There is a type of travel that not everyone gets to experience. Now and again however, it happens. And the strange mix of memories and emotions that it illicits is best delved into using poetry, song, or some other art form. Like blogging. This type of travel experience is referred to as the proverbial “trip down memory lane” and after Morocco we managed to do a little bit of that ourselves. The time-warping factor of this next leg of our trip was heightened by the fact that we were (in some ways) following the flooding and ebbing of another empire; this tenuous thread of “civilization” throughout history that we had been following linking us from Greece, into Italy, then North Africa, and finally with the birth of a new empire from Morocco to southern Spain – Andalucia!
Years and years ago in another lifetime (a merchant of Al-Andalus? a knight of the Reconquista?) Javi had decided to turn a post-college backpacking trip into his first experience living abroad. He ended up in Sevilla, Spain and spent several months working in restaurants and bars and laying the groundwork for the wandering he currently does today (ha!). Anyway, it was an exciting time for him and he ended up falling in love with Spain, specifically Andalucia, as well as its landscapes and flamenco music. He also managed to forge a few friendships that survive to this day. After Morocco and before anything else, Javi felt that it was important to revisit this area and share with Laura a place of the world that had impacted him greatly. So we decided to hop back to Europe for one more go, despite having said some heartfelt goodbyes already. Psyche!
Our Moroccan trip came to an end with a flight from Casablanca to Lisbon and then on to Sevilla. We had booked a place a little ways outside of the center of the city but within striking distance using the city’s great Sevici bicycle system and public transit. It was a great place to reacclimatize to the public spaces, food, and great wine that we had gotten used to at the start of their trip to Europe. While in Sevilla we spent several days walking around the neighborhoods Javi used to wander (haunt?) and reveling in the changes that the city has undergone in his absence. Sevilla is AMAZING! It’s doing so many things right that Lonely Planet has decided to name it the Best City to Visit in 2018. (I guess we’re trendsetters) After several awesome days and a reunion with an old friend that is one of the reasons it’s such a great place to visit, we rented a car and were off to explore some more of Andalucia.
As we drove through the countryside listening to flamenco and arabesque music we couldn’t help but be drawn deeper and deeper into Andalucia’s allure. With the car we managed to make it all the way down to Cadiz on the Gulf of Cadiz then all the way back up to Ronda one of Andalucia’s famed sights. The city’s Christmas lights and decorations (and freezing weather) certainly gave us the sense that we were squarely in winter and the holidays were upon us. The entire time we were in Morocco (for various obvious reasons), neither the weather nor the decorations lent themselves toward any semblance of Christmas, so it was nice to get a taste of the holiday spirit; despite being woefully underdressed for it.
From there it was on to Cordoba and its famed Mosque Cathedral for a night, then Granada for a few days of sight seeing, “souvenir” shopping, and flamenco music. With each amazing city and jaw dropping sight we couldn’t help but imagine what the land and these cities must have been like during the 700 or so years of Islamic rule. In some ways so much of what we had seen in Morocco was culminating in what we were visiting in Andalucia. While the rest of Europe was in the “Dark Ages,” southern Spain was a land of enlightenment where three monotheistic religions coexisted (for the most part) peacefully, and we couldn’t help but get swept away not only in its physical beauty but its historic importance and plain, old-fashioned, magic – or as they say in southern Spain, “duende”.
Our last stop was Malaga and it too did not disappoint. Though very chilly at night (it was winter after all), the daytime temperatures were extremely pleasant and it was nice to get a taste of the Mediterranean one last time before departing from Europe…. again. The Christmas decorations in Malaga were also making a strong showing and we even felt swept up in the urge to do some shopping of our own. Granted, replacing worn out clothing isn’t typically how we tend to spend our Christmas dollars but sometimes you have no choice. After almost seven and a half months of travel overseas, things had started to look a little threadbare.
Andalucia cast its spell yet again; this time on both Javi and Laura and plans are already in the works to visit again sometime in the not so distant future (or in Laura’s case, actually move there). Our return to southern Spain after Morocco, and after so many other adventures in Spain and Europe, really was really the capstone that rounded out our Euro/Maroc journey.
Andalucia – ‘Ta’luego!!
Andalucia
