Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Sevilla and Cordoba Spain

First time to Spain... my impression? peaceful courtyards with fountains, warm weather (compared to Germany in February), fresh sea food, gorgeous tile works in the beautiful old buildings, and big churches. So do I like Spain? I love it!!

We spent 8 days in Sevilla south of Spain. It was wonderful although we got a couple days of rain. Most of the time, Josh was working so I was on my own. The hotel we stayed at was far from downtown and on the other side of river. This time I didn't bother to find out the bus system because of the convenient and cheap bicycles that city provides. I used my credit card to get an account and all I needed was to pull out a bike and started riding to wherever my agenda was. As long as I put the bike back into one of the bike stops in 30 minutes, it was free. Everyday I biked alone the river and was feeling good that I might lose a couple pounds with all the hard work I put into riding the bike. The truth, I was just comforting myself because the tapas was so good. I was lucky that I didn't gain weight after eight days.

Another thing that is special about Sevilla was the orange trees. Wherever you are in the city...church, park, palace, streets, restaurants, bus stops, bicycle stops...there are orange trees. The smell of the orange blossoms would just put you in a vacation mood. They are beautiful to look at too.

Josh also did one thing that could be the top 5 romantic things he ever did...insisted that I put it on the blog so here it is... He took me on a horse carriage ride. I have to say...that was the best way to tour Sevilla....romantic (so many women looked at me with the eye that says I wish I am on the carriage too) , relaxing, and easy (no walking).

We also spent one day in Cordoba where an interesting mixed Christian and Islamic church/ mosque is located. It was amazing and incredible. With all the churches I have been to, I would say besides the Saint Peter Church in Vatican, the cathedral/mosque was the most memorable church we visited.

I took so many pictures that I had hard time to pick a few to show you of how beautiful the south of Spain is. You can click on 'our photos to share' to view them.