Sevilla - The Cathedral & Flamenco!

10/18- We got up early and took a cab to the small Córdoba train station. Everything went smoothly, since we are now pros of the Spanish train system of course! It only took about 1.5 hours, and then we had

Exploring the main plaza!

arrived in Seville, or Sevilla as it’s known in Spain. Our cab took us through some very narrow cobblestoned streets to our hostel, “The Traveler’s Inn: Seville”. It is a 500 year old house that was converted into a very trendy youth hostel. It has a rooftop balcony, and plenty of character. We had a 4 bedroom dorm this time, and we were excited to find we were the only three in the room (for the time being at least!). We unpacked and then started wandering around the area near our hostel. We were very close to the main plaza and cathedral, and so after we did some exploring we had lunch at a touristy place right by the Cathedral. That was our own fault, because the food was bland and overpriced, and the worker was SUPER mean and rude to us. We actually said we felt bad giving her any money because she was the worst waitress we had ever experienced. 

 

Christopher Columbus' tomb

After that, we lined up for admission to the beautiful and stunning Catedral de Sevilla. It is the largest cathedral in Spain, and the third largest church in the entire world! It has also been around since 1520, pretty impressive! We walked around the interior, and stopped at the supposed tomb of Christopher Columbus. It is debated whether he is truly buried here or in the Dominican Republic. We also got to see lots of the ever famous Spanish gold. Of course I lectured Liz and Julia about how much of this gold was actually taken from the natives of South and Central America though. There’s always a back story to history, gotta love it!

Once we had our fill of the church, we headed up the long ramp path to the bell tower, known as the “Giralda”. It was modeled after the Islamic minaret of the Koutoubia Mosque in Marrakech where I just was! It took a decent amount of time for us to get up there, but it was absolutely worth it! We got a full panoramic view of the gorgeous and colorful city, and had fun taking photos with the crazy wind that was going on. We got some great photos though, and had a lot of fun!

Spanish Gold

View of the city from the tower

La Giralda Tower

Back at the bottom of the cathedral, it started to rain very heavily. At one point Liz and I huddled under my little umbrella while Julia ran back inside the cathedral to buy a souvenir fan, and we were hassled by gypsies trying to sell us umbrellas. I kept telling them we already had one and we were fine, and that no we don’t want to pay 20 euros for an umbrella, but they were so persistent!! We luckily avoided that mess, and then ran over to a pizza stall. We sat down inside, nice and dry, and had a better second lunch than the first. Finally it cleared up, and then we headed to the ATM outside. There was an old beggar woman, possibly a gypsy, who was being really forward and asking us for money. I made Liz and Julia be my bodyguards while I was withdrawing money, it was crazy. I guess that’s what we get for hanging around the tourist zones. Those little old ladies are more fierce than your realize! It started raining again, and so we headed back to the hostel to do what any good Spaniard would do… take a siesta!

That evening, we had purchased tickets for a flamenco show through our hostel. They said it was very “authentic”, and even though I didn’t believe them at first, it ended up being truly legitimate. Sevilla is the birthplace of flamenco, and we got to witness it at its prime! We walked to the theatre from our hostel, and had a great time at the show. The dancing and music was of course amazing, and we were entertained by watching how badly the male dancer was sweating. After that show, we decided to head back out towards the main square. We found a coupon for free margaritas at a Mexican restaurant called Iguanas Ranas, and so of course we HAD to find this place! It took us a while, and we got a bit lost in the dark at one point, but on the plus side we saw more of the city, and were super relieved when we finally found it! The Mexican food of course was just “okay”, but when you’re in Spain you just become inexplicably desperate for some greasy Mexican food. We had a great ladies night out, and then headed back to our hostel. There, we were surprised to find that we had a Scottish guy as our new bunkmate, and that someone had a crying baby in the lobby! Who brings a baby to a hostel?? I mean, that’s taking the word “youth” to a whole new level people!!

Flamenco Show!

MEXICAN FOOD in SPAIN!