Oh, the history!

It has been about two weeks since I got to Spain and I must say, it is amazing! I landed in Madrid and relaxed for the rest of the day. The next morning we went to the Prado, an art museum that's home to hundreds of paintings by famous artists, such as El Greco, Velázquez, Goya, and Dahli. After that we did a tour of Old Town Madrid. Some of the sites were the Plaza Mayor, Kilometer Zero where all roads in Spain start, and my personal favorite— the Convent of Carboneras Corpus Christi. To this day there are nuns that live there who have vowed to never leave the convent or have contact with the outside world. To make money, they make and sell pastries. How do they do this without having contact with the outside world? There is a torno, or revolving window, that you place your order in and rotate it to their side. Once they have your order, they swing it back the other way. How cool is that!

Next we drove to Toledo. The old town of Toledo is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and once inside, there's no question of why. The stone streets wind up the hills and uncover hundreds of years of history. First we stopped in the Jewish Quarters and entered the Synagogue of Santa María la Blanca. This building was constructed by the Moors (Muslims), which is why the inside looks a lot like a mosque. However, it was never a mosque but was first used as a synagogue by the Sephardic Jews. When Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand conquered Spain from the Moors and the Spanish inquisition began, any non-Christian was forced to convert to Catholicism or leave. The Sephardic Jews that did not convert had to abandon their homes, and Queen Isabella made the synagogue a church, which is why Toledo is home to a synagogue that looks like a mosque and has Santa María in the name. A cool fact that our guide Mario told us was that the Spanish government offers citizenship to any Sephardic Jew who can prove their family was forced to leave during the Inquisition. Way to go Spain! Next we visited the Monastery of San Juan de los Reyes and the Cathedral of Toledo. The Cathedral is stunning! It is huge, ornately decorated and is nothing like I’ve ever seen before. In one of the rooms, El Greco painted a marvelous view of heaven on the ceiling. Despite the cold and the fog, Toledo was stunning in every way.

The next stop is Granada. The bus ride from Toledo to Granada was such a cool sight. At the border of Andalusia (one of Spain’s 17 autonomous regions) I began to see the mountains, filled with rows and rows of olive trees. Once we got closer to Granada, the green mountains started turning more into the rocky snow capped Sierra Nevada mountains that you see on all the postcards. In Granada, there is no shortage of history. This is a city that truly embodies the Muslim, Jewish, and Christian history that southern Spain is known for. I had the opportunity to see a flamenco show in the caves of the Sacramonte. I admit I wasn't that excited to go at first. How exciting could people stomping their feet be? Wrong. It was probably one of the coolest experiences I've had in Spain so far. The flamenco dancers have such passion when they dance, not to mention the guitarist who plays fasters than anyone I've ever seen. On top of that, the singer whose melody rings throughout the small cave and truly brings together the whole experience.

The other great experience I've had in Granada is walking the Alhambra Palace and the Generalife, also a UNESCO World Heritage site. The Moors completed the Alhambra during the 1300’s to create “heaven on earth”. Let me tell you, the Moors knew how to build and design a palace. The water system is intricate and provided water to the entire palace. The walls and ceilings are covered with designs carved out of stone and wood. The Generalife, the gardens of the palace, are a beautiful display and they still grow oranges, pomegranates (granada in Spanish means pomegranate, by the way), artichokes, and many other products which are sold. The palace was taken over by Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand during the reconquista, and then was taken over by King Napoleon later in history. With each group in control, new additions were made to the palace, such as a Cathedral and Roman style buildings. While we were in the palace, we were able to see the section of the palace where Washington Irving wrote “Tales of the Alhambra”, a book that gave light to the Alhambra all around the world. This was especially cool because it had only been open to the public THREE times before! Even our tour guide hadn't seen it! They have kept it closed off to the public to keep it in better condition, since the Alhambra has roughly 2 million visitors a year and is the most visited monument in Spain. I feel very fortunate to have been able to experience such a closed off place. Like our guide said, “You can smell the history!” Another surprise of the Alhambra are the cats! They keep them there to help with the mice, but they make a cute addition either way. If you ever go to Granada, you can't miss the Alhambra. It is absolutely incredible.

Spain has been great in so many ways and I've learned a lot. Before coming, I didn't realize exactly how much Spain has played a role in the history of the world. It was Queen Isabella who gave Christopher Columbus the funds to sail to the Americas. What would life be like now if that hadn't happened? It has also shown me how other countries are a mix of a lot of different people and cultures. Of course I knew that beforehand, America is a country of all different walks of life, and without it, we wouldn’t be who we are today. However, it can be easy to put other countries into one group and not recognize the depth and richness of every culture that help make up that country. While I honestly hadn't heard much about Spanish culture before coming, and other than siestas (which, unfortunately, do not consist of a nap like everyone thinks, but are actually a time to get lunch and relax before going back to work), I was pretty new to what “Spanish” is so to speak. Just like America, there is no set definition on what it means to be Spanish. We are a lot of different people with a history, whether it be good or bad, and ultimately we can't pinpoint a specific group that is the perfect example of said nationality. It is easy to come in as a foreigner and appreciate things for what they are, but it's definitely something that would be harder to do from the inside, even though we could all benefit from it.