On Wednesday and Thursday our program went to Sevilla, which as it turns out has some of the most gorgeous sites ever, and I loved it. We began by visiting the Reales Alcázares, the palacio in Sevilla. It was built for a Christian king by Christian and Muslim architects, so it was a combination of the styles. I liked all the lions that were in the architecture, but overall I didn’t like the style because it wasn’t nearly as beautiful as the Alhambra. Some of the paint was left intact on the carvings, so that was kind of neat. We then had lunch together at a restaurant, which was special, especially since it was paella.
Following this, a few of us went to the cathedral during our free time, which was totally and completely mind blowing. It’s the third largest cathedral in the world, so when I walked in, my breath was literally taken away by how large it was. It was just unreal – twice as tall as my cathedral at home, at least, and with so much detail. Their high altar is enclosed by a cage, as are much of the relics and other small worship spaces it’s divided into, and it is completely red carpet and gold. It’s really unbelievable. Also, Christopher Columbus’ body is there, and I saw his sepulcher.
Connected to the cathedral is Giralda tower, which was originally constructed by the Muslims to be a tower from which the cantor called the faithful to worship, but when the Christians took over, the converted it into the bell tower. It has 34 ramps leading up it because the Muslim cantor would have to ascend the tower 5 times a day and so he rode a donkey, which is why they used ramps and not stairs. So anyway, we climbed the ramps, and the one flight of stairs at the very end to look out over the entire city. It was absolutely gorgeous. When we came back down, they were having mass in a smaller part of the cathedral, and there were so many people I couldn’t really see, but I could smell that they were using incense and that was lovely, because I love the smell of frankincense! Following the cathedral, we hit the Museo de Bellas Artes, which was nice, but I was a little tired and cranky so I didn’t enjoy it as much as I might have if I were fresh. To bed shortly after.
The next day we went to the archeological site of Itálica, an ancient Roman city just outside of Sevilla. I had no idea the Romans had made it all the way to Spain, but they did, and this was their first city. Upon returning to Sevilla, I went to el Parque de Maria Luisa with Leah, Ali, and Nora, and we poked around. Maria Luisa is the huge, gorgeous park in the middle of the city with tons of trees and lots of green, which is unusual for the Andalusia area because it doesn’t get much water. It was lovely to explore before we had lunch at another restaurant. Here is where my personal adventure started.
2 blocks into our walk from the restaurant to the Torre de Oro to take a boat tour on the river, I realized my sunglasses had fallen out of my purse when I put it down. Normally this wouldn’t be a huge deal, but Graham gave them to me for Christmas and they’re designer sunglasses and it was just so thoughtful of him that I couldn’t leave them, knowing they just had to be under my chair and we were so close. So, I thrust my jacket into Nora’s hands, told her what I was doing and ran back to get them. Found them, left again, and ran down the street as fast as I could. Now, as I was leaving the group, I saw them crossing the street at an intersection, which logically means to me that they were turning onto that street, so that’s what I did. I ran down a small winding street and found myself having to make a choice – left or right. I couldn’t see any of the group, so I asked two construction workers in Spanish if they had seen a large group of students walk by, I was looking for them. They said continue to the right, and I thanked them. I ended up at a café where I had to ask two more guys, enjoying their café con leche, if they’d seen a big group of students, and they pointed me straight ahead. This put me at a dead end and it didn’t feel quite right, so I called Nora, who told me that they hadn’t even turned on that first street, they’d just gone straight the whole way to the river. I don’t know what group of students *I* had been following, but I was now lost in Sevilla and about to miss my boat tour with my group. Nora told me to head towards the river, which felt like it might be to the left. I was right – I recognized a busy street up ahead from earlier this morning on the bus, which I knew ran right next to the river. Then I had to decide right or left, and I went left because that was the way the bus had driven that morning. I called Nora once more and they were boarding the boat and she’d tell Mark, our program director what was up. Luckily at this point I spotted the Torre de Oro between some trees, about 2 blocks away on this street, which was right next to where the boat left from. I ran and ran and ran until I got there, and I was there in time to see Nora board the boat. Mark met me and showed me the stairs to the boat, made sure I had found what I had gone back for and that I was alright. I was – just having some trouble breathing due to having athlete’s asthma and running for longer than I’m used to, which is to say, running at all. After catching my breath, which took awhile, I was able to enjoy the beautiful boat ride with commentary on the main sites in Sevilla. Did you know they had the Expo there in 92? They built some amazing buildings for it. They also have some beautiful bridges. Finally after this we visited the park once more, and the Plaza de España, both of which were very pretty, and then most of the group left for their week of vacations, and 11 of us got back on the bus to Granada. We played some Uno and slept. It was lovely.
One of my favourite parts of Sevilla, besides its beauty, was its public transportation. They have these electric trams that look like very nice trains, which run through town from one end to another. They cost a bit over a euro to ride, and we were never going very far so it didn’t make sense to ride them, but I realllllly wanted to! They also have stations with bikes all over the city that are available to rent. You put money into a machine and it allows you to borrow the corresponding bike, and then you ride it around and deposit it back at another station. All the bikes have lights and little baskets and they’re so cute!!! Everyone seems to use them too, all sorts of people. There are lots of students and tons of folks have their own bikes (mostly cruisers, so it must be a pretty flat city) which is just lovely.
Photos from my Sevilla trip can be found here: http://seattleu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2035052&l=1fcae&id=32402179
Anyhow, today I’m headed to Barcelona with Leah, Nora, and Leah. We’re going to a futbol game, and the Picasso museum and lots of Gaudi art for sure, and maybe the beach, and who knows what else. We’ll see! Updates to follow.
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