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Published: April 18th 2007
10 hours in a train seat is never my favorite way to spend a night, but it was worth it to get down to Sevilla (Seville) from Barcelona. As far as traveling goes, it's a pretty efficient way to go: cheap, low-polluting, and time-economizing: we arrived at 9 am and didn't have to waste a moment of daylight! Upon our arrival we walked (under gray skies...boo) to our hostel, which was in the center of Sevilla and only 25 minutes from the station. On the way we managed to buy ourselves some fruit from a small grocer, providing another opportunity to practice my meager Spanish! After grabbing breakfast we arrived at our hotel and settled in. The hostel was a GREAT one- only 3 floors, it had a very "homey" feel and the rooms were nice. It's called the Oasis Backpackers' Hostel and was located right off the Plaza del Encarnacion. The rooms each had three bunkbeds each (nice ones!), there was a proper (if small) kitchen on the top floor, free internet, and, best of all...a rooftop terrace with a small pool! Awesome. They even offered free "guided" tours around the city and organized different excursions each night, ranging
Chillin' on the Rooftop Terrace
Oasis Backpacker Hostel, Sevilla. Best ever!from flamenco to tapas. The staff was multilingual and friendly, and the place was super-clean. And to top it off, each room had it's own "real" bathroom, complete with marble floors! Very nice. That was a good first impression of Sevilla.
Having no idea of where anything was in the city (only to find out that it's all within a max 30-min. walk!) Dorothy and I joined onto a tour. We met a nice German girl, a couple Australian guys, an Argentinian, and a couple other Americans. One of the things I love about staying in hostels is that everybody (mostly) is young, adventurous, unpretentious, open-minded, and has fascinating travel stories. And the rooms are cheap, too! I think I actually prefer hostels to hotels, especially when they are as nice as the one in Sevilla. It was fun getting to hang out with other people. I even ran across a guy that I know from Paris who was staying in the hostel with us! (He's American). Small world, the backpacking community. Truly.
Our walk was blessed by someone, because as soon as we left the clouds lifted and the true Sevilla came to life: gorgeous colored houses,
Traditional Tapas Bar
Check out the fresh meat...I think that's the famous dried ham they serve in all the tapas! Muslim-inspired architecture, glistening blue waters of the Guadalquivir River, a labyrinth of ancient streets, and a rhythm totally different from that of Barcelona. We were well and truly in the heart of Andalucia, stronghold of the Muslim Caliphate empire in Spain and a region strongly marked by its 700-year occupation. I found the Muslim-influenced Mudéjar Christian architecture fascinating, and in many ways more graceful than other types. Sevilla is truly a charming city, with the energy and vitality characteristic of all Spanish cities! It seemed to be endowed with an almost sensual enjoyment of life, as though each citizen savored even the mundane details of daily life. We Americans could take a page from their book, I think. In terms of overall impressions, I think I liked Sevilla the best. (As a city- the nightlife in Madrid was something else entirely!) Dorothy liked it best too. It's hard to specify exactly what makes it so attractive, but I guess the bright sunshine and hot weather we had our first day there goes a long way in explaining our great impression. I wouldn't want to be there in July, though, when temperatures hit 120!!! Ironically, our second day there is POURED
With Dorothy and an American Acquaintance
Tapas night & new friends, courtesy of the hostel rain on us (warm rain, however), which is, if not unheard of, extremely rare for Sevilla, where you are generally promised to have good weather. Just our luck! We enjoyed it anyway, though.
So the thing about Sevilla is that you don't have to actually DO much or go into any museums- you can just stroll around all day and admire the buildings, sit and have a 2-hour tapas lunch, sip sangria in the sun, and you're all set! That's basically what we discovered on Tuesday as we walked all over the city and explored. We visited the gypsy quarter where the best flamenco bars can be found, strolled along the riverfront, visited the gorgeous Maria Luisa Gardens, and gawked at the impressed Placa de Espana. This enormous brick plaza/building is one of the iconic "postcard" images on Sevilla and definitely needs to be visited. Each major town in Spain is represented by its own gorgeous mosaic memorial/shrine (don't know what to call it!) and they are each really beautiful. The overall effect of the plaza is breathtaking! We loved it.
Following the Plaza de Espana, we found an outside terrace restaurant for our lunch - my first
experience eating tapas in Spain, and a fabulous initiation! The waiter spoke no english, however, so it was quite comic trying to order things off a Spanish menu without knowing what exactly it was we were ordering! Pretty much everything was good, though, so it was no big deal. I was actually kind of happy to find a place where English was NOT spoken- it seemed a little more authentic!
After lunch we walked by the Universidad de Sevilla (big beautiful old building!) and strolled up the main boulevard in town, which was pedestrian-only and packed with happy tourists eating ice cream. We decided to visit the famous cathedral, the largest of all the Gothic and medieval cathedrals in Europe! It was built between 1401-1519 on the grounds of a mosque following the Reconquista, and it is truly a beautiful edifice. The layout echoes the floorplan of a mosque, so the entire complex appears much more "square" than the ordinary cathedral that you see elsewhere. The Muslim influence is especially evident in its orange-tree courtyard and the Giralda, the ex-minaret of the mosque which was converted into a bell tower. The Giralda is the most famous symbol of Sevilla
and is a very beautiful work of art. One especially interesting aspect is that a RAMP leads all the way to the top of the tower- no steps!!! The inclined passageway is "wide enough for two horsemen" according to the guide (although the horses much have been pretty skinny). I've never seen such a construction in any tower before, so I thought that was pretty cool. It takes a WHILE to hike up there, though!!!
