Spain Adventures: Andalucía: the most beautiful place in Spain

That's not an exaggeration. Southern Spain really is gorgeous and has a lot of character. The Butler trip to Seville and Cordoba was exhausting, busy, educational, and fun. First we went to Seville, where we saw the cathedral, the Giralda (which is the famous tower), the palace where the king and queen lived, and a museum of Baroque art.

Much of the interesting stuff about this trip has to do with my Art History class (no surprises there). We studied the cathedral of Seville and the Giralda, so I appreciated seeing them in real life and already knowing the history and style. We got to climb to the top of the Giralda and look out over Seville, and after climbing the Eiffel Tower that was a piece of cake.

As much as I loved Seville, Cordoba was easily my favorite of the two places we went. Cordoba is such an interesting mixture of Muslim and Spanish influences. Our first stop was the Mezquita de Cordoba, which is a famous mosque and was the most important building in Europe in the 10th century. When the Christians conquered Spain in the late 15th century, they kicked out the Jews and forced the Muslims to convert, and they took the mosque for themselves and built a cathedral inside of it. Nowadays masses are held in the cathedral but Muslims can't go pray there because it is now officially a Christian building. Then again, there probably isn't a lot of demand, since the population is 99% Catholic.

That night we went to a flamenco show, and I have to say, I've never been more enthralled by dancing in my life. It was amazing. It was 2 hours long but I could easily have sat there for longer. Spanish guitar is also unbelievable.

The next day we went to the Alcazar, which is a palace where royalty once lived. Now it's a museum with mosaics from Roman times and a huge garden. The weather was beautiful, so we spent some time walking around the garden, and for the rest of the day we had time to browse the shops and explore the city.

Time for some pictures: