match for the clay buildings of the Alhambra - certainly a must-see when it comes to Europe's cultural heritage. Many tourists come just to visit the Alhambra, they don't see much of Granada's sights, which is a shame as there are many nice things to see. We really liked the Albaicín quarter, its white houses and narrow streets are worth a stroll. One of the discoveries that only happen when you visit somewhere with enough time and an open mind was El Bañuelo, the arabic bath dating back to the 11th century. The star-shaped openings in its roof create a fascinating light, although the place's purpose has been a secular one, the atmosphere in there is much like you'd expect it in a sacred room.
Of course we didn't miss out on the culinary highlights of Andalusia, ate a lot of Tapas, jamón and olives. In Granada, we ate at the Alameda - "contemporary andalusian cuisine", it says on the menu. Definitely the place to go if you like meat and interesting combinations of food. We loved it, also because of the very friendly service.
We've spent a whole day visiting the Alhambra. Well worth the time, it's probably a once in a lifetime thing to do, and there's so much to see! I recommend to use the really good audio guide which makes it easy to spot the most important sights: the whole area is huge, so it would be hard to see the truly interesting parts without any kind of guide telling you more about the history, the architecture and decoration.
Today, the Alhambra is a big fortress, walls surrounding many different buildings and gardens. Everything started with a much smaller fortress, built in 889 (no, not 1889. It's 889). In the 11th century, the moorish emir then in power in Granada rebuilt the fortress, already close to its actual size. Two hundred years later, it was turned into a royal palace. In 1492, the reconquista won Granada over and the christian rulers kept using parts of the buildings. The following centuries were not as glamourous, and after many decades of neglect and vandalism, the Alhambra was rediscovered in the 19th century. Finally, restauration works commenced until the Alhambra became the beautiful and impressive place it is today.
Back in Seville, we started discovering another really nice andalusian city. We loved the lively atmosphere, walked around for hours, drinking coffee and watching the other tourists. Of course we also did a lot of sightseeing. I remember climbing the Giralda, the old tower besides the cathedral. There are no stairs inside, but a ramp, and apparently it has been built this way because the imam of the mosque (the Giralda has been a minaret) was quite old and could not climb so many stairs anymore. With the ramp, he was able to climb the tower on the back of his donkey!
The view from the top is stunning, but I probably liked the one from Metropol Parasol better. Perhaps because this building made of wood (!) is even more special than the Giralda, I have never seen anything like it before. We had a lot of fun exploring the different views on top of the construction, and of course we took many photos.
Later on that day, we also visited the cathedral. I liked it a lot, especially the orange tree courtyard, a peaceful and calm place. It's a huge church, probably one of the largest I have visited so far (I just checked: it's actually the third largest church building in the world! It covers more than 11000 m2, only St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and the Basilica in Aparecida (Brazil) are larger- so yes, it's by far the biggest church I have visited so far, as I have not been to Rome or Aparecida).
What I also loved in Seville: the Real Alcazár. Originating in another moorish palace, today it is the official residence of the Spanish royal family when they visit. So of course not all the rooms are open for the public, but the rest really is worth being visited. This also goes for the beautiful gardens.
And then of course we also visited Plaza de España - but on that day it was raining very hard and we didn't stay outside for long. The Plaza was built in 1928 for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929, and I'm sure it would be a great place to spend time and see all the details in the architecture - but the rain and the cold quickly drove us inside. In our case, "inside" meant the military museum located in one of the buildings right at the Plaza. Actually I'm not a big fan of military museums, but this one surprised me and I can recommend it - at least if you're interested in history and/or like tiny models of historical sceneries.
In Seville, we ate at three really cool places, two of them not the most spanish of the city, but still absolutely worth a hungry visit. They are very different, though. The Vantana is probably the best vegetarian restaurant I know, I LOVED their tabbouleh with yogurt and lime!
The other restaurant was The Merchant - it's a pub, and a good one I think. With real pub food, so probably the opposite of the Vantana when it comes to healthy food, but it was very close to our hotel and it was raining on that evening, so burgers were exactly what we wanted. They were great. And we could watch some football (FC Basel, the city where I still lived back then, playing against a spanish team. I can't remember which one, shame on me!).
The third, more spanish place we went to for dinner was Restaurante Ignacio Vidal. There we had tapas and more tapas, very nice with very friendly service!
Seeing Córdoba was one of the highlights of the trip, and for me this has been a dream for quite a while - university lectures about the reconquista and photos my parents took when they'd been there a few years ago had really made me want to see the Mezquita. But first, we took a stroll around the city, discovered the beautiful jewish quarter including the impressive synagogue, built in 1315. We had lunch at the Macsura, where I ate the fantastic "Flamenquín", we really enjoyed the place and its atmosphere!
Afterwards we visited the Mezquita. Basically, it's an enormous mosque - and in the middle of the building, there's a church. But in the beginning, there was only a church - until the year 711, when Muslims conquered Córdoba and divided the church into a Muslim and a Christian part. Later, a muslim ruler had the church demolished and build a huge mosque instead. After the Reconquista, the mosque was converted into a Christian church again, and in the 16th century, they even built a big church inside it! It's incredible on so many levels - the architecture is stunning, and the thought that the Christian rulers didn't demolish the mosque to build a church on that same spot again, but just inserted the church into the building, is fascinating. A magic, sacred place - the only thing I think is sad about it: Muslims are not allowed to actively use the mosque to pray. That would be such a powerful symbol, but unfortunately, the catholic church of today doesn't see the value of such a gesture.
We left Andalusia with a lot of beautiful, inspiring and impressive memories, when I look at the photos now - one year later! - I still can feel the sun, taste the jamón and see the wonderful sights in my mind. I'd love to visit again some day!
