I honestly don't know how long we were on the bus, but I'm pretty sure it was at least an hour. Once we got off our first stop was a little walk through the narrow streets of the old jewish neighborhood. Where the streets are all really narrow like this:
They are made really narrow like this because it gets really hot in the summer and when the streets are narrower the sun can't get down in the narrow spaces as much so the houses and the street stays a little cooler.
Then we went to the synagogue. It is one of only three synagogues left in all of Spain.
After that we went to el zoco which used to be a jewish market. Now there are a few little shops that sell silver jewelry and some hand painted tiles and some leather products.
Our next stop was the alcazar de los reyes cristianos I believe it was called. It is a palace that was originally built and used by arab rulers I believe but then it was taken over by the christian kings. I think that's how it went. The highlight was definitely the beautiful gardens.
After this we got a break for lunch. And it happened to be the weekend of the medieval market. Which was so much fun. I got a simple and cheap lunch of this local type of bread and cheese and sprung for a pepsi because it just sounded so good. Then we walked around and looked at all the different items, pretty much all hand made, that there were for sale. I actually spent some money and got some little souvenirs for a few people. And I got a couple of tasty chocolate bars for myself.
When our lunch break was over we headed over to the mezquita-catedral. Which is a cathedral in the middle of an old mosque. It's a totally unique place, I'm pretty sure you can't find any other cathedral that was built right in the middle of a mosque. It's actually really cool with all of the old islamic architecture and then right in the middle the beautiful altar and stained glass windows. There's also a lot of pretty side chapels all along the outside and I wish we would have had more time to look at everything.
I think it was a little after 5 when we left and we got back with maybe a little over an hour left before dinner. So maybe it actually took us more like 2 hours to get there? 1 and a half? Anyway. Dinner was really good. I'm not exactly sure what the meat was but it tasted alright. And the potato cake thing was good as always. The soup was kind of weird, just like a broth with a lot of big noodles on top, but it was also good. The best part though was probably getting our favorite chocolate truffles from the northern part of spain and oreos for dessert.
Now I am ready to just relax and get ready for a nice long sleep. I'll be very grateful when I don't have to get up at 7:30 tomorrow morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment