and here is one of the bands that we found in the street during carnival on sat night.  for anyone who's ever been to SB for Halloween, it's just like that, but with a whole city and lots of kids and old people!!

 

 like here's a kid.  this is super late at night.

 

 and the difference between carnival and halloween is that the point for the girls isn't just to be as scandalous as possible...and they therefore have really good costumes.  i think i'll buy a costume here to take back with me.  like a gypsy costume.

 

 and they also have actual skits and stuff going on in the street...there are bands and performances all over the place instead of just intoxicate people wandering around.

 

 

 

 this is a man.

 

 la plaza de san agustine.  and the woman and girls in the very foreground were mother/daughters who were smoking together.  and the girl was definitely younger than me.  how cute...what a great way to bond.  NOT!!!  gross.

 

 this is also a man.

 

 

 

 so now we go to Medinat Al-Zahra...some muslim ruins...that's the city's name.

 

 the grand entry way.  by the way, this place was built in the 940's!!! wow!!!

 

 kinda like switzerland they have lots of potable water features and fountains

 

 the city reached all the way out to that wall in the distance but it hasn't all been excavated.  this in the foreground is a mosque.

 

 this pool was where they had a fountain of water mixed with mercury coz they thought it was cool that when the sun heated it up the water level rose and vice versa.  cool but dangerous!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 goats

 

 half time at the football game

 

 another little kid during carnival

 

 now this is the mosque in cordoba.  actually the gardens of the mosque.  these oranges are super bitter...like worse than lemons.  trust me, we tried them.  the orchard was constructed in such a way that they could lift up a water stopper and the water would flow from tree to tree where the oranges are right now.  actually, the whole roof functioned as an aquaduct so when it rained it funneled it down into water catchers to save the water.  it's apparently quite a spectacle when it rains here!!  not sure we'll get to see it, but i can't complain about that!!!

 

 cool window. and it was SUPER cold inside the mosque.  maggie said she hadn't been that cold since winter in vermont.  it was strange and we weren't prepared for it!!

 

 lots of columns carved from marble that took 3 weeks to transport here!!

 

 that part behind the bars is where the catholics that took the church over decided to bury wealthy people.

 

 

 

 the muslims actually built this mosque smack on top of a christian church.  this is a mosaic way under the current mosque site.

 

 so when the catholics overtook the mosque they built a cathedral in the middle of it.  you can see the arches of the mosque on the right then all this gothic architecture pops up out of nowhere!!

 

 

 

 the mosque was built in stages, added onto by 'king' after 'king' and this was the sacred archway to the sacred part of one of the earlier versions of the mosque which one of the people who added onto it decided to leave to show that that area had once been the sacred/royal/off limits part of the mosque

 

 again mix of the muslim architecture with an altar...strange...

 

 this ceiling pattern was invented by one of the guys who helped build the mosque and can be found nowhere else in the world!!

 

 and here's more gothic randomness

 

 this is looking straight up at the ceiling...right have muslim, left half catholic.  weird.

 

 

 

 this is where the sacred chambers started in the mosque.  the catholics actually had a light go on when they overtook the mosque in that instead of destroying this part, they just built a wall cutting it off, fooling everyone into thinking it wasn't there until some random person accidentally discovered light poking through the wall....all of it is completely original and untouched.  lucky!  and it's real gold.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 and another random part the catholics claimed and converted as their own.

 

 

 

 

 

 in one of the parades here they put a massive cracker in the middle and that becomes the body of christ.  it's really important, i know, but if i'm to be worshiped when i die, i better be something better than a wafer.  i'm thinking chocolate cake!!

 

 and in the weird catholic part, there is a painting of the muslims begging and making offerings at the feet of the christians.  go figure!!

 

 this was a catholic treasure room and you can see through the archway the actual muslim part

 

 some of the pilars have the signatures chisled in of the sculptures who carved them.

 

 and here are a few of the panels of the molds of the signatures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 that's all for now.  thanks for reading, and i miss you guys!!!
x