Some lovely photos

These top 2 were taken at El Castelo de Sao George in Lisbon.

And this is the synagogue we visited.

This is the outside of the huge monastery in Belem.

And this is the high monument building. We took an elevator/climbed some stairs to get the top and the view was great.

These are just a few Lisbon highlights. It´s tricky to get a lot of pictures up, but I plan on saving everything to CD so eventually anyone who wants to see more will be able to. I´ll upload some Spain ones in the future. Adios until then!

Toledo Córdoba and Sevilla

We´ve done a ton of things since last week!

Overall Madrid involved a lot of walking and not as much picture taking. We couldn´t take pictures in either the Royal Palace or the Prado art museum. The Prado was huge and had lots of great artwork by El Greco, Rubens, Goya...to name a few.
We were in Madrid for 2 nights, and after that we took a train to Toledo. While Madrid was a bustling city, the old part of Toledo where we stayed was quaint and midieval with narrow stone roads. I loved it - my favorite so far. We met friendly people, shopped, and learned about religious history. When we first arrived, we visited a shop where we saw "damasacene" - black steel plates or jewelry inlaid with gold and silver wire - being handcrafted. This is the signature artwork of Toledo and is really gorgeous. Of course the men working there were extra friendly trying to sell things - we had a good time, and did end up buying gifts. While in Toledo we visited the main cathedral, built in the late 1400´s. It is the most impressive and elaborate I´ve seen, with super high ceilings, detailed carvings, and lots of separate rooms (some with tombs, others showcasing traditional robes or ceremonial objects). We also learned about Jewish roots. Altogether in Spain, there are allegedly only 3 synagogues remaining from before the Inquisition - 2 in Toledo and 1 in Córdoba. La Sinagoga del Tránsito (synagogue of the river, or also known as el Museo Sefardi) is Spain´s national Jewish museum. The synagogue was built in the 1300´s, but later, in the 1400´s, Jews and Muslims were exiled in the effort to make Spain a Christian nation. The synagogue then became a church, and later a military shelter. It is now restored, and the museum added on has Jewish ritual objects collected from different areas in Spain. We also visited the former synagogue Santa Maria la Blanca in Toledo which, like la Sinagoga del Tránsito, was converted into a church after the Jews and Muslims were forced to convert or flee. It still stands as a church.

We took a train back through Madrid to Córdoba next. Córdoba was really hot, with modern shops and fountains - it was nice, but I liked Madrid and Toledo more. We were only there for 1 night. We visited the last of the 3 remaining old synagogues, plus another Jewish museum dedicated to Sephardic traditions and a statue of Maimonides. One of the biggest highlights of Córdoba is La Mezquita - built in the 1300´s, it used to be a Muslim mosque. More wings were added in the 1700´s by Christians after the Inquisition and it became a church. It is a really gorgeous building. I feel that so far we´ve been seeing a lot of the same story - mosques and synagogues turned into cathedrals - but now we´re in Sevilla and it´s been a breath of fresh (but humid and rainy) air...

I wasn´t a huge fan of Córdoba - there wasn´t a lot to do and people were much more "in your face" when selling stuff. I guess we´re obvious tourists. Sevilla is a fun place. It´s very busy at nighttime and there are some great places to see. It´s the site of Real Alcazar, which is an old palace (surprise, not a cathedral) built in the 1300´s by Moors. During the 1400´s extra wings were added, and it is where Queen Isabella met with Columbus when he returned from his travels to the Americas. The tilework was intact throughout most of the palace, and there were beautiful arches and ponds. Outside there was a huge gardens area with lots of trees, ducks, and fountains. Also in Sevilla is the 3rd largest cathedral in Europe. We didn´t actually go inside, but it definitely looks gigantic from the outside. Last night we went to an exciting flamenco show. There was a really talented guitarrist and this singer who had a very guttural voice. The singing had lots of wailing - a little unusual. Then there were also 2 dancers, one male and the other female, and they did lots of fancy, fast footwork and tapping.
So far our hotels have been nice, moderate quality. This one in Sevilla is definitely one of the coolest. It´s called Hotel Amadeus and its theme is everything classical music. There is a grand piano, cello, and harp in the lobby, as well as an additional upright piano in a side room off the lobby. They´ve got sheet music and cd´s, and any guest can play. It seems to be an old-fashioned building, but it´s cozy. And only this month breakfast is included, which saves some money.

Later tonight I´ll try putting up some pictures...they might go well with all the descriptions :)

Lisboaaa Portugal

Hola!
So my family and I spent a couple days in Lisbon, Portugal before heading here to Madrid (really great so far!). It was a pretty interesting experience. First of all I´d never really heard Portuguese before...it was sort of like Spanish and Russian combined, very unique. The European culture is definitely different from American culture, it might take a little time to get fully used to it. The people in Lisbon were really friendly and helpful (except for one odd cabbie), and most spoke some English. It was cool though to pick up and try some Portuguese words out for ourselves.

