Tag Archives: baths

Roman Barcelona

Posted by whitneyandjared in Travel, Whitney and tagged with , , , , , ,

Tonight we’re taking the train to Paris, and we have to get out and see one more sight and finish packing, so I’m going to keep this short.

On Wednesday, we checked out the Museum of the History of Barcelona, which is pretty cool for its tour of the ruins of the Roman city that spawned modern-day Barcelona. The free audio guide informed us all about life in Roman Barcelona, and pointed out what each ruin was in its day. Afterward, we stayed in keeping with the Roman theme and visited the baths. Heaven.

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Carousing in Córdoba

Posted by whitneyandjared in Travel, Whitney and tagged with , , , , , , , , , , ,

I’ve already posted on our visit to the Mezquita during our trip to Córdoba, but we did a lot more than that in our short overnight. We took the train and it was a short 1.5 hour trip, so half the travel time than our trip to Granada. We knew from that trip that the train station was probably well within walking distance of downtown, so we walked to our hotel since it was still only midday.

We stayed at the Hostal Alcazar, which was half the price of everywhere else in town. It definitely lived up to it’s budget reputation, but our room had a powerful heater and that was all that really mattered. Córdoba was FREEZING. It was probably the coldest place we’ve been so far (though sadly, I hear Barcelona is going to be pretty chilly as well). We set our bags down and went to explore the old Jewish Quarter.

Our first stop was the Casa Andalusi, a 12th-century house decorated to evoke the spirit of Andalusian Islamic life during that time.

medieval paper-making tools

The house was pretty but not much to see, really. We also went to see the medieval synagogue but it was tiny so there’s not much to report their either. It’s really true that the sight to see in Córdoba is the Mezquita.

At that point, we were getting pretty cold, so when Jared found out there was an Arab bath in the area, we were there! After going to the one in Seville on Sunday we ended up liking it better, but the one in Córdoba wins for biggest lifesaver. The baths were gorgeous and really warmed us up. When we were done, we wandered around to find some tapas for dinner (you can easily make a meal out of tapas, and we did).

Jared finally got his small beer

As we were walking around, we ran into an Australian tourist who was looking for his hostel. We pointed him in the right direction, and actually ended up running into him and his friends later in the evening. We had a great time hanging out with them and it was nice to just talk and hang out with friendly people. Apparently the bar that we were at was attached to their hostel and one of the employes was an awesome guitar player. He also took our requests for The Bed’s Too Big Without You (he was wearing a Police sweatshirt), but I preferred his more traditional selections.

The next day after visiting the Mesquita, we walked across the Roman Bridge and visited the Calahorra Tower and the Museo Vivo de Al-Andalus.

The museum by all accounts is a bit odd, and nearly fanatically proclaims that Islam is responsible for every great thing in the world (and was apparently founded by a controversial figure). The reason it is worth the money is that they have on display these spectacular scale models of the Alhambra and the Mezquita in its original form. They were SO COOL, and it was particularly interesting to see the Alhambra from above and better understand its layout.

It was also really helpful and interesting to see what the Mezquita looked like when it was solely a mosque. It’s a hard thing to picture when you visit and there is a giant cathedral plunked down in the middle of it.

They also had some cool mini models of daily life in medieval Córdoba, including what looked very similar to the bath we had visited the previous day!

The tower also afforded some beautiful views back at Córdoba. So in summary, weird museum but still worth it.

Wins for the Week

Posted by whitneyandjared in Travel, Whitney and tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

I think this picture says it all

My computer is back! And even better, it’s paid for! Let me rewind one minute and explain.

This is my "Uncle Nick." As you can see, he is cool.

My parents have a friend Nick, who I have literally known my entire life (he was present at my birth). He and his family used to live in New Jersey and when I was in college in Montreal, I would come down and spend Thanksgiving with them. They were my introduction to New York, and really encouraged me to move to the city when I graduated. When I met Jared, he started to come to Thanksgiving at their house too, and when we got married, Nick’s kids were in our wedding. The above photo is him dancing at our wedding reception (everybody got DOWN that night).

Anyway, Nick and his family moved to California last year, and he visits Seattle a lot since it’s his hometown too. He was visiting my parents when the unpleasantness with my laptop occurred, and he immediately offered to cover the repair costs! He wanted to invest in the trip, because he is awesome.  So when I say that we have supportive friends and family, I really mean it! Thanks Uncle Nick, we are so very grateful for your help.

In other wins this week…GO GIANTS! We had such a fun time watching the Superbowl this year. We’d watched the last round of the playoffs at a bar that was chock full of college students, and when we found out that for the big game they would be charging an €18 cover, we decided to look elsewhere for a bar with satellite TV. Our neighbor had one suggestion for a bar that didn’t charge cover or require a reservation, but it was a bit far away. After a quick Google we found Merchant’s Malthouse which was also free and much closer to our apartment. Normally we wouldn’t care, but with the time difference the game didn’t start until 12:30AM and we weren’t too keen on walking further than we needed to at 5AM when the game was over.

Merchant's Malt House

showing my NYC pride - lucky thing I packed this shirt!

The bar was great, and we immediately wished we’d found it sooner. They had drink specials, food specials, and a ton of fun Giants fans. We soon met Brian and Rebecca who were running the box pool (and from New York), and we cheered on our team with them all night.

What. An. Awesome. Game. The only Superbowl that topped that for us was the last time the Giants won and we were both living in New York. If we couldn’t be in the city, this was definitely the next best thing.

The next day, because we were so exhausted, we decided to treat ourselves to the baths at Aire de Sevilla. It was HEAVEN. Seriously, this is my new favorite thing in life, and definitely the best thing we’ve done on the trip so far. We also went when we were in Cordóba (which I promise I will recap tomorrow) and are planning to go again in Barcelona. You sit in a warm pool, then move onto a hot pool and then to a freezing pool…and then do it all over again. The process relaxes the body but wakes it up at the same time, and is supposed to improve circulation. The baths in Seville also had a saltwater pool, steam room, and hydrotherapy tub, and if you were tired of the water you could just sit on warm marble slabs and drink tea. If you are in Spain, GO DO THIS. It’s worth every penny.

Oh and since I mentioned Barcelona, I should clarify that we’re heading up there on Friday to meet up with our friend Jorge who is visiting a friend there. We’re leaving Sevilla a bit early (sad) and have rented an apartment for 9 days in what seems like a cool neighborhood, so we’re getting pretty excited about it. Also, to save money and not stress about all our luggage, we will be taking the train along the coast, so that should make for some beautiful views. It’ll be a long day but we’ve really enjoyed the train here so far, so we’re actually quite looking forward to it.

Now I’m off to begin the long process of restoring the files on my computer…