Cordoba

Sorry I haven't written in so long everyone, I finally caught the cold everyone had, didn't do anything fun this week other than school. Then the internet was out on Saturday which was horrendous, but I made it through, obviously. Today was fun, I went out to Cordoba (apparently the most concentrated area of olive trees in the world) to see the Mezquita with Claire and 35 other people from the CLM. We stopped first at the Medinat Al-Zahra museum which just opened in October. The Medina was the city of power under Islamic rule in the 8th century, but was later destroyed, so all that is left is the excavation site. What they have recovered is in the museum and we were able to view.

Afterwards we drove the rest of the way to Cordoba, walked through the Jewish neighborhood and saw a synagogue and the artesian plaza where leatherworkers and jewelers were. We learned Cordoba has an extensive system of water drainage or plumbing of clean and dirty, the most advanced of its time.Then we had lunch, Claire and I stopped on the outside of the Mezquita wall. We walked around a bit to some overpriced tourist shops, and met up with our group for the tour of the Mezquita interior. The decoration is vegetational, based on the idea of the tree of life, which I believe has to do with Cordoba being the center of power. The Mezquita is basically made up of pillars with red and white stripes. The red part is made of a flexible material that expands and contracts in the heat and cold. The pillars are really beautiful, overwhelming in multitude. There is also a Catholic area that was designed later under the Catholic kings. Check out the videos and pictures I put on facebook!

Afterwards we walked around the center of Cordoba to the plaza de potro (a place Cervantes describes briefly in Don Quijote), and plaza de corredor, the main area, where bulls are set loose to run. Then we drove about 2 hours home, had some alfredo soup for dinner. It was a fun day, but very exhausting. This is the final week of the intensive language course for me, and then we'll be going to Paris and Rome this Saturday. Very excited about that as well! But I cant bring hardly anything since we didn't want to pay for carry on luggage. I will be wearing all seven days worth of clothing on the plane. Love you all