New Years in Sevilla!

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Hey everyone!

I´m in Seville right now with Adam and Gabe for New Years. So far this trip has been extremely interesting in unexpected ways. I´m not going to type some of the major details here (you all can ask me when I get back or email me for details) but in general everything has been intriguing. Lets just say Adam and Gabe are both lifesavers.

We spent the first 2 days in Madrid. Madrid was nice, but it was your average European metropolitan center. There were lots of old, pretty things (the Palace, Gran Via, etc.) but Seville (or the Spanish Sevilla) has really captured our hearts. We got to Seville on teh 29th and we traveled by the fast AVE Renfe train. It turned a 6 hour trip into 2 and a half hours. Everything about it is beautiful. Almost all the streets are lined with orange trees, it has Europe´s oldest cathedral (it´s massive and was originally built as a mosque in the 12th century), and the atmosphere is light and easy.

Some interesting things I´ve noticed along the way are a lot of little girls wearing red. Not just one article of red clothing. Lots of little girls we´ve seen have been wearing nothing but red....shoes, coats, dresses, tights, etc. Although I love pink, I like how for some reason red seems to be the color of choice here for little girls.

Another interesting thing that we´ve noticed is the symbol "no8do." It´s on everything....the old buildings, the manhole covers, the dumptrucks, shop windows...EVERYTHING. Basically, we found out it stands for the Spanish saying "She has not deserted me." It was uttered by a former Spanish monarch who was happy the city of Sevilla stood by his side in a dispute with his son. It´s kind of fun to see everywhere, and it´s amazing how it´s plastered on everything....new and old.

Our hostel is VERY nice also. It´s the Oasis Backpackers Hostel in Seville and I highly recommend anyone coming to Seville to stay there. It´s extremely clean, the staff are helpful, everyone has safes to keep their things in, and it´s worth more than the 20 Euros per night price. We´re going to a New Year´s party with the people in our hostel tonight to celebrate the holiday, and it should be really fun.

I have to make this brief, but I´ll write another entry or more in Granada, where we´re going on the 2nd for 5 nights. We might make a day trip to Cordoba as well. Talk to you then!

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Comments

[Angela]

Happy
I am so excited for you! I am insainly jealous! I want to be there with you!

[Sara]

yay!
Hope you have a fun New Years! (with no more surprises) :)