Tag: photography
Busy, Busy, Busy (as the Bokonons say)
(I’ve been on a bit of a Vonnegut kick lately, attempting to read everything of his that I haven’t already. Right now I’m on Breakfast of Champions, although the quote which titles this post is from my favourite novel of his, Cat’s Cradle)
Well, it’s been a very busy couple of weeks. Last weekend I went to Barcelona (see below for pictures!), and met up with my mom and aunt, who were coming to visit for the week. Then we all headed back to Sevilla where we spent pretty much all day of every day, apart from when I had classes, sight-seeing. The week also brought Feria, Sevilla’s spring fair. Unfortunately, over the weekend it was time to buckle down and start preparing for finals, so I haven’t had much time for blogging here. However, I have:
- Blogged for CampusCalm
- Posted photos for RevistaSacai
- Queued up a ton of photos for my tumblr
So check them out. I’ve also given some thought to some posts I’d like to make here in the future, which means in the next month or so you can look for:
- My favourite cities in Europe
- A review of Stephen King’s latest (as soon as I get my hands on it)
- A review of Bruce Springsteen’s concert in Sevilla (countdown: 10 days!)
- A wrap-up post of my time in Sevilla
- Hopefully some film reviews when I get home
- And more…
In the meantime, check out my trip to Barcelona!
La Ciudad de la Alhambra: Granada
I realized that in the chaos of Semana Santa, I never said anything about my trip the weekend prior to Granada! This one was organized by my school, and I’m glad because Granada is an incredibly important city in Andalucia, both historically and culturally. (It also had my favourite bar to date, a really cool little jazz bar where my friends and I, looking for a relaxed night out, drank Irish coffee and listened to a piano player in a room surrounded by bookshelves and photos of old Hollywood.)
01. Granada Cathedral
02. There was a lot of cool graffiti near our hotel
03. Walking up to the Albaicín to get a view of the Alhambra. The streets are winding and narrow and the climb is very steep, but the view is worth it!
04. Bars in Granada still practice giving tapas with your drinks. It gives you less choice in what you’re eating but makes your experience very cheap—and let’s face it, everything tastes good.
05. Here I am in the Alhambra, the palace and fortress of the Emirato de Granada, constructed during the 14th century.
06. Inside the Alhambra.
07. View of the Albaicín from the Alhambra by day…
08. …and by night
You are a Tourist // Morocco
I recently read a list of tips for travel bloggers and some of them really stood out to me. I don’t mean tips like “take a lot of photos” (duh); I mean concepts like “don’t romanticize or idealize the culture you are visiting” and “remember that the city is not there for you.” I think it’s something a lot of us forget, that our vacation spots aren’t putting on a show for our benefit. We’re on vacation, but for most of the people we’re visiting, this is their daily life. At the same time, just because we’re viewing someone’s daily life doesn’t mean we are going to come back experts on whatever country we’ve visited. It’s definitely something I thought a lot about when I was writing my post on history in Germany and Prague, and it’s something I thought about more this past weekend, which I spent on a trip to Morocco.
Thoughts about History
I decided to separate this post out from the city-specific posts because those were about having fun and this one has a more serious tone. Going to Berlin, Munich, and Prague was a fun experience, certainly, but it also was an educational one. Something that is different between Europe and America, or at least certain places in Europe, is that history is inescapable. Walking around Berlin, it seemed like every block had a memorial for some group of people persecuted or killed during the Third Reich, or a piece of the Berlin Wall still standing as a reminder of the Cold War. In Prague, even something as simple as a designer store in a certain area of town was significant (the Jewish quarter, now home to a fancy shopping district, had a Hugo Boss store; the designer apologized just a few years ago for having designed the Nazis’ uniforms).
Munich, “Music,” and Mozartkugel*
Previous Posts: Berlin, Germany; Prague, Czech Republic
*More on that in my food post 🙂
thebestpossibletime 