Málaga y Córdoba

Last Thursday night I left with three other girls on our first weekend adventure without our guides.  We took a bus to Malaga, a coastal city in Andalusia about two and a half hours southeast of Seville.  When we got to the city we were all pretty tired.  We took a taxi to our hostel which was a good idea because it was farther from the bus station than we had thought.  When we checked in, the receptionist was very kind to us.  He told us some good restaurants for dinner and how to get to the center of the city.  We dropped off our bags, quickly changed, and headed out for some food.  The restaurant we went to had great food.  It was fancier than the bars we eat at in Seville, which was a nice change.  We shared a few “tapas” (appetizers) before our main dishes.  I was so full when my paella came out, I couldn’t finish it.  After dinner we walked around the center for a little bit before heading back to our room to get some rest for the next day.

Friday morning I woke up early and couldn’t fall back asleep.  I had been sick all week with a cold and my cough had waked me up.  Since I still wasn’t feeling better, I knew the weekend was going to be miserable for me and for everyone around me unless I started an antibiotic.  So what was the first cultural thing I did in Malaga?  A trip to the health center.  There is national health care in Spain so the doctor’s offices are public.  Of course, since I am not a citizen I needed to pay for my visit, but the process was extremely simple.  After I presented by identification and paid with exact change, I was given a time card for my appointment.  I felt like I was waiting for my turn at the deli.  The receptionist didn’t speak any English and neither did the doctor.  I had to communicate why I felt sick, what kind of medication I wanted, and that I had an allergy to penicillin all in Spanish.  And I’m proud to say I did a great job!  Only once did the doctor need to repeat what she had said to me.  The rest of the time, I understood her completely and she understood me as well.  She gave me a prescription to treat a sinus infection and I picked up the antibiotic on my way home to the hostel.  I was so happy that I was finally going to feel healthy again.

When I came back to the hostel, it was time to go on the bike tour we had scheduled for the afternoon.  The tour was just the four of us and our guide who was from Romania.  We biked through the center, stopping every few blocks to learn about the history of the city.  We saw one of the oldest churches in the world, a statue dedicated to Hans Christian Andersen (author of The Ugly Duckling) and where Pablo Picasso was born.  We also stopped at a wine house to try the sweet-wine that is typical in Malaga.  Our tour guide was very friendly and knew a lot about the city even though he didn’t grow up there.  He took us to eat churros and chocolate at the start of our tour (my first ones of the semester!) and to have tapas once we had finished seeing everything.

The wine house

The Cathedral in Malaga was never finished.  The money instead went to help
the United Sates win the Revolutionary War!

We walked around the city for a little while after the tour and then went back to the hostel for a siesta (we’ve come to love this part of the daily routine of Sevillanos!).  Later that night, we visited the Picasso museum before dinner.  A lot of the works in the museum were donated from his family members after his death.  Some of the most famous works we saw were “Mother and Child”, “Woman with Raised Arms”, and “Composition”.  What’s really cool about the museum’s building itself is the basement.  Underneath the museum, sits the remains of a Nasrid Palace, dating back to 7^th century B.C.  It was mind blowing to hear how long the ruins have lasted without being destroyed.  If our guide from the bike tour hadn’t told us about their discovery, we would never have known the ruins existed.

After we ate dinner at an Italian pizza shop (we couldn’t resist), we packed for our train then spent the night walking around the city soaking up as much of Malaga as we could before we had to leave in the morning.

Leah, Maddy, and Becca at the Hostel in Cordoba

We woke up bright and early on Saturday to catch our bus to Cordoba.  When we arrived, we took the city bus to our hostel.  We were relieved to see that this hostel also had heat, something we were worried about.  Both of the hostels we stayed in were exactly what we wanted: a cheap place to sleep.  We searched through online reviews on hostelworld.com to find somewhere close to the city center that had both WiFi and heat.  Neither of the hostels we chose had any fancy touches (although we did have candy waiting for us in Cordoba!), but since we really only were there to sleep, it didn’t matter to us.

When we arrived in Cordoba, we were tired but knew we only had a day to explore the city.  We decided sit down and rest while we had lunch and then start walking around.  We went to the Mezquita first since it is the most famous building in Cordoba.  The Mezaquita was originally a Moorish Mosque.  It was converted into a Roman Catholic Cathedral during the Spanish Reconquista.  The structure combines typical Islamic architecture with typical Roman architecture, creating a unique mix of styles.  The building was breathtaking.

After we toured the Mezquita, we walked through the Jewish quarters of the city and saw one of three remaining Synagogues in Spain.  Then of course, we took a siesta and searched on TripAdvisor for a good restaurant close by.  We went to dinner at a restaurant called Bodegas.  Instead of each of us having one dish, we shared tapas.  We were so full and exhausted from the day that after dinner we went back to the hostel to sleep.

"Albondigas" (meatballs)

On Sunday, we went to a Spanish Equestrian show in the historic district.  The Andalusian horse is famous for its beauty and the show was a great opportunity to take some pictures.

 After the show we toured el Alzacar de los Reyes Cristianos (Palace of the Christian Kings), another great opportunity to take pictures.

We came back to Seville late Sunday night.  Coming back to my apartment didn’t feel like I was coming back to a hotel, but rather that I was coming back home.  I realized then that it no longer feels like I’m vacationing in Seville but that I’m living in Seville.