Barcelona...My first Euro trip!!

Last stop in Andalucia...Seville

2008-04-02T13:39:00.030+02:00

Well, these are the last pictures from the first field trip, which was too long ago to even be posting now. But, you all know why I am so backlogged. So without any further rambling here is the last of the pictures. Enjoy!!! Oh, and one last thing, there aren't very many pictures of this city becuase for one of the days I had food poisining and taking pictures was the last of my concerns.

The Schindler Building along the waterfront. Kinda ugly in my opinion. Question to ponder...why do you have to go to pretty much the top of the building to get into it???

Hallway in the Real Alcazar. This palace was originally a fortress which was later expanded for King Pedro of Castile. Moorish workers were used for the construction and thus explains the reason for the Islamic architecture.

One of the many great halls that are located within the complex.

One of the many intricate, moorish, domes.

Only one of the various mosaic tile patterns that cover the walls of the complex. As stated in earlier blogs, mosaic tile works is a very distinct characteristic of Islamic architecture.

A threshold from a great hall to one of the multiple garden, courtyard areas outside. This is another characteristic of Islamic architectue; an obvious threshold area that acts as a metaphorical cleansing as one passes from one type of area to another. This is extremely visible in mosques.

One of the many courtyards in the Alcazar

The same courtyard, just trying to show the entire composition of it.

One of the walls in the Alcazar that is extensively decorated with mosaics.

A close up of that same wall to show how detailed Islamic mosaics truly are.

Another wall with mosaic tile patterns.

In the gardens of the Alcazar. As you can see these gardens are full of life, wildlife that is.

The animals are not afraid to come right up to your feet...(It also may be becuase we were feeding them, apparently ducks like cheetos)

The peacocks that run around the gardens. These are truly stupid animals. The way we were able to get them to come out from hiding was to take a handful of pebbles, throw them up into the air, and then when the peacocks heard them hit the ground, they came a runnin' for all the "food". They even went as far as trying to eat them before they realized that the rocks were not food.

Another shot of a peacock

Seville Cathedral. This is the largest church in the world for the amount of square feet of land it owns/ occupies with its cathedral and garden spaces.

The tomb of Christopher Columbus, or so they say that this is where he rests.

One of the extremely ornate altars located within.

Cool picture of us (from left to right: myself, Irene, Lauren, Doster, and Bnay)

One of the many large stained glass windows that line the perimeter of the church.

Looking at the city of Seville from the belltower.

A close up shot of a rooftop within the city. As you can see, since there is no room for a pool in a backyard, they are all located on rooftops. There were a bunch of rooftops with pools like this one.

The rooftop of the Seville Cathedral. This picture was taken as we decended from the belltower.

Another view of the church. Same corner as above but just different context included.

Looking at the cathedral from the garden space.

The Gardens of the Alhambra

2008-03-24T16:14:00.029+01:00

Here is the rest of the pictures from the Alhambra. They are the gardens located throughout the entire complex.

The next few pictures are of a designed swail that takes the water from this fountain located in a wall to a giant pond at the bottom. You will see how it all connects.

This is a view of a small pond that flows from the fountain. I literally turned around a took a picture and this is the view you would see.

If you were to look through the opening in the shrub as seen above, looking down the stairwell/ water path.

Looking back up to the starting position of the fountain on the wall. Hopefully you can see the connection from the first picture to the rest of them.

The terminating point of that designed swail, a giant reflecting pool with a building at the opposite end.

An overview of the building shown above, with all the gardens that surround it.

An overview of the gardens. The building to the right is more of the Alhambra complex that is located on the opposite side of the mountain that we were on.

Yet another setion of the garden complex. Cool fountains

All of the buildings that you can see are part of the Alhambra complex. Its truly massive.

If you were to take the picture above anf look to the left, you will see how the complex continues even further.

Looking left even further from the above picture, you can see, again, even more of the Alhambra. (yeah, the complex is so big you can't fit it into one picture, or even two for that part. Also, im pretty sure this third picture dosen't even tell the story of the entire complex.)

Another "distrcit" of the gardens where a simialr pond like the one shown above, only difference there is one element that makes it better....me!

At a lookout point, with a view of the city of Granada

A stone pattern on the walway. It must have been the family crest of the royal family that reigned within the palace.

Another cool water garden within the complex. I love the square shaped yews

Another view of the city. This is more or less the outskirts of the area. You can also see the old security walls that used to protect the city.

A cool stairwell made entirely from stone that has two small streams that run through the handrails.

A view of the stairwell looking down it from the first landing

A view of the entire stairwell from the top landing

Walking down the other side of the water stairway. Crazy windy path, and decnently steep

Cool pathway that is completely covered by natural vegetation

Labyrinth type remains that were most likely used for a market or something along those lines were locals can come in. They also might have been areas for workers for the royal family.

Granada part 2...Alhambra

2008-03-23T16:06:00.000+01:00

This is one of the beautiful tile artworks that are littered all over the Alhambra. Becuase displaying people, animals, etc is not permitted to be used in artwork umong the Muslim religion, they have to use geometry and Coran verses. You will see more of this in upcoming photos.

