La Rábida and Córdoba

This past summer, I went on the Mount’s trip to Seville, Spain. While there, I took some classes, polished my Spanish, and learned about Spanish culture through many excursions and trips through Spain’s southernmost province of Andalucía.

The first weekend, a group of us traveled to La Rábida, the monastery where Columbus developed his idea to travel to the Indies via a western route. There, we toured the monastery and spent a day at the beach. The following day I went to Córdoba with other Mount students and we visited a Roman museum, shared some Spanish tapas (small plates of appetizers) together, and ended our day touring the Mezquita, the mosque built during the Moorish Conquest of Spain. It was later taken in the Reconquest and is used today as a cathedral. I walked in and couldn’t believe how beautiful it was with a mix of Muslim and Christian art. What most took my breath away were the many arches and columns which went in every direction I looked. It was a perfect visit for me, since I took a course on Hispano-Muslim art and architecture. That week, I would study the structural design of those very arches, and the artistic designs of the Mihrab, the place where the Koran is kept.