Hot & Seville

After a (5 1/2) hr bus ride, the first on this journey, we arrived in beautiful and warm Seville. The weather is awesome, its been in the mid 40´s with little humidity which is really enjoyable. What can we say, Seville is awesome, it is full of old buildings, tapas bars, cobbled streets, warm weather, gelato and bull fighting.

The days and nights are long as the sun doesn´t set until 10:00ish, which allows you to make the most of your days. All the sights are within walking distance of each other, and Barrio de Santa Cruz - the old jewish quarter is a tough place to avoid stopping for a quick pint, with its narrow streets and quaint cafes. The literature on Seville states that it is more expensive that other cities in Spain, however we have found that not to be the case. We stayed in a hotel ( Hotel Alcazar w/n min of all the sites and very large rooms), given that the hostel prices were the equivalent price, which is a nice break from the crampt quarters we had in Lagos. The tapas bars are fast/efficient and cheap, not to mention that with the Seistas, eating between before 2pm and anytime between 4pm and between 8pm is not possible, so really that helps limit the consumption of food - maybe that´s why everyone here is so thin (no, its got to be the smoking!!).

The highlight was definetly the bullfight on Thursday night. (Sorry for the quality of the photos but the lighting was awful as it was held at 10pm. A good reason to take in another fight in Madrid which is held during the day - better for pics!!!) Bull fighting season has officially ended, however during the month of July, fights are held once a week for those bull fighters trying to climb the ranks. Wow what can we say, the raging bull came out at exactly 10pm and what followed was excitement, light headiness and laughter. There were (6) bull fights, of which the bull lost each one, however it was not the gruesome affair that we had read or heard about. It must be said that two of the bulls went down fighting, flipping its bull fighter, and stomping them before they were able to get up without any further injuries. Of the (6) bull fighters, (4) were of the age of (16) and the 6th fighter we honestly thought we were witnessing the last minutes of his young life. After being flipped, stomped and pushed around by the almighty bull he took approx a (5) minute break - walking towards us and to safety, his eyes rolled into the back of his and his legs were wobbely. It was at this stage that the entire crowd went silent and both of us got a little light headed. He did manage to come back and kill the bull, but who knows what type of internal injuries this brave little dude had.

We did a day trip out to Cordoba to see the Mezquita Cathedral, which quite honestly was a real let down. Lots is made about this attraction, but the conquest of the Christians really changed this mosque and in the inside it resembles more of a cathedral than a mosque. Much is made about the hundreds of white and red stripped columns, but ever since the 19 doors were shut permantely by the Christians, it is dark and glumpy - don´t recommend a special trip out to Cordoba just to see this site, pass and go straight to Alhambra in Granada.

In addition, we did a day trip to Cadiz and Jerez de la Frontera. Cadiz was great, it has miles of beaches and a boardwalk that surrounds the entire city. From there we headed to Jerez which is world famous for its sherry bodegas. Incredibly the place was dead, you could hear a pin drop throughout the entire city - don´t know why but that´s how it was. Took in a sherry/brandy tour at Bodegas Gonzalez Byass which was well worth it. There were only (4) of us on the ´English´ tour and after after walking around in the heat a few hours before the couple of samplers went straight to our heads - recommend doing this tour.

We are now off to Granada to see the almighty Alhambra.......

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