Día Uno en Sevilla

(A statue in front of La Plaza de Toros in Sevilla, Spain)

I'm back from Sevilla and am about to fill you in on every minute detail of my trip! Just kidding - I'll try to keep it at least somewhat condensed, but we all know how I enjoy rambling. . .

Lizzie and I headed to the bus station and went to the Daibus counter to buy tickets for our trip to Morocco next week. After successfully carrying out that conversation in Spanish, we had some time to kill, so we explored the bus station a bit and then just sat and talked. Lizzie mentioned the fact that her mother is a distant descendent of Korean royalty, and is by lineage, a Princess. I thought this was pretty exciting, and if I meet no other royalty on this trip, Lizzie totally counts.

The bus ride was 6 hours long, and I slept for most of it. I was relieved I was able to sleep, because we got to Sevilla at about 6:30 am and started the day right away. While we were waiting for it to get light out, we grabbed food from the vending machine (I had mini chocolate croissants) which constitutes breakfast #1 (yes, more are coming). We then bought maps and walked towards our hostel to drop off our stuff. On the way, we saw a cafe that looked really good, and since we figured we were going to need more sustenance for the day, we stopped for breakfast #2. I ordered a sugar-coated croissant from the case, but Lizzie was more adventurous and ordered something (which neither of us understood) from the menu. It turned out to be little pieces of fried toast, which was delivered with a packet of sugar. Interesting concept, but rather greasy. After we paid, we found the hostel, but were told that we couldn't check in until 11:30 (it was now 8). This threw a wrench into our plans, as by 11:30, we were planning on being on the other side of Sevilla. So we needed a planning session - and we stopped at a cafe near the hostel to change out of our traveling cloths and eat breakfast #3 (by this point, we were eating just because of our lack of plans). Lizzie got a bocadillo con jamon y queso and I got toast with marmalade. We whipped out our maps and figured we could tour La Plaza de Toros before going back to the hostel, and after dropping off our stuff, head to the main square in Sevilla.

So we bought tickets for the tour of La Plaza de Toros, and after going through some gift shops, returned for our scheduled time. The tour was pretty interesting (especially because my Countess had been here) and we saw the bullring, chapel, stables, and attached museum. There was a section in the museum devoted to Juan Belmonte, the matador who was also mentioned by my Countess, so I took plenty of pictures there.

Afterwards, we headed back to Olé Backpacker (our 9-euro-a-night hostel), checked in, and dropped off our backpacks. We walked through La Plaza Nueva and by City Hall, and then along Avenida de Constitución. We checked out some info on a walking tour, but then figured we could do that ourselves for free, so we stopped for ice cream, (because three breakfasts just do not fill you up) and got in line for La Catedral de Sevilla (La Catedral de Santa María de la Sede). It is the largest Gothic cathedral in the world and the third-largest church in the world, and it was pretty amazing. The altar was gigantic and so was the organ, and every surface was carved or sculpted. We climbed up the tower of Giralda (the cathedral used to be a mosque, and this is one of the remaining elements) and after 34 floors, we reached the top and had some pretty fantastic views of the city. This is also where all the bells for the cathedral are kept and one rang while we were up there, so that was cool, too.

After La Catedral, we walked across the plaza to El Alcázar, an old palace in Sevilla. Many of the buildings in Sevilla were strongly influenced by Moorish culture, and the palace is one of the best remaining examples of mudéjar architecture. We wandered around the palace, but the really nifty part was the gardens, which went on forever and were gorgeous (complete with fountains, flowers, statues, and peacocks).

Then we walked to El Barrio de Santa Cruz for lunch and sat down at a restaurant. The place seemed really nice and both the rooms and food were presented really nicely. Too bad the chef didn't know how to cook, or doesn't believe in spices, or something. Lizzie got a traditional Spanish tortilla, which was really dry, and I got Huevos Flamenco, which was ham and vegetables covered in raw egg. I wouldn't recommend it. The food was pretty bad, and apparently in Sevilla, if you eat the bread they put on your table, they will charge you for it. Tricky.

After lunch, we walked to El Barrio Central, where there is a lot of shopping. The walk was really interesting, because of all the narrow, winding roads. But I have to give credit to Lizzie for the map-reading. Whenever I was in charge of the map, we had to stop at every curve in the road to see if we were going in the right direction. Usually we weren't. We also passed some roman columns on the way, which were just tucked into someone's backyard. In El Centro, Lizzie bought new shoes, seeing as she was practically limping with the ones she had on.

We then headed back towards El Barrio de Santa Cruz, where a guide book had said there were good flamenco shows for free. We ate dinner at a tapas bar (croquettes de queso, chicken curry, and chicken and couscous) and then went to investigate the flamenco bar. Although the doors opened at 8 pm, the first show wasn't until 11, so again we had time to kill. We tried to get back to the main street, but every time you turn a corner in Sevilla, the street you think will be there isn't, and by the time you turn round, that street is gone, too. It was very picturesque and deserted, and seemed almost like an empty movie set. We made it back to the main street, Santa Maria la Blanca, and went in and out of some gift shops. We then walked through the Jardines de Murillo and back to Santa Maria la Blanca, where we stopped for ice cream and chatted.

At about 10, we walked back to the flamenco bar to get good seats and talked until the show started. The place was pretty busy and there were three performers - a guitarist, a singer, and a dancer. They were very good and had attitude, too! The singer kept shush-ing all the rowdy audience members. The show was an hour long and very fun to watch. But distracting from the performance was this couple sitting right next to the stage. The man was much older than the girl and the PDA that was going on was way past acceptable. The first thing Lizzie and I said after the show was done was, "Did you see that couple?!" But the flamenco was very good, and I was glad we went.

I walked and Lizzie limped back to the hostel and found our room (an 8-person female dorm). The bathroom, although small, was very clean and we could rent towels from the front desk for a euro. I thought at one point I had locked myself into the hallway, because I locked the door behind me (as it had been locked before) but then my key wouldn't open it again. I took the elevator down to the front desk, and told the security guard about it, but he seemed unconcerned, so I just passed out in bed hoping that no one else was going to need to use that door.