Introduction
In the past three days we have crossed multiple borders without feeling like we crossed anything. Of course, going from Portugal to Spain is all Euro-zoned, so that’s fine, but recent events made crossing into the UK post-Brexit as easy as taking a step (read here). This edition is more chronological with our time since Granada with our day trip to Malaga, time in Gibraltar, and lastly a sunny visit to Seville. Please enjoy and see you in Portugal!
Malaga
Our day trip to Malaga involved two things: a walk around the Jewish Quarter that had a sign saying Jewish Quarter and the much-anticipated beach. To be fair, our tour guide Mark did do an excellent job with what is there in terms of Jewish history. We also saw a statue of Solomon Ibn Gabriol, who was a renowned medieval Jewish scholar and poet. Now, as my parents know, I am not the biggest beach person, but it was nice to be outside and chilling. Lots of people went into the water, which is the Mediterranean Sea, and had a great time. This is because we have 5 big rules, with rule 5 being NO COMPLAINING!
Gibraltar
Now we did not go to the UK (as in the isles where trip-favorite counselor Katie is from) but Gibraltar, which is an exclave in the south of Spain (specifically a pene-exclave, so bring on the pasta). The territory is very British but also Spanish in a way with the locals hablando my favorita idioma of Spainglish. You can get fish and chips and tapas sometimes in the same restaurant, with the former being how we started our time in the country. Gibraltar was a nice break from rushing around Spain, and we got plenty of chill time. If you weren’t aware, which I certainly wasn’t, Gibraltar actually has a large Jewish population. We had the opportunity to tour two synagogues with our local Jewish tour guide Joshua and also visited a kosher snack shop. I personally have never lived in a high Jewish concentration area, but those from New York saw similarities. It was very important to see how different Jewish communities operate compared to our own and prompted some great discussions from the group. Religion wasn’t the only highlight of Gibraltar with our tour of the Rock of Gibraltar. The rock has a large population of monkeys, which is very entertaining to view. I personally really enjoyed buying my favorite British snacks like Jammie Dodgers, Dairy Milk Bars, and Robinsons squash drink. Overall, it was a very fascinating tour of a place not often talked about by Americans.
Seville
We only spent a short amount of time in Seville, but as our last Spanish city before Portugal, it was interesting. It was extremely hot, so we had to cut our visit short in some places, but we notably got to see the Plaza de Toros de la Real Maestranza de Caballería de Seville, or the place where they do the bull fights. It was very interesting to see all the artifacts of fancy jackets and more that the museum had. Likewise, it might have been extremely hot, but we still said ole to exploring the cathedral of Seville, which is the third largest church in the world. It also had the Giralda, which was a tower overlooking the city, which, after a short climb of 35 ramps, gave you views of the city. Overall, it was a nice ending to our time in Spain, and the trip was extremely excited to go to Portugal!