Jan. & Feb. Pics

Sevilla Photos
(February 16th and 17th, 2013)

• The Plaza Mayor--Sevilla style! There is an observation deck up top, but unfortunately we all ran out of time. (Ok so we went to get frozen yogurt instead. Priorities, I know). 

• Some things are universal. Like amazing candy stores. We stopped inside, but didn't buy anything, instead opting for the frozen yogurt. 

• Wandering the streets of Sevilla. Georgia on left, Tom strolling along on the right. 

• The giant cathedral and outer wall. 

• So many pretty colors!

• The grand cathedral of Sevilla. Our group poses outside: me, Nicole, Tom, and Georgia. 

• Modern meets ancient as a sleek silver trolley car zips down the center of the street outside this centuries old church. 

• Look at just the sheer size of just this single pillar! It's pretty humbling being inside such a yawning structure. 

• From the top of the Sevilla cathedral tower! It was a breathtaking view and you can stand on numerous platforms anywhere along all four sides, allowing for any shot of the surrounding city. Note the cars juxtaposed to the horse and buggies below. 

• Holy organ!

• From the tower top. 

• Credit to the tower again. 

• Nicole, Tom, and I pose below arches that are reminiscent in style of those in Córdoba.

• Birds' eye view of the orange groves. 

• Seems to be a little ethereal light shining down on the church, no?

• The Plaza de Torros of Sevilla. This is where bull fights will be held when the season starts. I'm not exactly sure when that is, but I believe it's not too far off in the future. 

• The original shot (one above this photo) has no special coloration on whereas this one directly above does. However, this second one is more accurate in terms of how the colors actually looked if you were there. The cloudiness of the day sort of bleached some of the colors. Hereafter, there are some shots with the colorization enhancer on and others without. You'll instantly be able to tell the difference, guaranteed. 

• These orange trees are highly common in the south, as I commented in the Córdoba photos. The thing is, they're extremely sour. I personally didn't try one, but a few others in the group did and one guy said it was like an extreme grapefruit. I like grapefruit, honestly I do, but an extreme grapefruit? Think I'll leave those 'oranges' alone. So what's their purpose then? The tour guide told us that they're typically used in jams, where so much sugar is going to be added that the sourness is cancelled out. Also, note the cathedral tower in the background where I took all those aerial shots from. 

• Ok, this building wasn't quite that orange. The color enhancer got a bit carried away. It's not terribly inaccurate; just picture this a shade more subdued. 

• Ahhh street side cafe. It was a bit chilly out that Saturday during our city tour, but as you can see, there's a metallic pyramidal contraption with a flame going near the center of the cafe and those throw off quite a bit of heat. Seated next to one, you might never realize you were outside. 

• The inner courtyard of the castle, Alcázar on our Sunday tour. 

• Walkway encircling el Alcázar. (Sometimes these photos upload not in the order they were taken. I s'pose it's got something to do with file size . . . )

• Alcázar had its own private orange groves within the courtyard. This particular tree looked to me as if it were raining oranges!

• An ancient, now unused, fortification tower inside Alcázar's courtyard.

• The gold flowers on this ceiling are not only all individual, unique blossoms with no two exactly the same, but additionally are every single one of them 24 karat gold. I was tempted to ask for just one, to fund my college education. 

• Enormous tapestries in Alcázar.

• From an upper balcony I was able to take this shot into the gardens, which include a fountain and encompassing stone walkway. 

• Same fountain, from the ground level. 

• A look in to the gardens. 

• Color enhanced mode returns!

• The water was not nearly so green as that, but the shrubbery, pottery along the walkway, and the buildings themselves are far more accurate in this mode than they were in the photo above. 

• No, I don't know the girl who's in all my along-the-building-bordering-the-garden shots. Whoops. 

• Certainly not my favorite photo of myself, but Jorn and Tom look great! :)

• Still in the gardens of Alcázar. 
• From left: Kamiel, Manuel (sorry your eyes are closed, this was my only shot!), Nicole, Tom, and Georgia. 

• Get ready. Here come some pictures of Sevilla's Plaza de España! Utterly elegant. (Ergo, Grandma, I think you'll enjoy these!)

• Tom and Kamiel. And Nicole's backpack. 

• This is just one post of the guardrail encircling the water. 

• Boats for rent!

• We all snap photos as a boat cruises down the waterway.

