Sevilla

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So I know I still have to write about my time in Rome, but I figured it would be easier to work backwards and tell about my weekend in Sevilla first.

Last semester Carmela took the GW students in my program to Sevilla but since we went to Galicia instead as our longer bus trip I decided I would go on my own. I got the name of the bus company Ashley's friend Amanda (who is studying in Sevilla) used when she came to visit Madrid. It was 6 hours each way and 35 Euro total. I would have definitely preferred the high-speed Ave train which is only 2.5 hours, but it costs about 70 Euro each way and I decided I'd rather spend the money on something else. Last week I booked my tickets and hostel online only a few days before and it was very easy.

Fridays we normally don't have classes but last Friday was a designated make-up day if professors wanted to use it. My Spanish history professor scheduled the four of us in the class to meet with him individually for a half hour each to go over our midterms and report on part of a book we had to read (150 pages in Spanish...not fun). Spanish schools don't use letter grades and instead give a number between 1 and 10. I didn't do as great as I expected to do but he said that he knew I understood the material but I struggle with Spanish phrases, which I already knew. He said the most important thing is improvement though so hopefully I will improve! I still haven't gotten my business midterm back but I got an A on both my language exam and art history take-home midterm essay, so at least I'm, doing really well in my other classes.

I brought my packed backpack to class and then left straight for the bus station. I had to switch Renfe trains and then locate the gate number for my bus company which was all surprisingly easy. My bus left right at 2 pm on the dot. The ride wasn't too interesting but the driver put on two American movies dubbed in Spanish you could watch and listen to by plugging in your headphones to the seat console. I tuned in for the second one which was an awful horror movie with Brittany Murphy but at least it passed 2 of the 6 hours. We arrived in the city at 8:30 pm and I called Amanda to let her know I was in. I followed the directions I wrote down from the hostel's website and managed to find it ok. Then I checked in and set my stuff down and called Amanda again because she was heading to dinner and she invited me depending on how long it would take me to get there. She gave me directions to the place she was eating out to celebrate a guy in her program's birthday and after about a half an hour of walking and navigating the streets of Sevilla in the light rain I made it there.

We ate at Foster's Hollywood restaurant (and American chain...the birthday boy only wanted an American hamburger to celebrate, haha) and I met her friends who we all very nice. Amanda and I left before dessert because it was already 11 pm to walk to a well-known flamenco bar to meet her other GW friends that were visiting from the London School of Economics for the entire year. The place was called La Carboneria and was also recommended in my guide book. We got a pitcher of "agua de Sevilla" (a strange concoction, I must admit I won't be ordering that one again any time soon) and there was a mini-performance for about 15 minutes every hour by a man who played the guitar, another man who sang, and a woman who danced. Unfortunately the stage was really small so the lady didn't do anything too involved but the singer and guitarist were really good. Most people are surprised to learn that flamenco is also a style of guitar-playing and singing as well as dancing.

We stayed until about 2 am talking which was fun and then I walked back to my hostel. I was in one of the two bedrooms that were connected and had 2 bunk beds each. The hostel's location was really great on Calle Sierpes which is the high fashion avenue. My bed was comfortable but unfortunately when I went into the bathroom I saw two large cockroach-like bugs on the floor. I never scream at bugs but it definitely grossed me out and so I tried to use the other bathroom across the main hall whenever possible from then on.

On Saturday I woke up to my alarm at 9:15 am, had breakfast at the hostel which was included (they had a great free hot drinks machine but breakfast only consisted of OJ and toast with jam and butter) and then I set off with my guidebook. It had a map of the downtown area and a walking tour that would take pretty much the entire day starting at the cathedral which was only a 5 minute walk away. I decided to save the cathedral for Sunday so I could see it for free at mass and instead started at the Museo de Bellas Artes, which is said to be the second-best art museum for Spanish art next to Madrid's Prado. For some reason the entrance was free so that was great. They had a lot of works by people

next door at the Alcazar, which ended up being the highlight of my trip. My book said it was commissioned and paid for by a Christian king after Sevilla was reconquered but Muslim workers were brought in from Granada to build it. The upstairs now serves as the local residence for the king and queen when they come. It had beautiful architecture and the best royal gardens I've seen yet!

When I was overlooking the gardens there was an American couple next to me whispering about me and so I decided to just ask them to take my picture for me and it turned out the husband and wife were visiting their 20-something daughter who is also living in Madrid teaching English. I told her I was studying abroad and she said, "Yes we know, in Madrid right?" Apparently they were sitting next to us at the flamenco place the night before and had been eavesdropping on my conversation with Amanda and her two LSE friends when we were comparing our study abroad programs. I couldn't decide at first if it was flattering or creepy but since I always get excited to talk to other Americans who I meet abroad I judged them to be just really friendly and so we chatted for a while.

After the Alcazar it was about 2 and I decided to walk through the Jewish quarter to find some lunch. I walked up and down a few streets to check out the menus and finally settled on one. A lot of restaurants have "dos platos" (two dishes) for their menu of the day. The trick is to find one which also includes bread, a drink, and dessert within the price. The prices can go as high as 17 Euro but the average is more like 10-12. I found one for 10 and ordered a clara (beer plus limon soda), got bread and flan for dessert included, and had a bowl of vegetable soup and grilled fish. All of it was very good.

Then I set off around 3 to do some more sight-seeing. I walked past the famous Hotel Alfonso XIII and the University of Seville. I was in search of the Plaza de Espana which was across from the huge Parque de Maria Luisa and the site of the 1929 Exhibition. It is famous for its beautiful tile pictures representing each of the 50 provinces back then (now there are 17 comunidades when Spain reorganized after Franco) but half of them were undergoing restoration. Even though it was raining on and off it was a beautiful place to visit. It was funny though because my guide book said it was possible to rent a boat for the crescent-shaped canal under the 4 bridges but no water was inside.