When we first arrived we mostly walked around and looked at different shops. We took a tram ride (crowded and slightly uncomfortable!) to visit a site called El Castelo de Sao George, or the Castle of St. George, which was neat and historical, plus the views of the city were amazing. Lunch in a local neighborhood of fried potato skins and sandwiches was really tasty. Dinner was a bit more frustrating...we went to a strip where there were lots of restaurants and waiters kept approaching people and pestering them to eat at their restaurant. So we picked a place that had a good menu but unfortunately our food didn´t arrive until an hour later (it was tasty though). We were all a little tired and grumpy, and then someone tried to squeeze past our table but knocked over a glass of port wine onto the floor and it splashed on one of my very few sweatshirts. But aside from that night everything else went really well!
On the second day we visitied a synagogue nearby. It was built a little off the road and we had to enter through a gate. According to an older law, non-Christian places of worhip were allowed but had to be kept more secluded because Portugal was officially a Christian country. This cute little lady let us in and she didn´t know any English, but we were able to communicate in Spanish. The synagogue was really beautiful. Then we met this couple from Israel and they were so cool! I was with people who spoke English, Spanish, and Hebrew all in this synagogue in Portugal. We exchanged emails with the Israeli couple, then headed to a different part of town called Belem. We saw a humongous monastery, a museum with old royal carriages, and a famous Portuguese monument dedicated to Portuguese achievements in exploration. We also ate these super delicious pastries - custard tarts - that were flaky and creamy.

So now we´re in Madrid, and compared to Lisbon it is much more modern and crowded. Last night we went tapas hopping, and we met this waiter who was Jewish and from Morroco. He was really interesting...all in all interacting with locals has been pretty exciting. Earlier today we visited El Palacio Real, which is the royal palace where the king lives...it was so gorgeous. I would put up pictures but I´m not sure if this computer in the hostal has a usb port. And later we´re visiting the Prado museum, which is one of the biggest attractions in Spain. More updates later!

What are my plans?

Hello everyone!
Since lots of family and friends have been asking me to keep them posted about Spain, I thought it would be fun to have a blog for anyone to see. And since I'm supposed to be keeping the director at Pitzer and other exchange students updated through sakai (a communal internet site at the claremont colleges), I figured it would be really easy to update a blog at the same time. This will also act as a personal journal to help me remember the things I've done.

For anyone that doesn't know about our travel plans...my family and I fly out of LA on Tuesday evening to London and from London we are flying to Lisbon, Portugal. We're staying in Portugal for about 2 days and then we fly to Madrid. After that, we're traveling all over Spain and it will most definitely be hectic. I don't even know the exact order or number of days we'll be at each hotel, but we're visiting roughly 8 cities in Spain (Toledo, Seville, Cordoba, Granada, Barcelona to name a few). We also plan on making a day trip to Morocco (wow!) and a day trip to Gibraltar, which is an English city. Pictures to come...

We will be taking a number of flights, train rides, and rental cars around the country until we finally end up in Leon on September 3rd, which is where I will be spending my semester (Leon is in the northwestern region of Spain and isn't a huge city; the population is maybe 140,000). My family goes back to the states a couple days later. I will be living with a host family for a couple weeks and then there's a week-long orientation at the Universidad de Leon for international students. After the orientation I will most likely be switching hosts because at the orientation students are able to fill out a questionnaire and pick a family to live with. Then in the beginning of October, I will start an intensive 11-week Spanish course at the University's language school. The course sounds really advanced but I'm hoping that my Spanish will have improved by the time it starts, since I'll have already been in Spain for a month and a half. The course ends on December 20th (or 21st?), and my flight back home is on December 22nd. Whew!

It's possible that I will have some sort of internship while I'm abroad, like during the afternoons when classes are finished. But some of my plans are uncertain and won't get figured out until I'm there. It's all very scary/exciting. I'm sad to leave right now because I miss Pitzer a lot, but I know that it will be an adventure and I'm lucky to have the opportunity to go. My Spanish should be excellent by the time I come back, and I'll probably meet some really different yet amazing people. If anyone wants to send me e-mails, my address is lindy_bornstein@pitzer.edu and I will update if it changes. I've discussed phone conversations with a couple friends, and I will update once I know more about making phone calls in Spain. I'm not sure how often I will be able to update this blog, since I've decided not to bring a laptop (my current one is dysfunctional), but I know the University has lots of computers and there are also local internet cafes...so it's fair to say I'll update at least once every 1-2 weeks (in the Spain timezone - a 9 hour difference I believe. And actually this was written on Sunday night, definitely not at 7am). I expect e-mails from friends too pleeeease! I miss Pitzer life.

Adios, happy reading.