• Horse and buggies are quite the tourist attraction down here. We opted to walk, as it's considerably cheaper. 

• This was our last sightseeing of the trip. Afterward, we headed back to the bus for a nearly 7 hour trek (including breaks) back to Madrid.
• From left: Manuel, Tom, Kamiel, Nicole, me, Georgia, and crouching down in the front, Jorn

Córdoba Photos

(February 15th, 2013)

• A wind farm makes it as the first photo taken on the epic Córdoba-Sevilla trip! Given my future career aspirations, are you really that surprised?

• Part hostel, part cafe, the Santa Ana served us well . . . and for a long time. Little did we know how long we'd be stuck there when we first pulled up. But look for the trip log post to hear that epic tale. 

• This is honestly one of my favorite shots that I've taken since being in Spain. The name of the hostel/cafe is on the sign at the upper left and the giant bread disk is glowing as though by some ethereal light. Cue revelation music. 

• So we bought it. 

• The thing was massive! And only 3 Euro. We couldn't say no. Plus, it was still warm inside. Mmmmm. 

• Shout out to my broski back home. I know you love Arnold buddy and they were selling one of his movies at Santa Ana so I thought of you and snapped a pic. :)

• Audrey poses next to our wreck of a table. Where did the giant bread disc go you might ask? Yeah . . .  there's a little of it left in that white bag. But not much. As Nicole would say, "We did work."

• Ahh the Spain countryside. Lots of vineyards and plains, although the farther south we got, the more hilly the terrain became. 

• Welcome to Córdoba!

• The bridge leading into Córdoba. 

• This tower at the entrance end of the bridge looks like a giant sandcastle, no?

• A few local passersby and palm trees! An exotic addition to the scenery for a girl from Wisconsin. 

• Midway across the bridge. 

• Nicole flashes the peace sign next to the ever handsome Tom. Also, I should mention, no one knows how to pass out on a bus ride like Tom. Props. :)

• Almost in Córdoba officially. Here's the far end of the bridge, complete with archway. 

• Tom admires the arch. As did we all. Nicole's up there with the red backpack. 

• Outer wall of the cathedral we were later to visit that day. 

• Orange trees grow along the streets everywhere in the south of Spain. Get ready for these to make appearances in a lot of photos. 

• The cathedral tower. 

• I wanted to show the detail of the doors and the stonework atop the walls. There's a specific medieval name for that and, being an avid reader of "Game of Thrones", I have no excuse as to why I don't know the term off hand. Apologies.

• The orange grove of the inner courtyard. 

• Double arches--fun fact--are not purely for decoration. They actually also serve to increase the strength and support of the overall structure. I picked up that fact whilst on the Spanish tour. Go me. 

• My foot and Nicole's above a glimpse into the ancient lower chambers of the church, now closed off. 

• Nicole and I take a moment to pose beneath the beautiful Moorish arches.

• Isn't the architecture just amazing?

• Beautiful ceiling yes, but the thing in the middle is the real attention grabber. There's a bottom section to the artifact as well, but what's pictured here is entirely made of silver and gold whereas the lower portion is only made to look thus. 

• Moorish arches meet Christian-influenced architecture. 

• Quite the organ. 

• This tiny little street was bordered along its whole length by blue pots of flowers. 

• More oranges!

• Small courtyard where we were taken as part of our tour, which included not only the cathedral but also some of the city as well. 

• I was thinking of you when I took this, Mom. I knew you'd love all these pretty flowers. 

• Ahh what a beautiful candy store! They have some typical sweets, but there are distinctly Spanish ones as well, particularly several different kinds of what I can best describe as a licorice or a taffy. Those seem to be popular here because they're everywhere. 

• All of Spain has beautiful buildings, but you have to especially love the bright colors of the southern cities.

Desfile de Carnival! (Carnival Parade)

(February 9th, 2013)

• Before heading off to the parade, Melanie requested a pit stop at the universal hub of fast food: McDonald's, or as our Australian friend Tom calls it, "Mackers"! The menu is essentially the same, but with higher prices, even if you don't include the euro/dollar exchange. Ouch. However, McIberica seems to be the popular menu item of choice here, coming from the name of the peninsula that Spain is a part of (Iberia). 

• Some of the floats were housed in Plaza Mayor prior to the start of the parade. Wait until you see this particular one lit up . . . 

