Historical Museum of Ecija

Ecija has a small little museum about the very dense history of the city.  America is such a new county that our history is minute in comparison to all of the places I have been visiting!  Apparently about a decade ago, when Ecija decided to build an underground parking lot beneath the big square (locally known as "El Salon") they discovered so many roman ruins and artifacts from Spain's earliest inhabitants!!  So they built this museum inside of an old palace!!

Inside look at the courtyard!

The Old Stables!

Very ancient and primitive stone carving of a bull.

An Old Crematorium

There were lots of stone carvings, very ornate tiny gold treasures, money, little oil lamps made out of clay, and even an old skeleton in a tomb.

Roman Era

I can't even begin to imagine how long this must have taken to hand carve the curls of his hair into this stone!

The museum also had about 7 enormous mosaics that were floors of old Ecijan palaces.  This one depicted several of the Greek gods, which was a very common theme for a mosaic, as was depicting the 4 seasons.

This mosaic illustrates the gift of wine and how it is made, as instructed by the Greek God who imparted this knowledge upon the populace.

 

Yet this statue of an Amazon is the prize of Ecija.  There are only 4 others in the wold, so it is a very big deal for Ecija to have one!!  This is what the museum states about her...

"Amazons, mythological characters related to goddess Artemis (Diana), were an archetype of women who were opposite to the female ideal in classic Greco-Roman world.  Amazons were wild, robust, skilled archers who rode horseback and were independent from men.

This ideal sculpture represents the Amazon in meditation befor her imminent death, almost fainting after being wounded in her right side, but containing her pain with serentiy.  She wears a tunic tucked and belted at the waist with a makeshift bit of a bridle from her horse."

On Friday night some of the other girls wanted to go to a dancing place.  So I rushed over after work  and got to the girls' apartment around 10pm.  I thought I was a little late, but to my surprise they were just getting ready.  They said that no one goes out here until 2 am!!!  Which is crazy because that is when all the places are closing up in the States.  So around 2:30 we finally left, and I was ready to go to sleep!  When we got there the club owner told us that a guy from the reality show Big Brother, the Spanish series, was there ate the club.  We told him that we were not from there & were not familiar with the show.  And he replied, "But you can touch him!!!!"   We all though that was so funny because it really illuminated the difference between men & women!

Anyway, there were not very many people there and hardly anyone was dancing.  People just stood around with drinks in their hand and people watched.  There were even several 65 year old people there, so needless to say the age range was pretty diverse. 

Anyone who was dancing definitely did NOT ever put their hands above mid-torso level.  Apparently that is very uncool here and if you do dance with your hands in the air, you really stand out as a foreigner.  All of these cultural differences are so interesting to me!!  Anyway, we only saw the guy from Big Brother for about 2 minutes getting his picture taken with people.  It was pretty uneventful, but a very interesting experience.

Michelle, Stephanie, Michell, & Me

Oh, I forgot to mention how I met the other Michelle (who is pictured on the left beside me in the photos above).  The English school that my kids go to forwarded my email address to her because she is also an au pair here in Ecija!!  She looks after twin 5 year olds, has been here since September, and is from Edinburgh, Scotland!  I really, really like her!!!  She has such a sweet and lovely way about her and has traveled all over the world.  She is going to be such a wonderful traveling companion!!    : )

New Friends & Ecija Palaces

After I had been in Ecija for a while, I thought that I would like to meet some English speakers who would like to travel around with me on the weekends.  So I emailed the kids' English school and a girl named Gemma from New Castle, England wrote me back!  At the beginning of my 3rd week here, I went to an Intercambio group that Gemma invited me to.  Intercambio is a Spanish word that means to exchange, so every Thursday there is a big group (usually around 12 people) that get together to fellowship and practice their language skills.  The group is comprised of both native English & Spanish speakers which is so much fun!!  We always meet at the bar called Quitapenas which serves tapas (petite little dishes) for 1-2.50 Euros each.  Tapas in general are usually very cheap in Spain which makes it easier to branch out and try new food because if you don't like it, you've only "wasted" around $1.75!  It's so fun!  And since we meet there every Thursday, at the end of the night the waitress gives us all a free shot.  Everyone knows that I am not a big drinker, and especially not a big shot-taker.  So the first week I did not take one, but the second week that I went, we all received a little bit of honey rum with whipped cream and cinnamon on top.  The waitress took one with us this time and it looked good, so I tried it.  It was so sweet & tasted like a little dessert!

