The Trip: Day 9

We´re back

We went to Granada, Córdoba, Sevilla and to Solibreña. I will write about each city individually rather than all at once. It was a lot of fun.

The south of Spain is called Andelucía. It has a different character from the rest of Spain. The people are more laid back, and it has a more Muslim character despite five centuries of Christian rule. It was the last area to be conquered by the Christians. Granada fell last in 1492. It was there as she was surveying her new dominion that Isabel granted permission to Columbus to search for a new Western route to China.

It was in Andelucía that the Jews were the most influential, before they were expelled in (you guessed it) 1492. The Sephardic Jews (as they are known) spread out across Europe and the Middle East. They were very influential in sparking various aspects of the Renaissance.

It was sometimes difficult to travel with a new person. One thing that Adrienne and I do well together is travel. We tend to agree about where to stay, where to eat, what to do. So it was a little difficult for us to travel with someone else. We had to find hostels with private bathrooms, and before sitting down in a restaurant we had to look at the menu to make sure the food was acceptable.

But in the end of course it is worth the trouble. Angie, Adrienne´s friend from high school with whom we saw Andelucía a great. We had a lot of fun.

Angie carried a book by this guy Rick Steves everywhere. I think I may have mentioned it. Anyway, we had to deal with "well Rick says..." The thing is that he has a lot of interesting tidbits about the things we saw. It was frustrating to me only because I have a hard time being around someone who knows more than me even if he is in a book. It´s a window into my nature that I am even competitive with a book.

Overall the trip was great. We saw all sorts of cool stuff that I will write more about later...