• HUGE turnout for the event. While we were able to find a spot that allowed for decent pictures, we were on a decline and one row back from the blue metal gates that lined the streets (see the opposite side). Some people had been here hours, judging by the large groups sitting on the sidewalks. The temperature was only around 45 degrees at its peak that day, but the tradition of the Carnival parade is worth it. 

• And the show begins! Carnival has it all, giant blow up floats, buses, metal structures, dance groups, and of course, horse drawn creations like this one. 

• This motorized vehicle was blaring classical music as it drove up and down the street, coming back to swoop past crowds and driving what can only be labelled as "a wee bit recklessly". :)

• Ahhh two roommates from the residence hall and friends of all us internationals: Santiago, who prefers to go by Santi, and Andres. 

• Stilts were a big thing for this parade. So many stilts, so little time. 

• This group used Carnival as an opportunity to make scathing political commentary, throwing scraps of paper and cardboard off their float that bore messages such as, "Political Corruption!"

• Easily the best float. Dancers with large blue flags meant to simulate waves preceded it. Zombie pirates danced on and around it, and a huge speaker system housed under the boat boomed out pirate themed music. Think Hans Zimmer. 

• A Viking on stilts fights the dragon!

• The mounted Viking warriors had the coolest costumes. And we all wanted to ride one of their horses. 

Wednesday Night is for Tapas

(January 30th)

• Nicole poses, beer in hand, in front of our 5 euro bucket of beer! Ice included. 

• Tom, looking a wee bit like a squirrel here, demonstrates the tiny-ness of the bocadillos offered us at el Museo de Jamón (Museum of Ham) which is a chain deli/tapas destination. 

• I should have listened to my parents and become a hand model. A close up of our ham bocadillos. 

• Nicole and I pose with drinks in hand. Me, I'm much more of a wine than a beer girl. As such, there I am with a 5 euro bottle of wine. Quite a bit smaller than the grocery store variety, but nonetheless worth it. Typically one just gets a copa de vino, or cup of wine, when bar hopping but this particular locale was a bit different. 

• Tom and Nicole. They were in love with that bucket. 

• Tom was so happy about his beer that he couldn't even keep his eyes open: the sheet beauty of all those bottles lying in their translucent bed of ice . . . visual poetry. 

• Nicole and Tom, a wee bit blurry, but nonetheless striking a pose on the metro platform as we wait for our ride!

South to Toledo!

• January 27th: Unfortunately, much as I might like to, I cannot take credit for the above picture. This panorama shot of Toledo, Spain from across the river was taken by Petri, a fellow international student from Finland. 

• January 27th: Throughout the hills surrounding Toledo, there are numerous hiking trails and walkways. Along these are short concrete walls that block the several hundred foot plunge to the river below. On one such wall there was the giant metal plaque that you can see all of us sitting on. I believe it was a map although I was too busy sitting on it and posing to look at it. 
• From left: Audrey, me, Tom, and Melanie

• January 27th: Castle up at the top, view of the river below. 

• January 27th: Taking the 
  Cercanías
   train is quicker than taking the metro for most locations in Madrid. It's also more expensive. As such, Tom and I pose for a picture on our first (and since then only) ride on the 
  Cercanías.

• Garden park in Toledo; view from the tour bus. 

• The city streets of Toledo, on the way in. 

• For having over 300 days of sun per year (or boasting to) Spain picked a bad day to be cloudy. The pictures are still pretty awesome though, especially those from a higher elevation. 

• Castle and cars . . . what a strange mix. 

• I give the original founders credit for building a city on such a steep hill. 

• Long ago, back when the Moors first arrived in Spain and conquered the city of Toledo, this bridge was simply called Alcántara, which is the Arabic word for "bridge". It being the only one, the name needed no extra ornamentation. 

• Another shot of the Tajo River. 

• As you can see, the hills around the city are very rocky and boulder-strewn, most likely some of it coming from old, crumbling walls that have since been repaired. 

• See the picnic/recreation area below? What a scenic place for a family weekend lunch, hmmm?

• The tour guide on our bus assured us that this was the best place to stand in all of Toledo, especially for taking pictures to prove you'd been there. I would probably have to agree. We all poured out of the buses at this point to snap way more photos than we needed to, but the sight is breathtaking in pictures to begin with, tenfold that in real life. 

• Artistic angle shot to get in the walkway high up along the water. 

