¡La penúltima! - 16

Welcome to the penultimate update blog post on my semester in Barcelona! (FYI: "Penultimate" means next-to-last and happens to be one of my dad's all-time favorite words.) While it's a bit sad to be so close to the end, it's also okay because going back to the US means (a) being home and (b) that CHRISTMAS is upon us. And (c) the end of blog posts will be a welcome relief to those who got bored with my updates around Week 2 - take heart, we're nearing the finish!

Ok, first order of business - just got back from Barca's 5-0 pummeling of Real Sociedad.. It was so great. The only other Barca game I've attended in person at Camp Nou was a disappointing 2-0 loss to Hércules (their only loss in 15 Liga games this year!), so I was ready to see some goals and a win. My boys played with style and finesse and definitely impressed with goals by Messi (2), Villa, Bojan & Iniesta. Highlights here. Note: If you're ever going to watch the highlights of a fútbol game in your life, watch them for this game. All five goals are just wonderful. (I love when the announcer in the highlights says, after the first goal: "It's taken to a level that Einstein would shake his head at! This is astonishing, heavenly football!!.. There aren't compliments enough in the world to throw at their feet!" Granted, he's a bit extravagant with his words, but - guys - this Barca outfit is possibly one of the best teams ever assembled.) Right now Barca is SO easy to watch; the team, as a unit, is such a well-oiled machine and they play soccer beautifully, as it should be played. Sorry if I sound sappy, but it's true. I feel so lucky to be in Barcelona when they're in this kind of form.


The whole crowd chanting "ME-SSI! ME-SSI! ME-SSI" after his 2nd scintillating goal of the night.

Andalucía - Part 2: As promised, here's what went down in Córdoba & Granada last week -

So Córdoba was small but really cool. The highlight of the city - and the reason we went - is the Mezquita-Catedral that dominates the old district. The place was formerly the Great Mosque of Córdoba, considered one of the biggest achievements of the Umayyad Caliphate (that's the 5th-largest empire in history, folks). When the Catholic Spanish took over the mosque during the Reconquista, the mosque became a Catholic Church.. Actually, if the story is told properly, over an even longer time scope, the site was pagan-Christian-Muslim-Christian!

Now that I've summarized the fist paragraph of the "Cathedral-Mosque of Córdoba" Wikipedia page, I'll talk about my own, original impressions ;). Walking around inside the Mezquita was kind of wild - inside, it's this huge, kind of dark, and very ornate behemoth. There are "candy-cane" arches EVERYWHERE and loads and loads of little chapels that line the sides of the big open areas in the center. There's also an impressive, but gaudy, cathedral in the center of the Mezquita, where I had a nice little pray, and various interesting pieces of art and decorative items throughout. Here's what the arches looked like:



After checking out the mosque, my buddy and I walked around town and ended up at the Córdoba Zoo, which was free for Spanish Constitution Day. Overall, the zoo was pretty sad because it had really small enclosures for most of the animals, but I was really happy that I got to touch an elephant's trunk! Ahhh it was so cool. Basically the gap between the elephant's enclosure and the sidewalk wasn't that big, so the elephant would reach out its trunk to investigate the ground near where the visitors are. Being a naturalist (i.e. lover of nature, not a streaker) at heart, I had to reach my hand wayy out when it was investigating with its trunk, and I guess it took a liking to me, because it reached its trunk waayyy out towards me and our respective members touched in the middle - so so cool. Sorry to leave you hanging, but I don't have the pic of the pachyderm "moment" yet - I'll put it up when I get it from my friend! Oh, and the weather was absurd: within 8 hrs in Córdoba, we hit the gamut - sunny, rainy, partly cloudy, torrential downpour, drizzling.. insane.

Granada: Really really cool city. I loved it. Awesome.

Reason #1 - The Alhambra. The Alhambra is this amazing, 14th-century Moorish palacial complex complete with extensive gardens, towers, fountains, and gorgeous Islamic art. I actually went to see it twice during my stay, and just loved it. As many of you know, Islamic art almost always uses geometric shapes and figures rather than images of people or animals. It's almost like a class assignment: "See what you can come up with when you're limited to just geometric shapes" and the results are just stunning. I also really liked how the Alhambra makes use of light.. An example below:




Examples of some cool geometric patterns in the Alhambra

Reason #2 - Granada does this sweet thing where, in practically every bar you go to, if you order a drink you get a free tapa (the term can refer to any kind of appetizer-sized food item). So, for as little as 5 euros, you can get three drinks and three appetizers, which is more or less a sizable meal! So cool. And there's often a huge menu of tapas to pick from, so it's always interesting to try different things. Even as a vegetarian, I found plenty to choose from.


Two tapas.

Reason #3 - In general, Granada is just really walkable and fun to mosey around. The sun cooperated (unlike in Sevilla) and shone pretty much the whole time we were there, making sightseeing a blast. There are some great teterías, or tea houses, in the city, which was ace for me. And zillions of little shops that sold all kinds of interesting items.

And that's about it. The Andalucía trip was the last of my travels before going home, so basically now it's just work work work until school papers and finals are done.. One week + 2 days and I'll be homeward bound!