Andalucia, part II

Here's a very late continuation to a late update. My bootlegged Internet connection at my casa has been playing tricks on me, so I haven't been able to update this thing or upload any more pictures. So to continue...

After we left the flamenco show I started feeling pretty sick and delirious, so I went home and went to bed while other people went out. The next day I woke up, continued to feel pretty bad, and slept all the way to Cordoba. We only stayed in Cordoba for a few hours, visiting the gigantic mesquita (mosque), which is the third-largest mosque in the world, and spending some free time wandering around the town.

The mosque, Like so many other pieces of historically-relevant Spanish architecture, was a center of Muslim life, grandiose and elegant, for centuries, until the Christians showed up and converted it for their own uses. (Though, to their credit, they didn't destroy it altogether). As a result, by turning your head 90 degrees, you can go from looking at this:



to looking at this:



Somewhat contrasting styles. The Christians kept using the mosque as it was (top photo) for quite a while, but eventually some king or bishop decided a gothic choir (second photo) needed to be built. I didn't get any other decent photos of the Muslim part (although it used to be open to the light, when the Christians arrived they built walls all around the perimeter so there's not enough light for anything to show up on camera), although it's beautiful, but here are some more of the Christian part:



Here's a picture of the mosque/cathedral from the streets of Cordoba



After that it was another several-hour drive to Sevilla (Seville), where we got in at around 8 and spent the rest of the night in the hotel because it was raining out. The next day we were guided around the city, going first to the Plaza de Espana building, whose purpose I don't really remember:



but it was used in filming one of the new Star Wars movies:



And then after that we walked through a Muslim palace:



the garden of which had some very, very large trees:



After that it was back on the bus and 7 hours to Madrid, with a stop to eat lunch. We had to leave early cause there was a big deal marathon going through Sevilla and we didn't want to get stuck in traffic and not be able to leave.

Oh, also in Sevilla we walked by the third largest Cathedral in the world but we didn't go in:



So basically the trip was: drive drive Muslim Muslim Christian drive Muslim Muslim flamenco sick sick sick Muslim Muslim Christian Muslim sick Muslim drive drive drive drive sick Muslim.