Land of Flamenco

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Hi!

Sorry it´s been a while, I´ve been super busy. So I left Porto to go to Sevilla and at the hostel I met an awesome newlywed couple from Australia. We went out together every night to tapas bars and to see a mediocre flamenco show. The layout of the city was pretty cool (small windy streets and beautiful houses with flowers all over the balconies), but what surprised me were all of the very posh stores lining these streets. Not really my scene I guess.
In spite of this, I saw the most beautiful building I have ever seen in my 22 long years of life. The Alcazar. Like most buildings in Andalucia, it was first a Muslim palace, then the Christians took over, but the king of Andalucia at the time loved Islamic art so when he extended the palace, he designed the additions with a mixture of Spanish Catholic and Islamic architecture. There was so much detail in every corner of every room. I´ll have to show pictures when I get back.

From Sevilla, I went to Granada, which I LOVED! I visited the Alhambra (of course). However, all the tickets to go inside the palace were sold out, but I still got to see the fort, the Generalife (kinda like a mini-palace) and the gardens. The gardens were spectacular. Plus, the Australians were telling me they were more impressed by the Alcazar palace than the Alhambra. I trust them. That night, I ventured up to the Gypsy neighborhood of Sacramonte wich is tucked behind the city in this little valley. And it was here where I saw the most incredible display of foot tapping, hand clapping and flying dresses...Flamenco. The place was called Cueva de Rocio and it was literally a cave. In fact most of the Gypsies houses in that neighborhood are caves. So it was this very small venue and there was a total of 6 people who danced, one guitar player, one hand drummer, and one singer. They told a story through dancing and singing. It was absolutely incredible. Their feet moved so fast and their taps were always to the beat of the guitar.
The next day I needed some outdoors so I took a bus up to this sleepy town in the Sierra Nevadas and did a 5 hour hike from there. Gorgeous views and panoramas.

So I´m in Barcelona now and next is Paris and Fountanebleu. Then home.

Miss yáll

David

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