18. Las Navidades

Have you ever, after a long day or a busy weekend, just laid in bed and ran through everything that happened in your head? Pausing on certain moments and replaying them? And have you ever just laid there, unable to process how amazingly awesome everything was and how unbelievably fortunate you were?

That is my winter holidays summed up. I have been so privileged with the people in my life and the places they’ve taken me, the things they’ve shown me… I almost can’t comprehend how lucky I am. So I’d like to start this post off with a BIG BIG THANK YOU!
On then, to my many adventures.

I left school a week early and took a bus south, to Andalucía. I was to return to the same family I had stayed with during summer. After an exhausting trip, walking into that house again… the whole family gathered for a Saturday lunch, it felt like I had never left. It felt like I had gone to Madrid for a week, as if Madrid had been the holiday and not Marbella. I was happy to be back.

The first adventure was Granada. It was my second time visiting, but this time I felt I could take in more. Granada was just as beautiful as before and just as cold, being at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (which was covered in clouds the whole of my stay there). In March I had been in awe of everything, it being my first experience of the south. But this time, as I walked the streets, I felt I was returning to an old friend. I toured the cathedral, getting an neck ache from looking up the whole time, admiring the impossibly tall pillars and the vaulted ceilings. And a quiet cathedral at dusk is something special to behold…

The next day it was a steep climb up the hill to the famous Alhambra. A bit of background:
“The Alhambra, the complete Arabic form of which was Qalat Al-Hamra, is a palace and fortress complex located in Granada, Andalusia, Spain. It was originally constructed as a small fortress in AD 889 on the remains of Roman

fortifications, and then largely ignored until its ruins were renovated and rebuilt in the mid-13th century by the Moorish emir Mohammed ben Al-Ahmar of the Emirate of Granada, who built its current palace and walls. It was converted into a royal palace in 1333 by Yusuf I, Sultan of Granada. After the conclusion of the Christian Reconquista in 1492, the site became the Royal Court of Ferdinand and Isabella...”
(Thank you Wikipedia)

The complex was everything I could have dreamed of and more. Having studied Arabic and Islamic art in History of Art, I could appreciate the palaces (yes, plural) more. It was just like all the times before, when I had seen a church that I had only studied from texts and photos, up close. Taking the same photos that came up on a Google Image search, being able to appreciate the small details, and most important of all, walk the same halls royals had… that’s surreal.

That evening there was a tour through Albaicín, the little suburb on the hill opposite Alhambra, and just as old. It was really special to walk through the narrow streets, past the white washed buildings, a mosque-turned-church on almost every corner, the modern people going about their life in a town that has existed since medieval times. You have to pause to take it all in because it truly is something extraordinary.

The next trip on the itinerary wasn’t something I had planned on, but in the end the experience was almost better than Granada. Gloria, my host mom, although they live on the coast, works more inland. To understand this, you have to know that the Betic Mountains take up most of southern Andalucia. In Malaga it’s the Penibetic-subrange and close to Marbella it’s the Sierra de las Nieves (not to be confused with Sierra Nevada, which hosts the highest point of continental Spain)-subrange. So, to go inland from Marbella, you have to drive through a lot of hilly passes, up and down through valleys. The first day Gloria took me with so I could see the “small, traditional Andalucian villages,” as she’d put it. And I was certainly glad to see them, because never before had I seen anything like it.

Imagine mountains with gentle slopes, enough to be heavily forested. Imagine lush green hillsides with narrow rivers gently cutting through the landscape. Now imagine small little towns, all white, clinging to these slopes, ever few kilometres. Qué impresionante, no? And now, imagine standing at a lookout point in one of these towns and looking back at the coast, and seeing everything – the valley running out to the coast, the Mediterranean Sea, a few white clouds and the distant shores of Africa on the other side. It feels like you’re on top of the world. Honestly, breathtaking.

I voluntarily went with again the next day.

Just before New Year’s we visited Sevilla, where Gloria has family. Sevilla is north from the province of Malaga and looks completely different. Where Malaga in mountainous, Sevilla is as flat as a steamrolled pancake. That is because it is located in the valley of the river Guadalquivir, which is one of the three biggest lowland regions of an otherwise elevated Spain. The Guadalquivir even runs through the city. My host brother, Eu, his cousin, Arturo, and his girlfriend, Miriam, took me through the city. From the Parque Maria Luisa, La Plaza de España, the cathedral, La Giralda (bell tower) to the river, the Torre de Oro (Golden Tower) next to it, the Bullring and La Seta (The Mushroom). And again, seeing all the architecture I’ve only learned about come to life… isn’t that the dream?

Driving back from Sevilla we took a little detour. The original plan was to go to Gibraltar, just because there’s a big rock and it’s a bit of a novelty. But after some research and me Add to dictionary that I might not be able to enter with my Spanish visa, I phoned their offices… only to get no answer. It was final then, we wouldn’t be going to Gibraltar. And I actually didn’t mind that much. See, Gibraltar and Spain have a bit of bad history between them. Gibraltar and its infamous rock make a little peninsula sticking out in the bay of Algeciras. Some time during the long history of Europe, Britain decided to annex it, to have better control over the Mediterranean sea trade. So you have this tip of land, that is British soil and you need to go through passport control and everything. Eugenio (my host father) being an ex army man, is a deeply patriotic Spaniard

and has never put foot on Gibraltar, doesn’t plan to ever do so. So, in the end when we didn’t go, I didn’t feel like I had lost out on anything, I just felt more… Spanish. Which sat decidedly well with me.

But, we still made a detour. From Sevilla we drove down to Tarifa, which is the most southern point on continental Europe. Only the Straits of Gibraltar (14km in width) separate Africa and Europe and the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean. I mean… how cool…?? I literally don’t have words.

The last place we visited was Cordoba. Of course, how can you miss that? The mosque-turned-cathedral, the world famous Roman bridge, the remains of the Roman temple, the Plaza de la Corredera… again, amazing. No words.

As for family time, I mean, it was the festive season. Other than various family-and-friends lunches we hosted during my three

week stay there, we also had special (fancier) dinners on Christmas and New Year’s Eve, where the special plates, champagne flutes, silverware and tablecloths were brought out. And you never stop eating. Ever. Not that I’m complaining – the food was great. Honestly, I’ll definitely miss that.

And then, at the end of it all, came the goodbyes. I won’t elaborate, but just know that it was extremely difficult. I had identified so much with My Family of the South, as I had taken to calling them, that it genuinely felt like I had to leave a part of my heart there. It was, in one word, sad. And the goodbyes weren’t about to get any easier.