Cordoba

Originally we were planning to go with the bus, leaving at 8.30 AM and to return from Cordoba at 7PM. When I talked to profe Alberto, I just realized that there is a train option. When I checked it, it costs EUR 14 more than the bus, took us less time, only 1 hour 26 minutes (2 hours 50 minutes by bus). I proposed that option to my small group and everyone agreed to opt for train.

The panic moment when you see no bus coming up next.

Train leaves at 7.10 in the morning. The drama started, out of 6 of us who planned to get to the train station with bus, only one, Santi, took the bus. The rest missed the bus because it showed up earlier than the schedule. Donovan, Jake, Aziz and Sarge decided to take taxi, meanwhile, I can't see any taxi passing by. I was lucky that the next bus showed up and the lady in the bus stop said I should make it to the train in time. However, at the second stop, three guys got in with one bus card, so the bus stop and the driver waited so that all of them paid. It made couple of minutes delayed. I was also very lucky that I had been to the train station to get the ticket, so I knew the path from bus stop to the station.

All good, we are in the train safely. Since it is a hot day, an early arrival to Cordoba have an advantage. We walked to the Jewish quarter before Cathedral since Cathedral open from 10 AM, due to Google. In Jewish quarter, we can find some Hebrew writing on the wall or on the street. I don't think I saw those in Jewish quarter in Sevilla. Also, there is a small synagogue, but we didn't get in.

After that, we walk to the Cathedral. Unfortunately, there is a service happening at the church, so we can't get in yet. Luckily, the bell tower is open, so we walked up to see the view from the top. 

Around 3 PM, we entered the Mezquita-Cathedral. For me, this is the most appealing part. The building is dominated by mostly Arabic structure, but the wall´s decoration shows Christianity. However, the colour somehow gave me an impression of an amusement park :(.  It is so hard to me to think that this is a religious place. But when I see the surrounding, the detail on the wall of Christianity is really impressive. I like this place as a building, but again, the number of tourists made this place has no religious feeling. Some tourists even took pictures as if they were in Disneyland, with funny poses. This is a bit disrespectful. 

The gold dominates the ornament made it looks fancy. Some hanging lights consists of a lot of candles light bulb, which in my opinion gives an ancient feeling. 

Other part that is very interesting is the roman bridge! Although with 41 degrees Celcius, it may be less interesting, unless you have great company!

Roman bridge from the other side.. 

Sitting under the Roman bridge to survive the heat while waiting for Cathedral to open

One super lucky thing that happened to me in Cordoba was, a pigeon pooped on my bag! Hahahaha. Jake said something is happening when I was sitting on the side of the road. I was too confused to react fast enough and of course, within a second, I saw a green-white-liquid-ish object on my bag. Hahaha. Soon after that, my bag is called a pooped bag by Donovan! I still think it is lucky that it didn't land on my head, otherwise I will have a pooped head!. LOL 

Overall, it was a very enjoyable trip. So much laughter all the way, despite a small conflict in it. Thank you Cordoba for treating as nicely :). 

Counting the Blessings

I have been three weeks in Granada and I haven't written anything about it yet. Granada is an amazingly beautiful city with friendly people. I am blessed to be here!

The Alhambra

I went to Alhambra earlier than the group because I had to be in Barcelona on the scheduled time. This place is amazing! My pictures really don't do justice at all. Even though Alhambra is very famous, but I didn't know about it until my sister told me when I said I would be in Granada, because she watched a Korean movie about it. 

The size and the details are just incredible!! After visiting Alhambra, other similar places are no longer as fantastic. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to enjoy the park because it was about to close. 

La Tarasca

Another blessing to be counted is we are here at the right month! Granada has Corpus Christi Celebration in June. The fair for this occasion lasts for a week. The day before the Corpus Christi, we saw the parade of the "Tarasca". Tarasca is a female mannequin wearing the coming summer's fashions, riding on the back of a legendary dragon, escorted by giants and big heads. 

The Corpus Christi Procession 

I was expecting Corpus Christi to be something very religious. But after standing for 1.5 hours and watching at the procession, I feel that it is just another normal parade thingy.