A view of Granada looking through a minneret.

A horseshoe archway with some of the intricate Islamic detailing.

A close up of some of the mosaic tile work in the Alhambra. My Arabic is horrible so all I can make out is "Allah". An extreme rough translation of the script is something about how "without god there is nothing, or there is no other god but Allah" something along those lines.

An awesome picture of one of the multiple courtyards with a reflecting pool in the Alhambra

Another courtyard within the complex.

The detailing within another horseshoe archway. Notice the arabic script above it.

One of the really ornate ceilings. Keep in mind that all the ceilings, walls, archways. etc are entirely made of stone.

Another Coran verse carved within the walls. Whats really amazing is that the building is made mainly with stone, so how they were able to make all the detail work in an era where power tools did not exist is beyond me.

Another variation of ceiling detail

Another mosaic tile pattern on the walls.

Check out this dome that is entirely stone. Pretty talented construction workers.

A very programmatic, and well planned courtyard. Check out the linear waterway that leads to the fountain in the middle. You will see more of these waterways that are extremely planned. Remeber, in Islamic architecture, they can have people, animals, etc, so their style is going to be very geometrically planned.

Check out this dome and the shape of it. This is a constantly reocurring shape within Islamic architecture and the following pictures.

The beginning of the gardens that completely surrounnd the Alhambra. Some of these gardens are absolutely breath taking.

Continuation of Andalucia Trip

2008-03-21T15:49:00.000+01:00

Bienvienido a Granada, enjoy the pictures!!

Ave Maria Cathedral, did not go inside but the exterior is still rediculous.

The building to the right of Ave Maria. I guess its a sign from a God!!

Gato Negro. This interesting little character is plastered on the walls everywhere. He is also painted within the surrounding enviornment, no painted ON a wall, you will see in future pictures.

Views of the Alhambra as we ascend to the top of a lookout point across the river from it. The pictures of the Alhambra and the city are gorgeous from this lookout point.

Another wall painting that works whithin the given enviornment.

A view of the Alhambra from an alley way. Slowly ascending to the top.

Gato Negro. You can probably understand what I meant when I said that he is painted "whithin" and no "on" the enviornment. I dont know what it is but I am in love with this cat and how he is painted in so many different variations around the city.

A view of the snow covered moutains beyond. This is on top of the lookout point.

A view of the city below.

The Alhambra from afar.

Yours truly, with the Alhambra in the background.

As the sun slowly sets over the city of Granada.

Yours truly, again, as the sun is setting.

The sun, as its sets even further into the horizon.

The last of the sun before darkness moves in.

The city below

The Alhambra lit up at night.

The next few pictures are going to be more variations of the Gato Negro as we saw them in progression walking down from the lookout point.

A poem that goes along with Gato Negro.

More pictures from the past...enjoy

2008-03-20T16:23:00.000+01:00

I feel absolutely horrible right now because I am still trying to update my blog with pictures from the past. And when I say the past I mean from eons ago. Well, I am going to stop rambling and here is the rest. I will have captions with them also.

This is a picture inside the Madrid train station. Talk about bringing the outdoors inside...literally.

It may be a little difficult to see but there are actually turtles swimming in this pond. Again, this is inside the Madrid train station

Well, welcome to Cordoba. This is a picture outside of the very famous Mezquita. Wait until you see the photos of the inside....breathtaking (as are some of the scenic views of Granada, which will be coming up soon).

Inside the courtyard of the Mezquita. Notice the extreme Arab influence on the architecture. Not only in Cordoba but in most areas in Andalucia, the architecture has a high Arab influence.

The awesome bell tower where people would call the town for prayer.

Inside the Mezquita, and of course the famous view of looking through the line of endless pillars/ archways.

An altar that was gated off. Just look at the intricacy of the detail. Even though the Mezquita was orginally a mosque, it was later turned into a Christian church because of the Spanish Inquistion. Im not exactly sure if it was because of the inquisition, but if it is not then it was something along those lines with "forcing Muslims out a pushing Chrisitanity".

One of the many intricate domes inside the Mezquita. (you will notice that all the architecture in Spain is extremely intricate)

Another type of archway style inside the Mezquita

A good picture showing the mix of Arab and Christian cultures. An altar with a crucfix underneath the Arabic horseshoe arch.

Perfect picture showing the endless rows of columns. I think everybody in the world has seen a picture like this one.

A view of the columns but parallel with them.

If you can see the chrisitanity in the Mezquita after this picture then your obviously not looking at the pictures!!

A very elaborate groin vault in the middle of the Mezquita, where the main Muslim - Chirstian transformation was.

One of the most detailed relics I have ever seen in my life, good lord.

Close up

Interesting statues to be seen in a church!?!?!?

A gorgeous gold cross.

