The mosque, mezquita of Granada
Valentine Day gift from our hotel
After reserving our train tickets in Spain, everything ran a little more smoothly in our traveling schedule. We spent several days in Granada, which means pomegranate in Spanish. My aunt as a gardener, would point out to me plants and the mandarin and lemon trees we would encounter along the way. Granada has well preserved its history, building on top of old architecture, rather than destroying it. We took a tour of the city, saw one of the many underground caves still used for homes, supermarkets, and learned that blue paint on houses like the ones I saw in Morocco is used to keep bugs away. We learned the differences between Christian and Muslim architecture. Christians ones are about a beautiful exterior, whereas the Muslims ones are more about the interior. Christian fountains traditionally make sound, whereas the Muslim ones are simple and silent. In the evening we did a tapas tour with our guide Gayle, whose lived in Spain for seventeen years. She was the life of the party with her contagious Scottish accent! We went to four bars and sampled many tapas and wines of Spain. Without our tours, we would never have Granada through the back door.
I love Granada for its rich history of multiple religions over time living among each other during the period of Andalusia. Our four tour of the Alhambra was very informative on the intertwining Christian and Muslim art and the words in Arabic. The Alhambra is magnificent in its evocations of paradise, Jannah in Islam. It has a very timeless feel to it.
Photos from the Alhambra
The Muslim depiction of the seven universes, in the center, Allah
Talking with our guide
View from the Alhambra
The Christian palace of the Alhambra now used for concerts
Next we spent some time in Sevilla, which was monument city and very urban. It has the biggest cathedral in Spain and it is also where I saw an impromtu flamenco dance one evening. While standing in line to see the cathedral, I overhead a French couple with strong southern French accents. I find these accents to be more sing-song like. They were very interactive and friendly compared to other French people I have met. We had dinner with them that evening and I had a headache trying to help them order in Spanish and then translating for my auntie back from French to English. Never do more than 2 languages at once!
Statue of Mary in memorial of the earthquake that hit Portugal, but spared a lot of Sevilla
The gardens of the Alcazar
The massive, overwhelming cathedral of Sevilla
The tomb of Christopher Columbus
View from the cathedral
Plaza featured in the Spanish Exhibition
Finally we spent our last days in Santander, which my auntie described as reminding her a bit of Galway, Ireland, not to mention a bit like Tacoma by the Puget Sound. We succeeded in our goal to see an old friend of mine from kindergarten and middle school, Sister Elizabeth. I had not seen her in about four, or five years. We were picked up by her and Sister Eileen (who is a crazy driver with the stick shift). We spent the evening with the Servant Sisters, Hogar de la Madre, Home of the Mother, which is the name of their order. They live in a casa, house all together as a community, have a garden, printing press, radio and television station, and chickens. We felt very welcome by them and had a very good translator during their evening meeting with their founder and mass all in Spanish. The singing was especially beautiful. We had the chance the next day to visit them again by taking the train from Santander to Zurita. Sister Elizabeth gave us a tour of her home and it was really like meeting her family. She shared with us as well in detail her vocation story. It was an unexpected gift to have a chance to spend as much time with her as we did. Now I can say I have friends in Spain who are sisters!
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