Sevilla

After a month of gorging ourselves on Jeannie's cooking, we finally pried ourselves away from the kitchen table, packed up our bags, and hauled ourselves out of bed at 6AM to catch the bus to Sevilla. We ended up leaving the same day as Alan and Mark so Grania, Sam and Jeannie's daughter, drove us all to the bus stop and we hopped on and napped for the hour and a half drive into town. We dropped our bags off at Hostal Nuevo Suizo and headed out again for a full day of sightseeing of the beautiful city of Sevilla as the Scots were only staying one night.

First up was the Alcazar palace, a royal palace - and still the official residence of the Spanish kings and queens in Sevilla - that was begun way back in the 1100s. It was largely built by the Moors and added to by Christian kings over the centuries. The Moors, by the way, were the ones who built all the cool stuff. There are just halls and courtyards and treasuries and gardens... one of the most historically interesting pieces was a painting that has the first graphic depiction of the New World, complete with Columbus and his ships.

One other wee fun fact about the palace was that it was in an earthquake that shook off some beautifully painted tiles; the tiles originally formed a picture but when they fell off, someone just stuck them back on randomly and now it looks like one of those mixed up puzzles with one missing piece where you have to put it back together... We know this because we sprung for the audioguide (3.50) - just one though, which I listened to and then dutifully repeated the info to the others (I would, by the way, recommend getting at least one audioguide if you go as there is a lot of info in them). And another puzzle was outside in the form of a labyrinth, which we all wandered through while trying not to fall asleep in the midday heat, especially since the guards patrol all the benches to make sure no one lies down.

We ate an overpriced picnic lunch picked up from the Opencor supermarket (don't go there - way too expensive but the only thing nearby) in the sprawling Parque de Maria Luisa, then we decided to fight on through the fatigue and head on over to the other main attraction in town - the massive Cathedral. This place is enormous - and is the largest Gothic cathedral in the world. Very dark though. And a little Spanish-Catholic creepy with a bunch of bloody statues and some reliquaries. There also seemed to be a whole warren of hidden little side rooms that led us through the treasuries containing the smaller jewels, as opposed to the giant gilded altar in the middle of the cavernous main hall.

Also part of the cathedral is the Giralda bell tower which does exactly that, towering above the city. It's a bit of a walk to the top... however, it's pretty easy as it's all one ramp. Why, you ask? Because it used to be the mosque's minaret and the muezzin (guy who calls the faithful to prayer) would RIDE HIS HORSE up the ramp to the top every day. I don't know why all towers don't just do away with steps and go with the ramp-thing. So much easier. Anyway, we goofed around up top a bit and snapped some shots of the city below before descending in time to catch a game of footie at a nearby overpriced, but recommended Flaherty's Irish pub. And then it was time to party.

And by party, we mean drink in the hostel room until the wee hours of the morn. We introduced the Scots to Kings - aka Ring of Fire - a game they took to like goats to horns. Or something. We got a little loud and out of control and I must admit I got a little uppity as I was worried our roommates weren't too happy... but the memories - not to mention the photos - were priceless. Unfortunately, we don't have the pictures, but you can see some of them on Mark and Alan's photo blog and I'll leave you with this shot of the four of us taken at the bus station as we bid them goodbye the following morning and settled in for a couple days of just the two of us again.

Honestly, we weren't sure exactly what else to do. We felt a little strange, a little aimless, especially as the big Sevilla sights were already ticked off the list. But we pulled ourselves together and soldiered on, wandering aimlessly around town for a while like we do. We discovered a pretty cool plaza with a bunch of bars and cafes(Plaza del Salvador), got in a fight, and marveled at how this building was unfinished; if you look closely, you can see that they ran out of money or something half-way through and had to leave the second half of the building unadorned and sculpture free. We then went home, had some ramen and beer, and stayed home for a quiet night in.

The next day was our last and that meant back to beating the sightseeing path with a stroll down to the Plaza de Espana, a pavilion erected for the World's Fair in a Sevilla some years ago. Pretty cool, especially all the tiled paintings of Spain's various provinces that ringed the place. We then got some doner at a restaurant called Petra - quite tasty and a welcome change from the steady diet of ham and tapas. We also debated if we should buy the tickets and eventually decided that yes, we're in Spain, we should go to a bullfight.

Which is a bit of a misnomer as there is nothing even remotely resembling a fight here. A closer description would be bull-taunt-and-torture-to-death, but I imagine they rejected that for PR reasons. It's like going to watch a sports game where you already know who's going to win - and where's the fun in that? It's about 15 highly-trained athletes with weapons, horses, and thousands of years of knowledge (not to mention walls to hide behind) against a single scared bull who they have to goad into charging at them because he'd rather just chill out in the sun. Not really that cool. We watched six bulls be killed and the highlight was definitely in the first "fight" when the bull upended a horse and threw one of the matadors. I mean, you really are rooting for the bull to win.

Plus, it's not that comfortable. Granted, we got the cheap seats, but it was packed and there are no aisles. There are also no seats, but rather concrete step-benches where you have to squeeze between someone's knees behind you and have another person squeeze between yours in front. I had to go to the bathroom at one point in between bulls and I had to fight my way over to the stairwell... at which point I realized there were still no aisles and people had stopped moving for me as the next bull was coming out. So I had to jump over the railing and drop about 10 feet down. Insane.

But as uncomfortable as I was, it was nothing to the bulls. I cannot stress enough how little they want to participate. It's not like these are blood-thirsty beasts - these are male cows who just so happen to not like the color red very much. Nor do they like a bunch of guys in funny costumes prancing around and jabbing them with sticks, tiring them out in waves until the lead matador finally makes and appearance and taunts the bull a bit more before driving a sword into the base of his neck. And if he doesn't kill him with that thrust, a helper runs in with a dagger to deliver the death blow. Then they hook chains to the bull's horns and a team of horses drag his body across the arena, smearing his blood in the dirt. Not that cool at all and, while it was definitely an experience, I would encourage people not to support it any longer.

After the bullfight, we returned to the hostel to see if we could round up any troops for our last night in Sevilla - a night which also happened to be the opening night of the Feria de Abril, a huge Oktoberfest-esque festival that goes on for a couple weeks. We ended up setting off alone rather than go out for an expensive dinner with a few guys from the hostel and instead had some carnie food at the Feria, which was, unfortunately, a little disappointing. Definitely no Oktoberfest, though it was a similar set up with a carnival in one part and tents for partying in another part. The main difference was that these tents here were exclusive, invite only affairs, leaving us out in the cold. There were a couple public ones, but they didn't look that cool to be honest so we mostly just walked up and down the rows then went on a roller coaster and made it back to the entrance of the park for the official opening ceremony where they turn on the lights. That was cool... but then we had to literally do battle with the crowds streaming into the place as we were trying to get out. We probably should have stayed as it seemed to just be getting going around midnight with way too many people for just the tents coming in; it was a complete madhouse with everyone pushing and shoving everyone else and Kate was even lifted off her feet by the mob. But we made it out safely and trekked back to the hostel where we got a good night's sleep before bidding hasta luego to Spain, which is, of course, See you later in English, but Boof, done in Scottish patter...