Seville

In the land of bullfighting, tapas, flamenco, and sangria... Elyse and I went on an adventure!

We left very early on Thursday morning, and since the flight was only 1 1/2 hours long, we still had most of the morning for activities! We wandered around the major cathedral and the neighbourhood of Santa Cruz before walking all the way to our hostel which was quite a bit south of the main tourist area. We checked in, and stopped for some lunch, and met a fellow from California who had already been touring Europe for about two months. Elyse wanted to have a siesta, so myself and our new friend went off to check out the official residence of the Spanish Royal family: Real Alcazar.

This was the first thing I really saw in Seville, but was by far my favourite. The mujhedar architecture was something I had never seen before. It is a combination of christian and muslim architecture styles and is generally georgeous. Seville is so far south that they don't have to worry about heating, so all of the rooms have large, ornate, open doors and many have water fountains that trickle water along the floor creating a calming effect in the room. I thought that the whole building created a sense of calming peacefullness. Attached to the palace is a very large garden that, among other things, had a real hedge maze! I got lost. :D In the garden, as well as all over the streets of Seville, there were orange trees that were almost ripe. The smell of the blossoms must be incredible in the spring!!

We also saw art, sculpture, and altarpieces in a chapel attached to a hospice for the poor, as well as the Cathedral. In these two places, as well as the palace, we got audioguides to help us know what we're looking at... I think I'm audio-guided out now. It was useful, but by the end of the trip I was on information overload. The tour we got of the bull ring was similarly interesting.. but gorey.

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We also bought tickets for a flamenco show! Unfortunately I came down with the flu earlier in the day and by the time the show-time came around, I was woozy, dizzy, and nauseous. They served us tapas before the show started, but I took one look at the food and ran off to the bathroom to barf. This was unpleasant. However, it had the positive effect of clearing my head (and my rumbly tummy) so that I could appreciate the show! It was SO good. Passionate, impressive, colourful, and exciting.

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