The procession takes place the length of the route in the shade of canopies erected for this purpose by the Town Council, and on a carpet of grasses, rosemary and other plants. Shower of petals are thrown over the monstrance as it passes.  

The Monstrance

The Waterfall

I am very lucky to leave nearby a waterfall! I didn't know about it until I started to walk along the river. The main purpose was just walking with no destination. In the middle of the path, a man pointed out to me that if I continue walking, I will see a waterfall. So, I did. I really like the view on the way there. I took me a bit more than an hour, since I walked quite slowly. I am blessed!

One interesting thing that my mom pointed out to me after I sent her the picture below, she said that the tree in the picture seems to be the Bodhi Tree, the same tree where the Buddha sat under and reached his enlightenment. I have to get back to the place and find out whether they are really the same. 

A Trip to Friendship

Out of those nice places that I visited and the events that I attended, the best part of this program is the friendship. I am beyond blessed to meet this group of people. They are soooo amazing. They have such beautiful soul and kind heart. We just get to know each other, but we protect  and we care for each other as if we are family. 

Deep bow in gratitude for my two profes that have been great parents for everyone of us. We can ask for any help, open up any conversation and borrow their wisdom at anytime.

Granada, June 28, 2019

Seville

Saturday morning we took the bus to Sevilla at 8 AM from Granada bus station. It took us 3 hours to arrive to Plaza de Armas, Seville. The view was so nice along the way that I tried so hard to keep myself awake. After arrival, we decided to visit the Cathedral and the Real Alcázar first since we can't check in yet to our accommodation anyway. It was super hot when we arrived. 

The Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See

This cathedral was originally a mosque, but it is converted into the city's cathedral, shortly after Seville's conquest by Ferdinand III. I would say, due to its position, the picture above don't do justice to the cathedral. 


The Giralda, the bell tower of the Cathedral was a former minaret of the mosque that stood on the site under muslim rule. We took a picture with it from the other side, so we can only see the top of it.

With friends in front of Giralda, the bell tower of the Cathedral

Unfortunately, when we got in to the cathedral, there was a procession happening in the church, which I think it's part of the celebration of Corpus Christi. 

The procession in the cathedral

For me, it is a pity that even when the procession was happening, some parts of the church were still made accessible to tourists. I just hoped that people that sat in the middle for the procession, could fully feel the procession sacredly.

When I walked around the cathedral, there were couple of "altars" that were prepared to be carried out for Corpus Christi procession. Out of so many of them, what interesting to me was the one with the statue below. There are 3 human heads under the statue. I wonder what these heads symbolize. I wish I could get any guide to tell me, but it wasn't the case.
 

I am curious what these three heads at the bottom symbolize. 

The Real Alcázar
This is a Royal palace that is built for the Christian king, Peter of Castile. The palace is an example of Mudéjar architecture in the Iberian Peninsula. The upper levels of the Alcázar are still used by the royal family as their official residence in Seville. However, our guide told me, nowadays, the royal family prefers to stay in the Hotel Fernando III in the historical center.

To get in this place, there was a long queue. We cut through the queue by joining a guided tour in English, but this costs us more money though. Getting in to the area, it gives an impression of Alhambra, but this is not as impressive as the Alhambra.

This picture shows the journey of Christopher Columbus with three ships, the Santa Maria, the Pinta and the Nina.

At this point, the guide told us a little bit about the remain of Christopher Columbus. It's only around 140 gr of his knee bone is kept (if I don't remember wrongly). DNA test had been done and it was proven that it is the real bone of him.










It is very interesting that even though the King is Catholic, the wall is full of Arabic Calligraphy which translated by the guide to be ¨God bless the King¨. He said that this shows the good relation between the Muslims and the Christian at that time.

This roof is very impressive, not only by the golden color but also the detail. 

In one of the room, there is this funny map. Can you see what is different in this map?

Well, this map is actually is upside down. We have Italy is on the left side of Spain. Haha.

