Envisioning Spain's Border

Minarets and bell towers two things that have no relation to one another besides their height and their status as religious symbols for two major religions, Islam and Catholicism respectively. Yet in Spain minarets and bell towers go hand in hand, especially  in the cities of Andalusia like Seville and Córdoba. What we saw in [...]

Read Full Post »

Palm trees swaying in the afternoon breeze and people sprinkled along the boardwalks filled my sights as I took a walk down the streets of Barcelona. The image of people on mopeds leisurely rolling around in the salty beach air seemed almost like a scene straight out of a futuristic movie. In every direction there [...]

Read Full Post »

In exploring Madrid, one of my favorite sites that I visited was the Templo de Debod, an authentic Egyptian temple dating from the 4th century BC.  I had not known of its existence until I saw it marked on the map as an important landmark.  Intrigued, I went to investigate what an ancient Egyptian temple [...]

Read Full Post »

Our visit to the Prado was mesmerizing, a museum of masterpieces from the greatest painters in Western art. The quality of the collection was overwhelming and prolific, an experience very distinct from the Metropolitan Museum in New York City. Albeit a much smaller space, the Prado was less concerned with hoarding every piece of art [...]

Read Full Post »

I am a sucker for World War II history. So when our Gibraltarian tour guide Paul briefly mentioned the existence of a subterranean tunnel system within the Rock of Gibraltar, I was immediately intrigued. It led me to do some more research into this period of Gibraltar’s history, and to find a few peculiar stories.
“Unwanted [...]

Read Full Post »

We all know how we felt about the Classic Bus. Its gleaming exterior and upholstered seats came to be our home, a place we will never see again. Though, considering the many gems of architecture and history we visited, it perhaps should not be my favorite memory of Spain. However, upon returning home [...]

Read Full Post »

Gibraltar is the British territory, located at the southernmost tip of the Iberian Peninsula, which was formally part of Spanish territory. Ever since 1704 Spain and Britain have fought over the rights for claiming the territory of Gibraltar. In 1704 the British captured Gibraltar during the Spanish Succession War, which followed with the Spanish ceding [...]

Read Full Post »

Our tour guide in Córdoba, Lola, managed to be respectable and engaging while somehow making every one of us feel like they were on a fifth grade field trip with their overly caffeinated, potentially bipolar substitute teacher.
And, as good of a gal as she was (she did tell me she loved me and gave me [...]

Read Full Post »

Living in the United States, one isn’t really used to the idea of plazas as being the center of cities, towns, or suburbs. Plazas or really, anything that is similar to the concept of plazas, are absent. America is instead seen as the country of strip malls, parking lots and highways. But, in Spain, especially [...]

Read Full Post »

I was so excited to go to Morocco after spending the first part of the trip clueless in the language department. After having attached myself to my Spanish speaking friends and struggling even with basic phrases and numbers, I was ready to be in a country where French would be the dominating language. Finally, I [...]

Read Full Post »