The Two Ruder of the Three

The day trips to Seville and Cordoba this weekend have helped me to appreciate how beneficial a longer term emersion in a city can be (like we are experiencing in Granada). Seville was absolutely massive as we could tell from the top of the cathedral tower. Unlike the view of Granada from the top of the Alhambra, Seville was a multi-colored hodge-podge typical of larger cities. It was interesting to see the turrets of the cathedral and an ancient bull fighting arena right along-side the new developments of skyscrapers along the horizon line. This was a juxtaposition I noticed much in Seville, which I suppose can be expected from a city that relies so heavily on non-native tourists.
Yet it is clear why so many make the trek to Seville. The cathedral is absolutely breathtaking as the largest of the gothic style in the world, and until our tour I wasn't even aware of the fact that it is also the final resting place of Christopher Columbus. Reales Alcazares of Seville served as the influence of the Alhambra, and it was extremely interesting to find the connections where the architects took some aspects and copied verbatim others. I was surprised that despite being older, the paint colors of this palace were better preserved than the Alhambra. Finally, the last site that we visited was the Plaza de Espana, which 'hugs' Central America, and is an amazing tribute to the different cities/provinces of Spain as well.
The area of Cordoba that we visited was much more separate from the actual city, and thus the area surrounding the Mesquita had a very tourist-y vibe. I'm almost certain that beside the tour guides, shop and restaurant workers we didn't see a a native the whole day we were there. At this point myself and the rest of the group were absolutely exhausted (and unknown to me I was getting an even higher fever) so I wish I could have been a bit more energetic and eager to explore during our free time after seeing the Mesquita, but instead I was content paying for my tapas and walking across a beautiful bridge.