We left for Sevilla at 2:00am on Friday morning, and started our 8 hour bus ride. It would have been 5.5 hours but the bus was driving really slowly and we stopped three times (incredibly unnecessarily.) When we got to Sevilla we checked into our hostels (they were so cute!) and went out to get some lunch. After that we all met up for a guided tour of the "Catedral de Sevilla," the largest cathedral in Europe. It is so beautiful and intricate! I loved the outside of the cathedral, especially because I learned all about the architecture in my Spanish class last year (a class I totally hated at the time.) Unfortunately it was raining, but we still had a good time. A really interesting thing about the cathedral is that it currently houses what scientists are 80% sure are the remains of Christopher Colombus. I thought that was really neat.
The cathedral was built in the ruins of a mosque, and the architect and king decided the only important part of the mosque worth keeping was the tower. Its called the Torre de Giralda and it now houses the beautiful church bells. We climbed up 32 stories worth of ramps to the top of the tower. It was amazing to see the entire city, even if it was rainy.
After touring the church we went to the Alcazar which is the palace in Sevilla. It is where the royal family lives today when they visit Sevilla so it is still considered a Royal Palace, not just a castle. It was so pretty and I was amazed by all the detailed tile work the covered the palace. I got to touch tiles that were still in the walls of the courtyard after being there for 700 years. Though it looks like it is part of a Muslim design, the palace was actually designed with the help of a Spanish prince who really liked muslim architecture.
This was the end of our planned tourist activities in Sevilla, and we still had two days! I spent the rest of Friday roaming the city and seeing some more beautiful things. After that the girls sharing my room at the hostel and I went to dinner at a great tapas restaurant--we ate a ton and really enjoyed ourselves. At midnight we met up with the ERASMUS group again for what the organization called "fiesta." Basically they bussed us al to a huge discoteque and gave us all free drinks for the night before taking us home at 4:30am. It was so much fun! We danced the night away and I even got to salsa with a Spanish guy who was pretty good. On Saturday we all slept in because we didn't really get to sleep until 6:00am, and then we woke up and met at one of the hostels for paella and sangria. Every time I eat paella I love it even more, and this was great because it was free! I spent Saturday afternoon walking around the city to see the Plaza de Torros- where the bullfights are- the Torre de Oro, which is a tower that used to be covered in gold before people stole it all, and the Plaza de Espana. The Plaza de Espana is a huge building which is covered in the most beautiful tile work I have ever seen. I was nearly brought to tears by how beautiful this building was. The best part? I was told several times that it was in an ugly phase because they are doing construction on the gardens. I can't believe that the people who live there are so used to seeing this much beauty that they can begin thinking its ugly just because there's less grass.
After a quick siesta and some dinner we met up again for fiesta #2. Of course, it was another night of free drinks and a lot of fun. They took us to a bar that had live flamenco. I loved it so much! The guitarist was amazing, not to mention the flute player and the dancer. I loved listening to the rhythms they made--it is a lot like tap dancing, my absolute favorite! One thing I didn't like was that the dancer looked angry the whole time. It made me feel like she wasn't enjoying herself. I'm all for looking passionate about what you're doing, but there's a point when it takes away from the movement itself.
I left the bar at about midnight instead of going to the next bar with the group; I was too tired! On Sunday we woke up and checked out of the hostel and then went walking around some more. After a trip to the artesian market and a stop for coffee we went to 1:00 mass at the cathedral. Needless to say it was one of the coolest things I have ever done, and now I can say I went to mass at the biggest cathedral in the world! I was really excited because I could understand everything the Priest said, which I think means my Spanish is getting better. After mass was over we went walking around and found some cool little stores before stopping for lunch and then catching the bus home. Overall it was a really great weekend.
One of the things I didn't like so much about Sevilla was that it made me really lonely. Its one thing to be living a busy life going to class and stuff and an entirely different one to be wandering around a beautiful city enjoying myself. Even though I was with a huge group of people, it made me wish that everyone I love back home could be with me to see these beautiful things. Not to mention all the couples walking around holding hands- I have to admit it made me miss Isaac a lot! I was happy to get back to Murcia and to my regular schedule.
In other news, I have added another class: Greek and Roman Art. I think it will be a good one, and it will help keep me busy. I am getting into the swing of things here and really starting to love this city. It has a great character and I like the fact that its more off the beaten track than the big cities I've been visiting. Here everyone speaks Spanish to me instead of just speaking English the minute they realize I'm not from Spain. Its helping me with my Spanish a lot. Wow this post is long.
There are a ton of pictures of Sevilla on facebook, I couldn't put them all up here! Check them out.
I know what a hostel is, but every time I think of the word, it bothers me how it is a homophone for hostile. That seems to me and my marketing sense like a bad association, but it doesn't seem to hurt business or the patrons, so I guess it works. I find myself regularly jealous of your "fiesta"-ing, so be sure to do some extra for me. That is all.
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