Walking Back In Time - Back From the 1st Field Trip

So last week in Andalusia was amazing. We began our trip by going to the capital of Spain Madrid which I really liked, but another plus was that I also got to see my girlfriend for "free I guess". Anyway, we started there and I saw things like The Prado Museum, The Caixa Forum, The Reina Sofia Museum, The Botanical Gardens, and El Parque de Retiro. I also experienced some of the Tapas Bars there and some Sangria which was actually pretty good from the 1st time I've had it. But before I move forward, let me just say I have a ton of pictures, I have over 800 pictures and will not be obviously posting all of them so when I get home just ask to see the pics for Spain.

So after Madrid, we moved on to Cordoba, which was an awesome old little city. Here we saw the Puente Romano and the Mezquita Cathedral. In the night the group and I went to these Arab Baths which were pretty awesome as it was very relaxing and you got a massage. We only spent a night in Cordoba and then moved on to Granada.

Granada also had plenty to offer. It was a mix between old and new city. Here we saw the Alhambra at night from afar, then the next day the whole day, the Generalife, and also got a tour of the Granada Cathedral by the archbishop of Granada who is a CUA alum. This was all pretty amazing to see and hear as he went through the history of not only the cathedral, but also of the city. After staying here for 2 nights, the next stop was Sevilla.

Sevilla was a weird city at first as I did not know how to classify it, it was old city with many modern things randomly throughout. However, it was a great city and it really bought me after we went to Real Alcazar which was the like gardens of the palace and a fortress. Other things we say were the Calatrava Alamillo Bridge, the 1992 World Expo, the Giralda Tower, Sevilla Cathedral, and also the Universidad de Arquitectura where we received a lecture in Spanish about the evolution of architectural styles from Cordoba, Sevilla, to Granada. After two nights here, we were on to our final destination Merida.

Merida can be classified as an old city with several Roman influences and monuments still around. We saw the Roman theatre and amphitheatre here, the Diana Temple, Trajan Arch, Roman Aqueducts "Los Milagros", Puente Lusitania de Calatrava, and Museo Nacional de Arte Romano by Moneo. We were here for one day, so as you can imagine, our day was jam packed with non-stop walking from place to place.

Overall, the trip was amzaing and I didn't want to come back, I wanted to keep on traveling. My roommate and I felt like VIPs going from Hotel to Hotel seeing the world. Throughout the whole trip we were sketching like I've never sketched in my life. I will try to scan some things from my sketchbook and post them so you can see if not I will have my book at home. Definitely this was an awesome trip and I can't wait for the future trips to come.