After the Plaza I walked across the street and wander around the big Parque Maria Luisa. It had lots of pretty gardens and fountains. I followed it to the one end where my guidebook said the Museo Arqueologico was located and so I decided to check it out. I showed them my Spanish university ID card and so they let me in for free. I wandered around for a little but it wasn't too big of a museum so I only spent about an hour there. Then I walked out of the other side of the park where a lady was selling bird seed. One couple bought a package and immediately tens of white pigeons descended on them. I couldn't resist taking some pictures. The bird lady asked me if I wanted some but I politely declined, haha.

I decided to walk along the road up to the center of town again along the road where the water was. It started raining again but I wanted to see as much as I could since I would leaving Sunday afternoon. I made sure to pass the Plaza de la Maestranza (bull fighting stadium) which is one of the oldest in Spain. Then I went back to my hostel to relax a little after walking all day. I picked out a restaurant from my guidebook with a reasonable price range and set off around 9:30 pm to find it. It was actually close by but the streets in Sevilla are so windy and change names constantly. After I asked for directions I found it but everyone inside seemed to be dressed really nicely so I felt a little uncomfortable in my sneakers and jeans. I decided to try to find a combined plate special at a cafe instead.

I found one down the street that seemed reasonable enough for 15 Euro. I ordered the gazpacho which my senora recommended and is popular in Andalucia and is a kind of a cold tomato soup. It was ok but I don't particularly like chilled soups so I didn't finish it. For the second course I order the fried fish which turned out to be quite an ordeal. The spine was still intact in the fish (which is common) and so I carefully tried to "de-spine" it but I still ended up with pieces of it in my mouth. It also came with some fried calamari but I couldn't do any more fried seafood. For dessert I chose fruit and picked and apple and then immediately regretted it when the waiter brought me an apple on a plate with a knife and fork. I hadn't had much practice with cutting my fruit and it ended up being a disaster. At one point a piece of apple flew across my table because the knife was like a butter knife and the apple was slippery. The bill ended up being 17 Euros because I thought I had substituted the included glass of alcohol for a bottle of water but the charged me for it separately (there is rarely free tap water given at European restaurants and you usually have to pay for bread too). By the end I wished I had just started at a more expensive restaurant because it probably would've been of better quality.

I texted Amanda earlier in the night to see if we could out together afterward but she had to stay in to work on a project. I read about a cool flamenco place to go to in my guide book and was considering going alone but since it was already almost 11 and was still rainy I decided I would rather go to bed early. I set my alarm for 9:15 and got a nice full 9 hours of sleep.

On Sunday I ate breakfast and then walked to the cathedral for mass at 10 am. There weren't too many people there surprisingly but it was cool to go there because there was a nice little men's choir, cantor and organ player and all the responses were sung which was fun. I walked around for a little while after mass ended but they shut all the lights out and the big tower was open until all the masses ended later that day. It was a little disappointing because the cathedral is Sevilla is the largest and highest in Spain, the largest Gothic building in the world, and the world's 3rd largest chruch (after St. Peter's in Rome and St. Paul's in London, both of which I've been to now!) and so I feel like I didn't get to see it in all it's glory, but at least I got in for free and saw the majority of the inside.

Then I stopped for an orange juice and pastry at the famous shop next to my hostel and caught a cab to La Basilica de la Macarena in the Macarena barrio (yes, apparently the song was named after it). The church was beautiful and a few minutes before mass started at 11:30 I was able to go up the steps behind the altar to see the back of the Macarena, which is a big statue of Mary crying with glass tears (a very popular image in Sevilla) which is the highlight of the Semana Santa processions. My guidebook said she is the patron of gypsies and matadors...which could only happen in Spain, haha.

When they started mass I left and read in my guide book about a unique convent nearby called La Conventa de Santa Paula, but since I didn't have a map for that part of the neighborhood I caught another cab. I'm glad I did because I never would've found it on my own since it was tucked back into a maze of streets and had no sign outside. The only reason I got in was because 2 Spanish and 1 British couple happened to arrive there at the same time and so we knocked on the door and entered together. A really sweet nun let us in and gave us a mini-tour and also gave us the key to enter their church and courtyard downstairs. After hanging out there for an hour or so I took a cab back to the hostel and grabbed a salad at Pans & Company, which is a Spanish chain sandwich shop kind of like Subway. I knew I was really in Spain when they gave me two little containers of olive oil and vinegar for my salad. I was laughing to myself because in America I would've have about 12 choices of creamy, fattening dressings. Then I walked to the same bus station and caught my 3 pm bus and arrived in Madrid at 9:30 pm. The low point of the trip was when I was forced to use the bus' restroom (yuck) but oh well. When I got home around 10 Patricia had washed all of my clothes and had dinner waiting for me which was nice.

Sevilla was my last trip of my study abroad semester and I'm glad I did it even though I went alone. I'm glad I feel comfortable traveling alone now and didn't give up going when I wanted to because no one else wanted to come. Sevilla was definitely a beautiful city and unfortunately I didn't have really nice weather until Sunday but I think I hit all the highlights and now I feel like I got to see what the south of Spain is really like.

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Photos

Hostal
The deck upstairs, which I could've hung out in if it hadn't rained so much.

Flamenco performance
Not the best quality picture but I didn't want to use the flash while they were performing.

Alcazar
Ducks followed us in

Alcazar
All the walls were so detailed.

Alcazar
Walls surrounding the gardens.

Alcazar
Royal peacocks!