Our trip to Andalusia (by Michelle)

We just returned from a great 5-day trip to Andalusia: Cordoba, Seville and Granada. Andalusia is the southern part of Spain, the Moorish (Arabic/Muslim) name for Spain during medieval times. The Moors ruled much of Spain for up to 700 years and, though most of what they built was destroyed long ago, there are some stunning reminders of the brilliance of their time here. Because I studied some Arabic in college and did two study abroads in the Middle East, being in Andalusia makes me so nostalgic for my time there. I love Islamic architecture and Spain has a few of the most lauded examples from the time period. (more about the specifics later)

The other thing that I love about Andalusia is the landscape. The soil is often a rich brick red and there is a striking, stark look about the whole region that I like. There aren't lots of trees other than there are more olive orchards than you can imagine (and this is coming from a girl who grew up in the apple capital of the world!). For hundreds of miles on the bus there is rarely a time when you can't look out and see at least one olive orchard and usually you can see miles and miles of them -- rolling hills covered with straight rows of gray, green trees with bare soil underneath.

They keep the ground clear underneath because of how they harvest olives. They place a rug or blanket under the tree and then beat the olives down. Then they wrap up the blanket full of the olives and there it is. It sounds easy (I have lasting memories of being on the top rung of a ladder straining to reach the highest cherries on a tree), but I have no idea if it really is so simple.

Just before returning on the bus our family went for a morning walk in the olive grove near our hotel in Granada. We got a few nice pictures, but the highlight was that we all decided to sample an olive "fresh from the tree." My dad had already warned me about this, but we all wanted to try it anyway. I have never tasted anything so bitter and nasty; it was like sucking on an aspirin except that it also sort of made your mouth and lips tingle for a while afterwards as well. Yuck! When Alex tried it I quickly snapped a picture. At first he had the this-isn't-so-bad look on his face and then . . . Certainly a memory we won't soon forget.

Bless whoever it was that figured out how to make these nasty little things into the wonderful treat that they are!