• I don't believe this house was anything especially significant, but I was really enjoying the architecture. Most specifically, the roofs. 

• I'm holding the city of Toledo!

• Like I said, very steep drop. I probably shouldn't have been standing on the wall . . . ahh well. 

• I'm not sure how I achieved this effect on my camera; at one point I began playing around with the different lighting options due to the excessive cloudiness of that particular Sunday. 

• Cheating? Perhaps. This is a highly sensitive, ultra color mode on my camera. I wasn't sure what it would do in terms of taking up memory on my camera so there are only a few of these. Had it been nice and sunny out though, this is probably what the city would have looked like. So instead of cheating, perhaps I was simply pursuing the truth . . .

• A cigarral is a type of house that is owned only by the wealthy and is meant for leisure and recreation. As the Spanish tour guide told us, "These houses are a happy place for fun." Her English was a bit shaky, but you get the drift. 

• Close up of a cigarral. 

• "If you have enough money to own one of these homes, you would be rich. And then you'd be happy." Another amazing quote from our guide! Everyone laughed for that one. I don't think she understood why, but she laughed too. 

• Another shot of Alcántara. These pictures must have uploaded in the wrong order. Ah well, surprise!

• The sun was trying to peek through the clouds all day. It just ultimately never succeeded. 

• Pull your cars right up to the castle, folks! Come one, come all to view the jousting tournament! Honestly though, it's a strange picture, this mix of modern and ancient. Who ever would have guessed that castles would one day have need of parking lots?

• Some building within the city walls. 

• A plaque honoring El Greco, a Grecian artist who lived so long in Spain and contributed such great works to the culture that the Spanish took him in as one of their own and now consider him a Spanish artist. "El Greco" simply means "the Greek" because they couldn't pronounce his name. 

• Many streets in Spain don't have actual streets signs; rather, they have plaques on building corners that  denote the street where the building is situated. 

• The international tour group walks through the city, up sloping roads (and down), around sharp corners, and almost always in shadow. Even had it been a sunny day, the walls of the city's structures are so high that the streets would have been dim anyhow until midday.

• I forget this church's name; we saw so many. Nice alcove though!

• Same church, same alcove but this time without the flash. I got yelled at for it. Whoops. 

• 14th century carvings!

• See the Muslim influence? Note the angels in the fresco beyond the arches though. This church represents a true religious melting pot. 

• Nicole, me, a knight, and Melanie pose along one of the myriad side streets. 

• No idea how they fit the cars around some of those hairpin corners and tight alleyways. Not to mention, almost all the cars here in Europe are stick shift. Good luck with these hills. Only driving pros could navigate these streets. 

• The more touristy shopping area. 

• View from one of the small parks within Toledo. Behind the camera (what you can't see obviously) is a small several hundred square foot dog park that's essentially small gardens with trees and bushes encompassed by this sandy gravel stuff. Trust me, the view going out away from the park--as in this picture--was better. 

• Last Toledo pic!

• January 20th: I forgot to post this photo, but this is the Madrid Barajas Airport. I had just gotten off the plane but loved the architecture here so I had to pull out the camera and take a picture. 

• January 23rd: Some street in downtown Madrid. I wasn't sure exactly where I was, but I was with Andres and Tom, the former of whom knows his way around the city. Ergo, wasn't too worried. 

• January 23rd: Again, somewhere in el Centro. 

• January 23rd: I just loved the architecture on this street corner. The buildings here are much older than those found in American cities in general, although there are of course modern buildings as well. 

• January 23rd: Ummm . . . I don't remember which plaza this is. Forgive my lack of plaza memorization just yet. I've only been downtown 3 times now, but hopefully by the end of the semester I'll know them all. 

• January 23rd: "The Lion King" in Spanish?! Yes, please! Plans are pending to go see this production in the next couple of weeks hopefully. If we sit in the nosebleeds and go on a week night, it's only 23 Euro a ticket! 

• January 23rd: Heading over to Orange to try and get an international phone for Tom. 
• From left: Andres and Tom

• January 23rd: This is the entrance to the metro at Puerta del Sol (Door of the Sun, translated) but I really liked the giant class structure and how you can see the buildings opposite in the reflection. 
• From left: Tom and me

• January 23rd: Andres and Tom walking just ahead of me as we head for Plaza Mayor. 

• January 23rd: Except that we ended up at the Plaza Santa Ana, which seemed to be a popular meeting place for jovenes, young people (teenagers and twenty somethings).

