Sevilla

This weekend was a holiday here in Southern Spain, Dia de Andalucia, which gave us Monday without classes. A group of 8 of us API students decided to travel to Seville and took a bus there on Saturday morning. We planned some things to go see and booked a hostel in advance, but went with a more relaxed mentality than Rome last weekend. Our hostel was amazing! We stayed at Sevilla Backpacker's Inn, which is located right near the famous cathedral and the Alcazar in Seville, and was relatively cheap. The 8 of us took up one room for 2 nights, enjoyed a complimentary breakfast, free walking tour, and a BBQ on the rooftop terrace for dinner. We went to the grocery store for food as well in order to save money, and I would say it was a success: for dinner one night we spent a total of 4ish euros, about 58 cents each.

We spent our first afternoon in Seville walking around the city a little bit, just relying on maps and what we had seen on the drive in to guide us. We saw el Teatro de Lope de Vega, a big deal for me since Lope de Vega is a huge name in Spanish theater history. Unfortunately there was a show about to start, so I didn't get to do in, but we did see signs for a dinosaur exhibition in a different part of the theater.

 We went to some beautiful parks nearby- Seville is all about huge, ancient trees and large parks!- as well as the Plaza de Espana, a famous plaza built in the 1920's. The best part for me was learning that parts of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones were filmed in this plaza!

We also saw the Alcazar on Saturday. The Alcazar is a Moorish palace and is thought to have been built in response to Granada's la Alhambra. Although the gardens were larger and more exotic, the architecture of the palace itself was much less refined. There were also a lot more tourists- while in the Alhambra gardens it is possible to go and sit and relax as a resident nearby, it would be much less pleasing to do so in the Alcazar. Plus you have to pay to enter any of the Alcazar, while only parts of la Alhambra are paid entry. It was definitely worth it to see and explore though!

Saturday night, a few of us went to a flamenco show. It was a free showing in a bar not far from the hostel- another reason why the hostel was awesome!- and at first we thought we had the wrong place because no one was in the street or the first room in the bar! It turns out the back room packs about a hundred people in to watch the flamenco, and they're kept very quiet to allow the performers to concentrate. It was so quiet we thought we had the wrong street!

I enjoyed my first view of flamenco, though. I found it mesmerizing, though I know other members of our group aren't big fans of flamenco, and the musicians behind the dancer helped with some of the clapping and tapping. At some points, being unable to see the dancers' feet because of the crowd, it looked like she was walking slowly and gracefully around the stage- when in reality she was stomping in a sort of tap dance in true flamenco style.

On Sunday, some of us went on the free walking tour offered by the hostel. We saw the Barrio de Santa Cruz, or the Jewish neighborhood, which was designed with small, winding streets to confuse Christian soldiers during the Inquisition and to protect the Jews during that time. We saw a monument to Christopher Columbus, and our guide explained to us the theories about a relationship between Queen Isabel and Columbus. We went to the Spanish Plaza again and learned a little more about the history there: I love especially the little maps tiled into the semi-circle of the whole plaza that allowed residents to "visit" the other regions of Spain. We also walked by an old tabacco factory, where the opera of Carmen has roots, and the Toro de Oro, or Tower of Gold, where boats would be taxed right off the river. Our day ended inside Seville's famous cathedral.

Columbus's tomb

The cathedral reminded me a lot of the one in Toledo, where we weren't allowed to take pictures. There were chapels lining the walls for various saints and people; lots of huge columns; large Gothic arches with stained glass windows; a beautiful choir in the center; and a massive, ornamented, high altar. The highlights of the cathedral were climbing ramps to the belltower- the cathedral sits on what was once a mosque, and the person who called for the 5-times-daily prayers needed a horse to get up there 5 times a day!- and the tomb of Christopher Columbus. This cathedral was also filled with more tourists than the one in Toledo, but it was beautiful nonetheless.

After all that traveling, I'm ready for a weekend off! I'm hoping to go to a soccer game this weekend with API, but otherwise it will be filled with relaxation and, hopefully, sun! The weather in Seville was absolutely beautiful and hot- but Seville usually gets extremely hot temperatures, whereas Granada is at a higher altitude near the mountains and notably cooler. Still, I'm glad to be breaking out the lighter clothing, now that I've been here for a month! I had to buy warm weather clothing when I first arrived!

Thanks for reading- more updates later. If you get a chance to visit Seville, remember the Sevilla Backpacker's Inn. I will try to get pictures from Rome and Seville on flickr this week.

Chicas! At the Alcazar