Pics from a long time ago

2008-03-13T22:21:00.000+01:00

Well, after recieving my midterm grade, ive decided to pick up the pace and im going to give it my all to keep the blog up to date. Also, the remainder of the trip i have decided to give a focus to my blog but also talk about other things on what is happeining in BCN also. My topic is going to be the tradition of siesta, how it works, what hours does it occur, and how does siesta extend the buisness day compared to the US. Anyways, here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

2008-02-19T01:20:00.000+01:00

Well, I have posted more pictures. The lastest are of the Roman ruins that lurk underneath the city of Barcelona. Even though these pics are being added now, they are decently old news (becuase its hard to keep updating a blog in an internet cafe). But other than that Barcelona is still the intersting city it always was and still is becuase of its mix between modern and old. The nightlife is still a little too much for me to handle, becuase they party till´six in tha mornin´. Other than that my time on the internet has run out so i have to keep it short. Ill be posting more and more often in the future so keep your eyes peeled.

Still trying to keep the blog up to date

2008-02-12T00:32:00.001+01:00

Alright people, my computadora is still busted but im spending multiple euro to have uniterrupted time on the internet to upload pics and keep the blog up to date. As you can see I have uploaded my pictures of Santa Maria del Mar and as you can see that it is a spectacular sight. (please appreciate the pictures because it took over a half an hour or 50 centimos just to get them up). Ill try to spend close to 2 hrs. almost every other day so i can solely work on the blog (which is what i just did). Also, Christi if you are reading this please keep in mind my computer woes when deciding on what type of grade I should get for the blog, like I said, I´ve been dropping a lot of money to do this. Next time I post you will be getting a free show of the roman ruins buried underneath Barcelona. After, you will see the first set of photos from field trip numero uno. This week long peregrenation led the group to Madrid, Cordoba, Granada, and Sevilla, but I will fill in all the stories that go along with the pictures when I get to those postings. For now enjoy the following paragraph where Ill ramble for a bit about the general inconveniences that Europe presents.
First, trying to ship items to the US is quite impossible. Finding a FEDEX, UPS, or DHL is like finding the lost city of Atlantis, and once you find it, youll probably forget where it is once you need to find it again. Second, Im not a big fan about the overinflated denomination that this socialist economy uses, the Euro. How can a government overinflate their currency just so their on top, right behind the GBP. But I will have no real beef once the economy comes to an extreme crash and the Euro falls through the floor faster than a 10 ton anvil. Lastly, I still want to figure out how Europeans take a three hour lunch break or siesta in the middle of the day and barely have any actual work days, but have the ability to shop, walk around, and spend money all the time. If anyone has an answe to this, please tell me becuase I want to take this information back to the good ole´ US of A and put it into practice.
Well, until I get the opportunity (and the dinero) to post another blog and a lot more pictures, Ill leave you here to ponder and some of the points I have brought up and gander at the pictures that I have posted.
Ciao,
Pj

Trying to keep my blog up to date.

2008-01-22T03:12:00.000+01:00

Ok people, here is the deal. Right now my computer is busted and all the other pictures of Forum Barcelona are on it, which means they are lost. Unfortunately, I cannot add any more pictures at the time being, so I'll be keeping all of you updated by word only.
Studio is really interesting this semester. No AutoCAD, parallel bars on the desk, and no real formal lined drawings. So far all the work has been gesso on black paper, which is a lot more fun than the usual studio work. My other classes aren't that bad either because they are only two hours long, once a week. And the best part, only four day work weeks.
Night life here is pretty interesting. Clubs and bars are truly open usually around 12-1AM and don't close until 5AM. Unfortunately, I have not really enjoyed it as much as a should be because my money is spent on food and studio supplies (who ever thought a sketchbook at the cheapest would be 25 euros). For those who don't know what that is in the US, its approx 37 dollars, but that is short changing it.
Other than everything being pretty expensive, stores closing for three hours in the afternoon for siesta, and an extremely late night life, Europe is still proving to be very interesting and pretty fun. Well sorry for short changing all of you on the pictures I have but I will post them ASAP. Until another time, Hasta Luego!!

First real sight seeing attraction. Forum Bacelona

2008-01-16T23:36:00.000+01:00

Today was the first real, hard-core sightseeing ive done. Let me just say, Forum Barcelona, and Barcelona the city, itself is rediculous. First, the city is not only huge, but it is amazing. There are cafe's, bars, stores, fresh markets, street performers, etc., etc., everywhere. The people are really nice and most will help you out if you just try. A little bit of Spanish goes quite a long way. Also, the females are pretty attractive, and all are trendy. The only thing i dont like is the pickpockets, which makes me pretty much not trust any one of the locals. And it is not like they put a gun in your face like an American, insteady they tricky about. See, personally, id be scared and have a gun pulled on me than trust absolutely no one, question whether i recieved the correct change, and have my backpack locked and hands in my pocket to avoid stuff like that.

Forum Barcelona is an urban renewal project along the coastline and holds Europes largest convention center and a forum center that shows all the various urban renewal projects for the city. It also holds one of the sickest models ive ever seen. Its the size of an entire room and there is a video that plays and lights up the model in various ways simultaneously.Well this is only a portion of what more is going to be posted and everyone who reads this will see the city through the eyes of me. Until tomorrow...Hasta Manana.