Andalucía: Cordoba, Granada, Sevilla

For the new year I took a solo trip to the south of Spain and saw a whole new world of Spanish culture.

Andalucía was originally called Al-Andalus and was under Muslim rule for around 700 years. Many words in the Spanish language stem from Arabic!

Cordoba

Cordoba was so beautiful, and it was a great relief after traveling in the freezing weather of Ireland for a week before. These orange trees are still my favorite trees in Spain.

Andalucía is rich with Muslim and Moorish culture and architecture. Many of the cathedrals in this part of Spain used to be Mosques.

The street music artists made it easy to transport myself into this new side of Spanish culture.

The facade of the Mezquita of Cordoba is also painted with Moorish designs.

My favorite Middle-Eastern dessert is knafeh, and this is the best one I’ve had!

Granada

Moving onto Granada within the topic of food is this incredible Palestinian brunch restaurant. I met up with a friend here and had a delicious brunch for two that helped me while I got sick during this trip. The best thing was the lentil soup, very similar to the Indian daal! (I had 2 cups of it!)

When I got myself out of the market area of the Moorish quarter (where I got a beautiful purple pashmina), I did the long walk to the Alhambra, which was a steep hike.

The Alhambra had incredible gardens and grounds with the same Moorish architecture. It was originally a palace city where the rulers of the Kingdom of Granada stayed.

Queen Isabella I of Castile stayed at this palace when she was in the city, after its conquer in 1492.

The design is original of the Nasrid Dynasty.

Sevilla

Sevilla (Seville), the capital of Andalucía, is the sister city of my home Kansas City! It was so lively and definitely the most vibrant with people and loud out of the three.

The Sevilla Cathedral Giralda tower structure is the most stark example of the switch from Moorish or Muslim rule to Catholic. The bottom ¾ of the Giralda is moorish architecture and the top is very gothic after it was converted from a Mosque to a Cathedral.

I never got to go inside the Mosque turned Cathedral because I was too sick. I really missed out because Christopher Columbus is buried there!

The Alcazar was built and founded starting in 900s AD when the Muslims were still ruling. Later on, in the 14th century, when the Christians took over, Pedro I of Castile hired more moorish architects from Granada to add on.

So although the Alcazar was mainly under and built by Christians, it remains looking very muslim because of Pedro I love for the architecture. Many of the inscriptions refer to Pedro I as a sultan.

This image is of a room in the Alcazar where some Game of Thrones scenes were filmed!

I love birds, as I’ve shown in the other cities I visited. The south of Spain has so many beautiful birds. In the gardens of the Alcazar is home to many ducks and peacocks!

Fun fact: peacock in Spanish is pavo real, which means royal bird!