Valencia and Sevilla

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Hola all! I'm glad those that responded to my last blog enjoyed my pics. I had fun taking them and a ton a video. I'm trying to get a little more fotage because I'm planning on cutting together a personal narrative of my trip when I get home. So check your local video store in a few months.
Paul and I split off and are basically traveling to the same citys, but at slightly different paces throughout the rest of Spain. 5 months of traveling with someone requires some space from time to time.
So I took a ridiculously nice train to Valencia which is 3 hrs south of Barcelona. On the train I received some little sweets, headphones to watch a movie, and the leg room was phenomenal compared to having none when I was in Asia. Spain, you keep impressing me.
I arrived in Valencia in the afternoon and walked through the city to my hostel through the wide winding streets. At the center of the city no cars were allowed so it was nice to walk through streets without having to worry about getting run over. A definite plus.
I bought a delicious nutella crepe and almost had it taken from my hands by a homeless woman, but I managed to retreat with my food. I felt bad for her, but I have given out some money to the homeless in some of the citys I have been in already and if I gave it to everyone I would be homeless to. So unfortunately I couldn´t oblige her with money and there was absolutely no way she was getting a nutella crepe from me. Nutella crepes are priceless.
A stop in a European city isn't complete without seeing the local churches and cathedrals, so that is where I went. I am getting a little bored of them actually because I have seen a couple a day for about the last month straight, but when am I going to see 14th century construction like this again? Most likely next time I visit Europe.
The cathedral of Valencia was very wide with a bunch of small chapel around the outside of it. And guess who found the holy grail!?! Yeah that's right, I did. After all this time of searching I finally found it! I was thinking of asking if I could take a sip from it, but apparently the stipulation is you have to be the chosen one. The cathedral also had an arm in a case from some holy guy, a saint or something, which was a little strange to me but I understand it is a relic of sorts to worship for the people of the faith. Then I walked to a few churches around town admiring the architecture and statues and ate a whole pizza to myself. I was a hungry girl. (Half-Baked quote)
The following morning I walked to some gardens which was nice, because I got away from the city a little, but it was getting overcast and I had seen on the weather report that it was going to rain soon so I made the visit quick. I saw a woman at the back of the gardens who appeared to be giving a speech to about 20 cats lounging around her. Unfortunately I didn´t get a picture, but I was nervous she might send her minions after me.
I then headed to the museum of art, which is considered one of the best in Spain. The museum was set up very well with a logical progression of the art of Spain from one room to the next according to century. So it was pretty cool to read about and see how the art changed with the times. I especially liked the art of Jose de Ribera because he had been strongly influenced by Carvaggio, so his stuff totally looked like he ripped the vaggio dude off, but he was just showing respect for the master of light and shadow so I´ll let him slide. I also really liked Rubio, (Don´t know his first name), but he created some great impressionistic stuff of the time.
After the museum I needed to not walk around any more becuase I have been walking for about the last 4 1/2 months straight, so I went to see Tim Burton´s Sweeny Todd. I was the only one in the theater so it was a little strange, but I do like watching movies with no distractions so I got over it. The movie was solidly done, but a little too heavy on the musical aspect. I´m not a big fan of musicals to begin with so I was a little biased. Then I ate another whole pizza to myself and hit the hay.
The following day I caught a train to Sevilla which is about 8 hrs south east of Valencia, so I got in pretty late and didn´t see much of the city that night. The hostel was by far the nicest one I have stayed at on the whole trip. It had a free coffee/tea machine that could be used 24/7, free delicious fresh bread for breakfast, free internet, and get this, free use of the phone, including international calls. I have no idea how they don´t charge for the international calls I made to the states that would normally cost 1.25 a minute, but I didn´t ask questions.
On top of all of that I was in a room with only one other person. She is a Kiwi by birth but lives in Melbourne, so we had fun reminiscing about the the two countries.
The following day was amazingly beautiful. I explored Alhambra Real, which is a walled in area of the city with an array of lavishly decorated structues, and an extensive garden with fountains, an orange grove, and a plethora of ducks. I like to use plethora. It just rolls off the tounge 😊 The construction of the area had begun around the 10th century after the muslim take over and was continually added on to by Christian kings for a few more centuries.
