Bon Voyage

I will be on the Island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands until late late next Thursday. Pictures to follow upon my return!

Francia

Stunning.

San Sebastian

Favorite things in San Sebastian:

- Rose Trees... absolutely beautiful

- The River/Cantabric Sea... obviously great

- A wonderful seaside breakfast, listening to the waves crash against the rocks. They even provided blankets incase the breeze is a little too strong

Bilbao

Toledo

Amazing.

Happy Thoughts

(Mediteranean in Barcleona)

Happy Thought #1 : Last night I attended my second spanish yoga class at the University. It's a little different than the yoga I am used to but is still wonderfully relaxing and I am learning all sorts of new vocabulary words :

ribcage: caja

spine: columna vertebral

groin: ingle

Happy Thought #2: Two weeks from tomorrow I fly out for 6 nights and 7 days in the Canary Islands which are just west of Africa, by Morocco. Itinerary so far includes possibly whale watching, volcano-climbing, and most of all --lounging on the beach!!

El Escorial

Yesterday we visited El Escorial, once a Royal Palace and now a monastery. The highlight was seeing the beautiful marble and bronze crypt of all of the kings and queens of Spain. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photos inside so I snapped a few of the crazy snow storm instead.

Mezquita de Cordoba

This is the last set of pictures from our trip to Andalucia. This structure is now a Catholic Cathedral but was originally a mosque. A beautiful architectural mixture of the two religions.

Flamenco, Sevilla

While in Sevilla, the group had the opportunity to see a Flamenco show. Flamenco is both a style of music (mostly guitar and singing) and dance. It is said to date back to the 15th century with gypsies being the primary performers. In summary, it is a mezcla (mix) of hip thrusting, tap dancing, flowy dresses. We were not allowed to take pictures until the last 3 minutes so they are not the greatest quality... but should give a general idea of what we experienced.

Alhambra, Granada

The Alhambra is an ancient Moorish castle and fortress built during the 14th century. It is made up of a series of palaces and gardens along with other smaller buildings and is one of Spain's most famous place of tourism. The architecture is exquisite with thousands of etched stones and mosaics but I loved the fountains the most. The picture of the fountain in the garden above is part of the summer palace and is supposed to exude peace and comfort.... it worked for me!

GRANADA

This past week we had a roadtrip to Andulucia, which is in southern Spain. We left early early early Wednesday morning and our itinerary went something like this:

1. Wednesday- drive 8ish hours, free time in Granada

2. Thursday - Alhambra, drive 3 hours to Sevilla, free time, Flamenco Show

3. Friday- Free time, Cathedral Tour, Alcazar Tour, free time the rest of the night

4. Saturday - Italica (ancient Roman ruins), free time, River Boat Cruise

5. Sunday- drive 3 hours to Cordoba, free time, Tour of the Mezquita (mosque), drive 6 hours back to Segovia

Granada was beautiful and the weather was AMAZING (in the low 70s) and the sky was the bluest I have seen since I've been here. We spent our free afternoon exploring the town and doing a little shopping. This area of Spain has lots of Moorish influence and the stores all look like they belong in Morocco. I didn't really buy much other than tea, which is supposed to be excellent from this region.

Heading to class now, but I will post more pictures of the vacay in the days to come!