This weekend we had mandatory field trip #2 to the nearby city of Cordoba. It was just for the day, and we ended spending only 5 rainy hours there, which was a little disappointing. We did get to see some interesting sites nevertheless.
We started out in the Real Alcazar, not to be confused with the other Real Alcazar in Sevilla. "Real Alcazar" just means "royal Arabic palace" and even though the one in Sevilla is the biggest and most famous, the one in Cordoba isn't too shabby. It's much more modest in size and grandeur, but the gardens were lovely. The Arabic Baths were quite beautiful -- they're a series of lovely fountains and pools and artificial streams that run through the gardens. I always love a nice Arabic garden, and I didn't slip on the marble floor and fall into the pool, which was a bonus.
After getting sufficiently rained on in the gardens, we moved on to the Great Mosque of Cordoba. You probably recognize those famous red and white striped arches. It started out as a small church, and when Spain was under Muslim rule a large mosque was added on and the two religions shared the site. Later, when the Muslims were expelled from Spain, a cathedral was placed in the mosque. It currently functions as a cathedral and tourist attraction, and multiple proposals by Muslims asking permission to use the mosque part as a mosque have been rejected (which I think is not fair but that's another story). The architecture is a hodgepodge of different styles from different cultures and different eras, which I found thoroughly delightful. I wish I could have spent more time there just exploring everything.
We had some free time after that, which was slightly less interesting than it potentially could have been thanks to the less-than-ideal weather conditions (i.e. it was pouring). We went wandering and found a nice Arabic restaurant where we had great falafel and not-so-great strawberry milkshakes. After that we found some cute shops in which to shelter from the rain. Cordoba is famous for its leatherwork and silverwork, and I got a nice new leather purse because mine was thoroughly broken from overuse. Then it was back to Sevilla for the end of a sadly underwhelming day.
Let's backtrack to Friday night, when things that were actually interesting happened. Some friends and I went out to a ballroom dance club, and it was genuinely one of only two times I've ever enjoyed going out at night. A friend of mine who's a pretty good ballroom dancer found a place out the "afuera", which is what they call the suburbs. It was a club called Dreams that specializes in salsa and bachata music. There would be 20-30 minutes of ballroom dancing followed by a group lesson reminiscent of Zumba. We were definitely the youngest people there -- most of the crowd was in their late 20s to early 30s, with a good few dancers in their 40s and 50s -- but for an old soul like me, that was perfect. No one was drunk, no one was rude or handsy, and the dancing was beautiful.
There's really nothing as beautiful as watching freestyle ballroom dancing. Some people came with a partner they were very attached to; these couples had similar styles, dancing like they were one person. Other people danced with a new partner every song. It was so amazing to watch each individual person show off their unique style and to watch two people of totally different styles dance so perfectly together. It was real art, each dancer showing their own unique personality through the medium of music and dance. I was invite to dance by a very polite Spanish man, who was very accommodating of my lack of ability. I learned all sorts of cool salsa tricks and had a great time. I plan on taking ballroom dancing lessons when I get home. I think it's an absolutely beautiful thing.