Search results matching tag 'Spain'

Picnic on top of a castle

ChristinaL — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 13:28:14 GMT

In many ways, being a study abroad student living with a host family was like being in first grade again. We went on field trips almost every week, and for those days our mamas would pack us lunches with sandwiches and juice boxes, which we would of course compare to see who got the best ones.

When we went to the Alcazar in Segovia, which is supposedly one of the castles which inspired Disney, we climbed up to the top of the tower (the stairs were brutal!) and then sat down and had a picnic lunch on top of the castle. You know, just a regular day in Spain.

The sand castle cathedral

ChristinaL — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 03:05:08 GMT

Have you ever made those drippy sand castles with wet sand before? That's kind of what la Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona looks like! It was designed by the innovative modernismo architect Antionio Gaudi, who made it his life masterpiece and lived and worked there for years up until his death in 1926. These days it is STILL a work in progress - only about a third of it is done! However, when it is finished, you can bet that it will be one of the most unique and inspiring churches in the world.

Angels with swords

ChristinaL — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 03:01:23 GMT

This is Valle de los Caidos, the church/"memorial" that Franco (the fascist dictator) supposedly built in honor of those who died in the Spanish civil war... actually it appears that he built it more as his own tomb. He and the other biggest leader of fascism, Jose Antonio, are buried in this creepy bulding which has now windows and is kind of like a giant masoleum. As you walk along the dark hallways to their tombs, angels with swords loom over you. CREEPY.

El Escorial

ChristinaL — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 02:54:29 GMT

Yet another of the many royal palaces that we visited this semester. It made a nice day trip (about two hours from Alcala) and we met some cool students from Montana while scaling one of the walls! (please notice the foreboding clouds in the sky, though.)

Flamenco!

ChristinaL — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 02:15:41 GMT

In Cordoba, we went to a flamenco show! The dancers were AMAZING, the musicians were great and the costumes were very cool. Definitely one of my favorite nights out in Spain.

Plaza de Espana - sun and Star Wars?

ChristinaL — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 20:36:01 GMT

One of my favorite places we went in Sevilla was this really cool plaza - it had painted ceramic tiles and these crazy towers and pretty fountains.... and it was apparently where the filmed Queen Amidala's palace for the new Star Wars.

When we were there in November, the weather was gorgeous (in the 70s!) and there was this great flamenco guitar player jamming. loved it.

Sevilla in the morning

ChristinaL — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 20:28:05 GMT

Sevilla was our second stop on the Butler Andalusia tour... It's a very elegant city with one of the biggest cathedrals in Europe and a history of operas (Carmen, the Barber of Seville...)

I took this picture early in the morning as we walked towards the cathedral and royal palace for another day jam-packed full of sightseeing.

inside the Alhambra palace

ChristinaL — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 20:20:54 GMT

Check out the beautiful interior of the palace with the fancy calligraphy... every room was just so pretty.

La Alhambra - Muslim palace in southern Spain

ChristinaL — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 20:13:05 GMT

Our Butler class took a four day trip to Andalucia in the south of Spain and our first stop was Granada, where we got to tour this beautiful palace built by the Moorish kings when they ruled the south of Spain in the Middle Ages. The detailed architecture was gorgeous and it was a great view with the snowy mountains in the background!

My favorite cathedral

ChristinaL — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 20:09:09 GMT

An inevitable part of studying abroad is visting cathedrals and churches. I decided to keep tally and this fall, I have visited the inside of 19 cathedrals or other important churches and seen countless ones from the outside. This is my favorite exterior - the cathedral of Segovia, where we stopped by on one of our day trips for my history class.