Día Dos en Sevilla

(La Plaza de España from Los Jardines de Maria Luisa in Sevilla)

My alarm went off at 6 am, so not only were Lizzie and I the last girls in the hostel to go to bed, but we were also the first ones up. I slept in the top bunk, and for those of you that know Morning-Gigi, you know this was a bad situation. I couldn't really figure out how to get out of the bed, which was really squeaky, so I was making a lot of noise in my attempts. I ended up basically jumping off of the bed with my eyes closed and then remembering that my legs don't work so well in the morning. I chilled on the floor for a second before crawling to the bathroom.

While Lizzie was getting ready, I went upstairs to explore the hostel's lounge. It had a computer and a kitchen, but I greatly appreciated the couches, where I curled up for another 20 minutes of sleep. When Lizzie came up, I crawled out the window because I wanted to see the rooftop patio and couldn't figure out how to open the door. Overall, a really nice hostel for cheap.

It was still dark, but we decided to walk to La Plaza de España along El Paseo de Cristóbal Colon which follows El Río Guadalquivir. Lizzie's foot was still bothering her, but she was a trooper and insisted we keep going. There was a lot of construction along the way, but we passed some interesting buildings and El Torre de Oro (an old fortress tower). We also passed El Casino de la Exposición Teatro, where the streets were completely covered with garbage. You could still hear the music from inside and the street vendors were closing up the stands when we passed at about 8 in the morning. We stopped at a cafe near La Avenida de Isabel La Católica, where I ordered another chocolate croissant (I really like those) and Lizzie got another bocadillo con jamon y queso. Afterwards, we walked to La Plaza de España, which is this huge building that was built for the the Exposición Iberoamericana which Sevilla hosted in 1929. It was overcast and the lighting was good for pictures, so we took a lot. After our photo shoots we walked past the street vendors who were setting up in La Plaza. We both bought some pretty Spanish fans as souvenirs and then walked a little through El Parque de Maria Luisa.

I wanted to take a tour of El Palacio de la Condesa de Lebrija, which was back near El Barrio Centro, so headed back in that direction. We walked past La Universidad de Sevilla, which is in an old tobacco factory near La Plaza de España and then ended up taking the train back to La Plaza Nueva by way of La Avenida de la Constitución. We found the Condesa's palace, but it was closed (so family - that's what we're doing when we go to Sevilla). We stopped for lunch at Pan & Co., which is a chain fast-food Spanish restaurant we've been to before. They serve bocadillos and baguettes and we've been pleased both times we went there, (this time we both got kebab baguettes).

I've found that the food in Spain is different, for lack of a better word. They don't eat what we call meals - they eat appetizers (or tapas) pretty much exclusively. If you order fish, you will get a piece of fish with nothing else and if you order a tortilla, that's all you'll get. There are Spanish foods that I really like - paella and tortilla being two of them, but I've found that there isn't as much variety on a Spanish menu as there is that in the US. There's no pasta, few vegetables, and a lot of sandwiches. You don't get plates full of food and fruit is considered dessert. Lizzie also pointed out that Spanish food has less spiciness than American food. The Spaniards I know have long meal times, but eat the food very quickly and then just chat and drink for the rest of the time. Interesting differences, I think, but now, back to the story. . .

We then crossed the street to La Campana, a dessert shop. They had whole candied fruits, but I ordered a slice of postre de queso (a cheesecake with blueberries on top). The cheesecake was lighter than in the US and the dessert was very good. We then walked across the street to this cookie store. The tins were very pretty, but they were gouging people on cookie prices, so I bought an empty tin as a souvenir.

We then wandered in and out of clothing stores in the area and after sitting in a park for a while, we eventually headed back towards the bus station. We stopped to look in La Plaza de Armas, which is an old train station that was converted into a shopping mall, and then we walked next door to the bus station and got front row seats for the bus ride back to Madrid.

I tried to study for my Spanish test, but then fell asleep until my notes fell out of my hand and all over the aisle. After picking those up, I gave up on studying and slept for a while, fastening my seatbelt because the seats we were in were really high up and I was nervous about falling into the aisle myself. The bus stopped in Cordoba for a rest stop and a driver change, but the rest of the way home, I studied and chatted with Lizzie. The bus driver was very flirtatious and I would call him a creeper, although Lizzie says he was just friendly. But he did mention that my Spanish was very good, so brownie points for him.

We got back to Madrid at about 8:30, and decided to go to Fres Co. for dinner, (which is near the Alonso Martínez metro stop), which is one of the only buffet restaurants in Madrid. The food was pretty good - and they had pizza, so we were really happy (note to self - try onions, corn, zucchini, and cheese on pizza when you get home). But then when we went to leave, Lizzie's backpack was gone. Apparently, while we were eating, the guy at the next table over had stolen it. It had been by her chair, and she was upset because she sensed the guy was weird, but didn't think to move her bag. But luckily, most of her valuables were in her purse - all she had in her backpack was cloths, toiletries, our souvenir fans from Sevilla, and her glasses. It will be a pain to replace all of that and it's scary that he managed to grab that without either of us noticing.

So we headed back to the metro, guarding our purses with our lives. I unpacked once I got back to Julia's and started the process of uploading the 235 pictures I took in 2 days. It was a really good trip and Sevilla was really nice, and now I have three days to do all my homework before I leave for Morocco. Who does homework anyway?