The next Saturday the 17, there was a tour of some of the palaces in Ecija!  Four other girls from the Intercambio group were going and invited me to come along with them!  Linda is a 41 year old civil engineer from Miami who is currently teaching English at a school in Ecija.  She is very sweet and has been unbelievably kind to me, even giving me her old phone to use while I am here!  Adele is a tall, curly haired, 24 year old from France.  She understands English but doesn't speak it very much because she is fluent in Spanish and even has a Spanish boyfriend.  The other two girls, Michelle and Stephanie, are also English teachers who are majoring in Spanish.  Michelle is a 21 year old girl from Scotland and her accent is so much fun!  I get the biggest kick out of hearing her talk!! Stephanie is a 22 year old brunet from Minnesota and we have really clicked!  She is so fun and sweet and our personalities really match! 

So the four of us set off on the palace tour of Ecija!  I really like living in Ecija (pronounced Eh-see-ha)!!  It has an unbelievable amount of history in this quaint little town.  Apparently it used to be a very rich area and there are so many elaborate houses and palaces here!!  The first one we saw has been converted into a museum that I went to the next week, so I will post more about that one in my next post.


The second palace had a beautiful garden courtyard and fountain!  There were orange trees and lemon trees everywhere that were adorned with little lights and lanterns.  It was absolutely enchanting!!!!

Stephanie & Me in the garden

Michelle, Adele, Linda, & Me

Most palaces are built in the shape of a square with a square courtyard in the middle.  They are so beautiful; and because of the layout there are windows in every room (which I absolutely love)!!  Here is the hallway of on of the palaces.  This one was really neat because there were so many old family photos everywhere, so we were able to see what the people looked like who lived inside.  All of the furniture is SO antique and elaborate!!

One of the bedrooms

Dining Room

The next palace we were only allowed to view from the outside

This palace was designed after the Alhambra in Granada, an absolutely magnificent Moorish palace that I am dying to see!  This photo is taken from the courtyard looking up.

The elaborate ceiling!

Here's a look inside another courtyard of a palace that has been converted into an expensive restaurant

The amazing ceiling!

Lovely Painting

After the tour, the girls and I went to the market to buy things for lunch.  Adele & Linda cooked spaghetti and we also had bread, salad, cheese, and red wine on top of their terrace.  It was such a lovely sunny day we just relaxed and basked in the warmth.  That night I went over to Stephanie & Michelle's apartment and watched "The Help."  All in all, it was a really fun and laid back day in Spain!



The following morning, on Sunday, I met up with Miriam, Stephanie, & Michelle for churros in for breakfast.  We bought them from a place right off the main square and the place was packed!  Churros are kind of like fried donought strings.  This particular kind did not have any sugar or cinnamon on them, and I didn't particularly care for them, but they were fun to try.   Then we went to a little tea shop that has just opened up in Ecija!  It is so cute inside and the elderly man who owns it is SO nice.  Miriam and I ended up trying the Pina Colada Green Tea (without alcohol of course).  It is very good!  Since then I have gone back for 3 more different types of teas!

Daytrip to Sevilla

On Monday night at dinner, Maria (my host mom) told me that I could have the day off on Tuesday to spend some more time with my family!!  Needless to say I was SO excited!!!!!!!  So I got up at 5:45 to take the bus to Sevilla, Spain!  The bus ride is only about 1 hour & 20 minutes through olive oil groves, but the climate is very arid here and hence the land looks really barren and true greenery is scarce.

Although we were there for most of the day, it seemed like we had so little time there!  So we just walked around and tried to see as much as we could.  The main thing that we did was tour the grand Sevilla Cathedral!  The church was originally a Muslim mosque that was built in 1184, but was consecrated as a Catholic church in 1218.  Once consecrated, the brick building underwent construction to transform it into a Gothic cathedral complete with gargoyles!!  My aunt & uncle have been SO many places and they said that this was the most spectacularly intricate cathedral they have ever seen!  Later, I read in the brochure that it is the "the most extensive Gothic cathedral all over the world!"  It even has a treasure room that's filled with gold and silver.  The total surface area of the cathedral is 77,100 square feet (or over 14.5 miles)!!!  It was really unbelievable!! 

The detail was absolutely unbelievable!!  It takes SO much imagination & creativity to create such intricate artwork!!!  These pictures don't even begin to do it justice!!