The dancing floor

In one of the room, it has a unique floor. Our guide showed us that if we move according to blue tiles, you will end up in dancing movement.

In the middle of the royal palace, there is this nice garden. The pond has a lot of fish in it. I like the contrast of the color in this picture. In this garden, there are palm trees also orange trees. Our guided tour ended here. It was too hot for us to explore the garden, everyone was so exhausted, so we sat under the shade and enjoy the garden for a bit before heading toward the exit. 

Jewish Quarter
The adventure for finding out the Jewish Quarter was hilarious. We had actually passed through the quarter when we left the cathedral towards our Airbnb. But since we were rushing to check in, we didn't pay much attention. So, on Sunday, when we decided to find this quarter which is surrounded by the wall, Donovan and I were laughing after arrival. We were here! So the Sunday walk was basically walking in a circle like dejavu.

The Giralda is so close to the square

It is very interesting how Jewish quarter was so closed to the cathedral. Our guide told us that the Muslims, the Jews and Christians used to live in harmony.

The wall that defines the Jewish quarter

The walk toward the square

Plaza de España. 

My friends visited Plaza de España on Saturday, but I didn´t join them because I decided to catch up with my ex-housemate for dinner. Sunday morning, after having breakfast together, I walked toward this plaza. The first impression was "WOW! It is so Venice!"

Don't you agree with me that this looks like Venice? Well, missing gondolas. 

If it is not too hot, I probably would try to row in the canal. I walk up the stairs and basically just sit at the corridor and enjoyed the view. I was happy that I made my way here. 

The society
The life in Seville is very family centered. I had a chance to meet up with my friend who was my ex-housemate when I studied in the Netherlands, so I had a chance to have a peek to the local life. She introduced me to a lot of her family member, including all her in-laws. It is a very funny phenomena for me, that after I am introduced, some of the in-laws hangout with us. It is very different to the life in the states, where everybody has more private life. Even comparing it to Indonesian, we normally introduce our guest to some family member if they happen to pass by, but they will not stay to spend time with the guest. 


Another interesting thing was, even though it is quite a big city, horse cart is allowed to round around the city and taking passengers, which most of them are tourists. I don't think locals are using it. It goes in harmony with cars. 




To conclude this blog, here is another icon of Sevilla, las setas de Sevilla. Sometimes you can find Flamenco performance here too.

Graus

June 15, 2019

Today I went to Graus, a small village up north from Tamarite. Well, it is slightly more populated than Tamarite. I went with Nacho, my academic brother, and his daughter Abril and his wife Ana. He drove us around noon.

First we arrived to a famous main square called Plaza Mayor. It has buildings with very nice paintings, also a building with a sun clock.

What I really like from this square is the ambiance. A lot children running around, playing together and laugh. This is very similar to my childhood days, where we spent more time with friends outdoor. In my opinion, playing with friends is really important to develop social skill. I fought and cried a lot as a kid, but that taught me how to handle emotions and deal with people. I saw a lot of improvement after all those tears and bruises. Nowadays, it is more common to see kids with their own phone. Since it was a nice day, we decided just to sit there and enjoy the moments, laughing at those kids. 

Around 2 PM, we walk toward a very nice and famous restaurant in town, called Criticón. It is a restaurant in a hotel. It was not big but packed. I order the appetizer typical from this area. Leek with crispy ham (I think). For the main course, I had pork cheek and grilled potato. The dessert was cut oranges with a scoop of coconut ice cream. I choose this because when I read on the menu, "naranja sin trabajo" --> "a jobless orange". haha. It actually means they just don't do anything to it.

After lunch, we visited Basilica de la Virgen de la Peña and we walked up the Mirador del Morral. 

What interesting is, you have two options to reach the top. You can either walk it or climb it. Here is the information if you want to climb. Of course, we don't choose this option. 

Here are some pictures of the view on the way up. 

What a motivating view!

The left upper statue is the destination. 

This is a father-daughter moment, competing to reach the top.

The happy faces that we made it to the top

To conclude, here is the breathtaking view from the top. It did worth a hike.