Cordoba and others

The pictures are:
*Five pictures of the Church err.. I mean Mosque... no I mean Church... in Cordoba
*Column's from an old Roman temple in Cordoba
*"Ancient Roman" cats who live at the temple
*Jürg in a big open fish market *shivers a little*
*A Square plaza in Cordoba. Famous because Spain generally doesn't have Square Plaza's
*Jürg, Kerstin, Sandra, Delphin, Anika, and me in the Gardens of the Palace in Cordoba
So this last Saturday the school organized and outing for us to go to Cordoba, famous ancient city of Andalucia. Too be honest I didn't know anything about Cordoba, but it was a chance to go see another city with a bunch of the students from the school which was really good. In tempo it was my impression that Cordoba was slower, and more tranquil than Granada. It was much more pedestrianzed, with fewer cars, and larger sidewalks. Also there were fewer people and almost no construction. The best thing about it was that Mar went with us as our non-official tour guide :-), and I had more or less an entire day speaking spanish with her, which was really good for me.
By far the most interesting thing for me in Cordoba was the church. There is actually some really interesting history here. So Spain was an Islamic kingdom for around 700 years and when the europeans came and conquered (or reconquered depending on your point of view) they would tear down the Mosque in each city and build a Church in the same location. In Cordoba they didn't tear down the Mosque, they merely converted the building into a Church. So what stands there today is for me an incrediably bizzare mixture of two religions which are so alike and yet so different. The building itself is absolutely beautiful. No two of the columns that you can see in the pictures are the same. Either they differ in the cloumn itself (the marble ranges from black, through grey, pink, and red) or if the columns are realy close they have a different style of cap. Also almost every piece of arcitectual design is filled with the beautiful geometric patterens that for me are so indicative of Islam. Then as I gazed around the building I suddenly see a cross, or some old catholic painting. Really quite a powerful experience.
On an entirely different topic, I am quite rapidly approaching the end of my time here in Granada. Today I went and bought a ticket for the night train to Barcelona this Friday, and I booked a hostel in Barcelona for Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday night, after which I will be heading up to Roncesvalles to start the Camino. This a slightly crazy thing because it means the end of my time in Granda is quickly approaching and I will not be in a school for the rest of my time in Spain. I think that covering more or less the entirity of the indicative tenses of Spanish, and feeling confident enough in my Spanish to exist in travel situations (and a little more) in six weeks is a fairly decent accomplishment for me. And now it is almost time for the true traveling to begin :-D