These next two pictures are merely the ceilings!!

I just love this picture!  It's such a beautiful display of love and tenderness,

 I wish I had it in my house!!

The cathedral has an enormous 320 foot-high bell tower that over looks Sevilla.  However, instead of steps that lead to the top, there are a series of 34 ramps!  It made walking up SO much easier to ascend!  I later learned that the ramps were built instead of stairs so that you could ride on horseback up to the top!!  Each ramp was adorned with a window that overlooked the city, giving delicious previews of what was to behold at the top! 

Gargoyles!

The top of the bell tower!  While we were soaking in the scenery, they rang one of the bells!

Outside the church there were so many horse drawn carriages waiting for an eager tourist.  The horses all looked so beautiful lined up in the warm sun, and I couldn't help myself from stroking a few of them on the face  : )

After exploring the cathedral, we walked around Sevilla and came across this beautiful park!  The parks here are so much more beautiful than the ones in Ecija because they have a lot more greenery (which is something I have really been missing!!)

For lunch we at outside at a little Italian cafe with tables right in front of the University of Sevilla.  After sharing salad, spaghetti, pizza, and a lemony dessert we took a stroll to this government building...

I just love this picture with the stagecoach!!

Afterward, started to head back seeing many more beautiful buildings and this statue that I really liked.

My time in Sevilla with my family was so much fun, and such a wonderful introduction to the city.  I am really looking forward to coming back and further exploring the sites and culture!  After a very tearful goodbye on my end, I bid farewell to them.  Leaving family is always hard for me, but was especially hard this time.  Yet I will always remember fondly my time with them in Spain.  What an incredibly opportunity it was to meet up with my family halfway around the world!!!  <3

Castle/Fortress in Antequera

On Monday, my uncle, aunt, and cousin drove me 3 hours back to Ecija (pronounced Eh-see-ca).  Here is a picture of the coast where my family is staying in Mijas Costa.  There's hardly any real "beach" area, the sea just gives way to land.

On the way to Ecija we stopped in Antequera, Spain!  Antequera is a small town surrounded by low mountains.  As with most cities in Spain's southern province of Andalusia, the town has a prominent Arabic influence due to the region's proximity to Morocco.

After walking around the town for a while, we explored the castle/fortress Alcazaba!!  The Moorish fortress was originally constructed in the 14th century on top of Roman ruins, but was later taken over by Christians.  You could still see the remnants of the Roman baths inside the fortress, it was really neat!  There was even a dungeon (aka hole in the ground with an iron grid on top) that was 3 meters by 6 meters where the prisoners were kept.   This was my first time in a really fortress, and it was so much fun to explore one that was so rich in cultural history!

Here are some of the spectacular views from the top of the towers!!!

Little church on a hill  : )

My beautiful cousin McKenna  : )

View through the little window of the castle

It was so much fun to have my family there with me!!
My aunt & uncle are such a good looking couple!!!

Right next to the fortress was a Muslim church that had been converted to a Catholic cathedral once the Christians took over the fortress.  Unfortunately the outside was undergoing construction, but here's some pictures...

There was also this really interesting looking building in the town.  I have no idea what it was or what it was used for but here are a few pictures of it as well...

This is a zoomed in shot of the centerpiece in the middle of the building.

Toward the end of our time in Antequera, a well dressed old man came up to my uncle and started talking to him completely in Spanish.  I came over to translate, but it became obvious early on that he wasn't going to pause his story so I could retell the fact in English.  Talked to me for 10 minutes about the land, his baptism, and what nationalities built what part of town.  He was very interesting, and when I thanked him and turned to leave he asked for a tip, lol. 


My family and I had lunch together on the plaza outside in Ecija before I had to return to work.  The food here is usually very salty, and I am still not quite used to it, but the artichoke hearts I had were amazing!

When I got back to the house, the kids I watch ran out and gave me besitos (little kisses) on the cheek and seemed genuinely happy to see me.  About 20 minutes after I arrived, my family stopped by to see the kids and meet the parents of the family I am staying with.  The kids acted very shy at first, but then Silvia wanted to wear on her flamenco outfit and put on a dance performance!  My family love it!!  Then the little 5 year old girl who lives in the house directly opposite of the one I am staying in, came running out to see my family too.  It was very fun and another truly lovely day with my family!