The views from the top of the Giralda were fabulous, and we spent a few minutes picking out our hostel from among the tiled rooftops and white buildings. Following our descent from the tower, we strolled leisurely back to our hotel, basking in the warm sunlight and loitering on the main shopping street to check out the sales (success at Mango!) Got back to the hotel and chilled out on the terrace, reading books and writing postcards, and then later that night we headed out for a "tapas and flamenco night" organized by our hostel. Guided by a girl who is studying in Sevilla, we visted two really yummy tapas places before ending up at a flamenco show, which was absolutely PACKED with hundreds
of tourists but kinda cool nonetheless. I would have liked to go to an authentic flamenco bar (i.e. no tourists) down in the gypsy quarter that night, but the place we'd been told about didn't open until midnight and Dorothy was tired. So I'll have to go back someday... ; )
On Wednesday we visited the Casa Pilatus, a really old aristocratic mansion/walled compound tucked in among the narrow twisting streets north of our hostel. It was absolutely gorgeous - a monument to wealth and its possibilities - and my favorite part was definitely the gardens. The flowers smelled divine and orange trees were everywhere...it was amazing. Follwing that we walked through the old Jewish quarter of the city, a popular cafe/dining area for tourists, and ended up at the Réal Alcazar. (Royal Palace) Located right next to the cathedral, this palace was built by Christian kings but bears a heavy Moorish influence. Filled with courtyards, geometric designs, open-air porticos and pools/fountains, one might think it was actually built by the Moors. Not the case, but it is a beautiful place to visit, and Dorothy and I spent a couple hours touring it and enjoying its peaceful gardens. Do
the audiotour- it's cheap and informative!
By the time we finished touring the Alcazar the clouds had socked in the city, and we decided to head down to the Museu Torino (Bull Museum) in case it started to rain on us. (Both of us had left our umbrellas at home after carrying them around the day before in the 75-degree heat and sunshine!) Sevilla's bullfighting arena is located right on the riverfront, and while I do not think I could watch a real bullfight, it was cool to visit the location. Toriomachy (which I think is the name for bullfighting) is truly a cultural institution in Spain and I don't see it dying away anytime soon. Successful bullfighters become national celebrities, and the sport is revered as a cross between art and machismo which in some way defines the essential characteristics of the Spanish people. I can imagine that in the heat of the July sun, the roar of the crowd and the dance of bull & man must render the spectacle absolutely riveting...if you can forget that it much inevitable end in the death of one of the actors.
Predictably, it started to rain as soon as
our tour of the bull arena ended. The First Law of Umbrellas is : "If you lug one around all day, it will not rain." For us, unfortunately, the Second Law of Umbrellas was more applicable: "If thou hast no umbrella, it shall most assuredly pour." Our umbrella insurance failed us. They say "the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain", but I guess it also falls in Sevilla. Oh well. It was a good excuse to sip a Baileys & coffee at "El Café des Indias" (local Starbucks!) and then get totally soaked anyway while running home (we got bored of "waiting it out.")
So Wednesday evening was spent tranquilly at the hostel showering, doing emails, and all those fun little things. We DID make sure to go out for more tapas for dinner that night, however, and joined up with two other Americans who had found a really good and popular local tapas favorite close to our hotel. We finished the night with en excursion through the quiet streets in search of ice cream, which we eventually DID find and which nicely finished off the day. Just that quickly, our time in Sevilla was done: we
Parque Maria Luisa
This park is truly a pleasure to soend time in...not at ALL on the French model! had an 8:30 am train to Cordoba the next morning to catch!
The weather wasn't any better on Thursday- it was gray and rainy all day- but fortunately the rain held off while we were walking through Cordoba and touring its famous mosque-turned-cathedral. Only 45 minutes from Sevilla by the AVE high-speed train, Cordoba used to be the capitol of the Muslim empire in Spain, and its mosque reflected this high stature. Considered the model for the entire Occidental Muslim Empire, the mosque was built over the ruins of an even older Christian basilica (which was destroyed to make room for it, a sore point that remained in Christian minds during the years of occupation). Following the accomplishment of the Reconquista (in 1492), one of the first actions of the Catholic monarchs was to reconvert it into a cathedral. So today you can a fascinating, bizarre mix of basilica, mosque, and gilded Christian chapels all under the same roof. The emblematic arches that old up the flat-topped ceiling (no dome here) are the most recognizable feature of the cathedral. But all of the artwork inside is richly decorated, and the ceilings are absolutely exquisite. Dorothy and I spent a
Palm Trees!!!!
And orange trees everywhere- with fruit! good two hours exploring it before eating lunch (more tapas!) in a picturesque sidestreet nearby and then strolling through the old Jewish quarter (very pretty) and the main street on our way back to the train station. Pretty cool that you can stop off in Cordoba for only five hours, do all that, and then be in Madrid only two hours later, in time to visit a museum before it closed! We did precisely that, ending our day in Madrid, all the way across the country in north-central Spain. I had time to spend two hours in the Reina Sofia Contemporary Art Museum upon my arrival in Madrid while Dorothy got situated in her hostel (I was staying with my friend Steph). But more on that later...Madrid gets a blog all by itself (with a little Avila thrown in just for fun)!
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