At the beginning of March I left on a bus trip with all the other Rotary students that are currently living in Spain for this year. There were 36 of us on a bus with only one chaperone, and I became close with students of all different ages and backgrounds from all over the US. We went into Andalucia (Souther Spain) and visited the Alhambra in Granada and then to the mosque in Cordoba. After that we spent a few days in Sevilla. We headed to Portugal taking a pit stop in Huelva to see the port and the Christopher Columbus replica ships. We arrived in Portugal and enjoyed a couple days at the beach along Costa de Caparica. We then spent a few days in Lisboa sightseeing and shopping in their open air flea market. We headed back towards the coast to see some small villages (Sintra and Estoril) and then drove to beaches at the farthest west point in continental Europe. We came back into Spain in the providence of Extremadura and visited the cities Mérida and Cáceres. We then headed up to Salamanca, famous for the first university in Spain. After Salamanca we returned to Madrid.
The whole trip was absolutely amazing, I got to see amazing places and build strong relationships with people I will most definitely be friends with for the rest of my life. Out of 36 of us we had one Canadian and two Germans. The interesting thing about Spain this year, is that Rotary does not have a lot of students from all over the year. We are almost all Americans. Therefore, the trip was full of english, english and more english. Not what I expected when coming to Spain, I thought I would be speaking spanish with most of the exchange students because that would be the common language.
First we went to Granada, Spain, the capital of the southern Providence of Andalusia. It’s famous for its Moorish palace, the Alhambra, which was built in the fourteenth century. The Alhambra was both an Islamic palace and fortress that was built for the last Muslim Emirs (kings). Even after the city was reclaimed by the Christians and Los Reyes Católicos ruled, the buildings weren’t destroyed. Some were converted into palaces for kings. The Alhambra consists of dozens of buildings and gardens. We only got to tour half of it, which took about 4 hours. It is remarkably huge.
Next we went to Córdoba, an ancient Roman city in Southern Spain that was once one of the largest cities in the world. It now only has a population of around 350,000. We visited the Mosque of Córdoba, which is separated into four different sections, all constructed in different centuries beginning in the sixth century. Later it was converted into a Catholic Cathedral. The Mosque and Cathedral is probably my favorite historic building, I have been in in Europe so far. It was breathtaking to be in a building that ancient with that much history, along with beauty. I will also add that Córdoba is my favorite city I have been to in Spain. It has a very Spanish. historic feel to it, that I absolutely loved.
This is part of the flooring that was in the Roman Catholic church in the six century, before the Mosque was built on top of it.
The streets of Córdoba!
After that we went to the city of Sevilla. When I first visited Sevilla at the beginning of this year, I was not too fond of it, when I went back with Rotary I ended up loving it. The downtown, ancient part of the city is surrounded by a wall (the city was once a fortress). Inside the wall you can find a labyrinth or narrow streets, gorgeous parks, and monuments. We spent two day there visiting mainly parts of the ancient city. Including the Royal Palace, in which the Royal family still stays in to this day, the Jewish part of the city which is built in a labyrinth and Plaza de España.
We left Andalusia and made our way across the border into Portugal! First stop, Costa Capa Rica. After staying in 2-3 star hotels and literally eating the same thing for every meal, we were surprised to find out we would be staying in a 5 star hotel right on the beach, with buffet style meals. We hopped off the bus, enjoyed some delicious food and then spent time on the beach...
Next we went to Lisboa, the capital of Portugal, lies right by the ocean and has a bridge that is modeled after the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The bridge is named the 25th of April Bridge. Because of the bridge, Lisboa’s hills, street trolly and its colorful buildings it feels a lot like San Francisco. We explored the city visiting an outdoor open market, shopping in the downtown center and salsa dancing in night clubs in neighborhood atop the hills, Barrio Alto (High Neighborhood)
Coming into Lisbon..
Monastery in Lisbon..
Streets of Portugal, picture in San Fran? and the street market(thats all ivory)..
We drove up the coast out of Lisbon on day and stopped at some beautiful small coast towns. Sintra and Cascais, this was one of my favorite days of the trip. I have decided I want to buy a house there one day.
After that we left Portugal and traveled around Extremadura. We visited some Roman ruins.
We moved on to Salamanca, a huge university city. It has the oldest university in Spain and the fifth oldest Western university, The University of Salamanca, which was founded in 1218. The city houses over 300,000 university students. It's also famous for it's two cathedrals placed right next to each other, an old and a new. On the cathedral there is a hidden frog, and if you can see it, you are said to have good luck. The city also has a gorgeous Plaza Mayor. We spent our last two days here together touring the city and enjoying the night life.
The last night we all went out in Salamanca and enjoyed the time together.
The next day we hopped on the bus and drove back into Madrid. Before everybody had to catch their trains home, we enjoyed a beautiful St. Pattys day in the park and popped a bottle of champagne and enjoyed so Indian food. Saying good-bye was actually a lot harder that i thought it would be. It is a trip to say good-bye to people you may never see again, but I made some amazing relationships that I will definitely keep forever.
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