I found out that ducks are very territorial with one another. One will be about 20 ft away from its target and then proceed to waddle as fast as possible with its head down as if it were a spear, quacking the whole time. It was almost like watching UFC, but without any upper cuts.
After walking the gardens and taking a continuous amount of pictures and video for 4 hrs, I walked to a large park with some guys doing Le Parkour. (A French sport where the people behave like monkeys, climbing and flipping off of buildings in an incredibly nimble way). These guys were not as extreme as the French, but they were doing back flips off of a palm tree. Why did I not take a picture, Kam would have lost so much face.
Then I checked out the local archeological museum, where I walked through rooms with statues of Roman Gods. Weak, I had seen it all in Rome already.
On my way back to the hostel I walked down one of the main streets where people were playing flutes, guitars, electric drums, selling incense, drawing pictures and people dressed up in animal costumes making balloon figures for children. It was very lively.
I got back to the hostel and the New Zealander and I went out to get some tapas, sangria and to watch some flaminco dancing. We got to the bar and were wondering why we were the only ones there, and soon found out that the dancing didn´t start until 10:30.
We cruised the streets a bit until the show started and noticing how there were bikes locked up for rental with use of a credit card. What an awesome idea! So basically you pay 5 euro with your credit card to a machine, you get a bike for a day, and then you can return it to any area where there are the specific bike lockers. We didn´t ride the bikes but contemplated the issues of people drinking a lot at bars and then riding a bike in the middle of the night.
We made it back to the bar and watched a bit of the show. It was very entertaining. There was a guy playing flamenco guitar, a guy singing, a couple people keeping the beat by clapping, a flute player, and a couple women that did flamenco. Unfortunately they were only on stage for about 15 min, but it was mesmerising none the less. Especially the women dancing flamenco. That is super sexy. Lisa you need to learn flamenco ASAP.
The following day I checked out an old hospital built in the 15th century that is now a retirement home. The church that had been built adjacent to it had been designed by the guy who had the hospital erected, and apparently you have a spiritual journey as you walk through it. I wouldn´t say my journey was spiritual, but it was interesting to learn that all of the paintings and sculptures were symbolic, and meant to inspire the viewer to help a fellow man in need, which would in turn grant him access to heaven. A very respectable interpretation of the bible.
Then I took a tour of a bull fighting ring which has a capacity of 14,000. The tour was short and I didn´t learn much about the tradition of bull fighting like I had hoped, but I did learn that about 3 bulls a day are killed during the season, (which is in the summer), and the killers of the bulls get the ears and the tail as trophies. I still don´t know why the tradition started, but it probably has something to do with man wanting to prove he can outsmart animals. A few of the bulls have killed their attackers over the years, but the the ratio is definitely stacked in favor of man.
Then I walked to a beautiful palace whose construction had begun in the 13th century and had been slowly added to over time. A purple flowering vine was blowing my mind.
After, I made my way to the huge cathedral which is one of, if not the biggest cathedrals in the world. It is roughly 380 ft x 220 ft with a height of almost 300 ft. The interior was almost as expansive as the Vatican, but not quite. One of the highlights of the cathedral, (according to the lonely planet), was the tomb of Christopher Columbus. Apparently some scientists did a DNA test of the bones in 2003 to see if it was Columbus, because the West Indies claim they have his bones. Science wins in favor of Sevilla. Take that West Indies!
There was a room with a ton of gold goblets and plates and a huge wall of biblical scenes done in gold. It must have been about 50+ ft tall with over 40 scenes. Very impressive, but couldn´t that gold be used to feed the homeless of the world? Alright I won´t go there.
Then I walked up a wide gradual incline in a tower where I got impressive views of the city. The walkway was so wide apparently so that a scout on a horse could ride up to the top quickly to see if something was afoot in the distance.
I checked out another old hospital which had some nice light effects, and then headed back to the hostel to finish booking and planning the rest of my trip.
Of all of the citys I have visited, Sevilla has been my favorite. The city is so alive and vibrant and I love all of the entertainment on the streets. Definitely a highlight of the trip. Enjoy the pics.

Adios,

Daniel

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Comments

[kamdab]

wha'eva
ugh...that leaf shot is so good. makes me sick just thinking about it. i also like the cathedral shots, but i forgot whether or not i was looking at the LAST 1000 of your pictures or if i was seeing something new. OHHHHHH. scalding burns to the face. somebody get the burn cream.

[dneal]

wha´eva response
Pshh, you only wish you could frame like me.