• January 23rd: Buildings bordering the Plaza Santa Ana. 

• January 23rd: I think it can definitively be said that it would take quite the pretty penny to stay at this hotel, adjacent to the Plaza Santa Ana. 

• January 23rd: Many of the side streets in Madrid are for pedestrians only, like State Street in Madison, which makes it easier to gawk at all the beautiful buildings and interesting shops; you don't have to watch for impending traffic. 

• January 23rd: Madrid seems to love its balconies as much as the city of New Orleans. Many of the apartments along the city street sport balconies at each window. Jealous much? I certainly want one. 

• January 23rd: What a beautiful pillar/archway combination leading up the Plaza Mayor. There are something like 6 to 8 ways to exit or enter the Plaza Mayor, each a little different than the other. This one particularly struck me as beautiful. 

• January 23rd: Ahhhh Plaza Mayor. Such a large empty space in the big city. It's refreshing if you want a break from the smaller side streets, or if you just like to people watch. There's always groups milling about here. 

• January 23rd: What can I say? I liked the tables. 

• January 23rd: Facade of the Plaza Mayor. 

• January 23rd: A street leading off of the Plaza Mayor. 

• January 23rd: A river of sky with stone buildings for banks. 

• January 23rd: More Plaza Mayor. 

• January 23rd: Mounted policía in the Plaza Mayor as dusk began to settle in. 

•  January 23rd: The Plaza Mayor is surrounded by small outdoor cafes, although it's a little cold right now to really be appealing. The days have been in the upper 30's and lower 40's (Fahrenheit) but perhaps when it gets to be 60's and above. 

• January 23rd: Our friend Andres ran into his friend Eric who lives in an apartment in the building circling the Plaza Mayor! He and his roomies live on the top floor and they let us go check out the amazing view from their balcony. Amazing!

• January 23rd: Tom on Eric's balcony overlooking the Plaza Mayor. 

• January 23rd: Tom and I in front of I'm not sure what statue, still in the Plaza Mayor. 

• January 23rd: The skinny little walkway and roof above the plaza. 

• January 23rd: Tom's grin says it all folks. 

• January 23rd: Exclusive shot from the balcony! I challenge other visitors to get this great of a shot. (Good luck; we had the best possible vantage point). 

• January 23rd: On the way back home it began to drizzle so the streets were slick with rain and the lights of the buildings and along the street made the whole place shine like gold. Lovely. 

• January 20th: My roommate, Melanie, and me in front of a movie theater in downtown Madrid. All the same movies, as you can see! Apparently they aren't normally done in Spanish soundtracks either; original English but with Spanish subtitles. 

• January 20th: In the Plaza Mayor with some guy dressed up as Puss in Boots from Shrek. He tried to get us to pay him some money, but we all pretended to not understand him. Even when he spoke in English. 
• From left: Puss in Boots, Melanie, me, Lidia, Christy, and Taylor

• January 20th: I'm not sure what the building behind Melanie and I is called, all I know is that everyone comes here for New Year's Eve and when the bells begin to toll the new year, they eat one grape per bell ring to symbolize good luck for the upcoming year. This is also very near to the Plaza Mayor. 

• January 20th: This is in the Plaza Mayor, I believe. I've only been to downtown Madrid once so far and that was my first day here. I got to my dorm at around 8:30am (Madrid time) and then we went to el Centro (literally, the center, but that's just how we refer to the downtown). We didn't go back until 8pm. Had I known that would be the case, I probably would have stayed back at the dorm, slept and unpacked. As it was, I didn't get to bed until around midnight, so about 5pm central time and thus was awake for around 35 hours. Obviously, I was quite exhausted. 
• From left: Adrian, me, Taylor, Christy, and Lidia

• January 20th: This is at El Rastro in Madrid. It's a market that's held every Sunday in the city, even during January! Windy and chilly for the whole day, but that didn't seem to deter the shoppers or the vendors. There's everything at El Rastro from toys to handbags to vintage paraphenalia to scrubs (the clothing). Most of us didn't buy anything, but it was fun to wander the several streets that are filled with stands. 
• From left: Melanie, Taylor, Christy, me, and Lidia

• January 20th: Pictured here is the original 0 km mark, where the latitude lines once began from. However, I didn't really think to ask where the new 0 is . . . . Hmmmm . . . .