Sevilla

Hi friends!

I know I said I would update my blog on Sunday, but I was very tired when I finally got home and had some time.  So, I postponed posting until my break between classes on Monday.  Hope you’re not too disappointed.

Sevilla was wonderful!  I felt a bit better on Friday morning, and I was committed to going on the trip, so I was going to force myself no matter what.  We had a 9 AM speed train from the Madrid train station to Sevilla.  I met Dad, Maggie, and Michael on the metro near their stop so we could go to the train station together.  Taking the speed trains in Spain is super easy!  Once we got to the station, we checked the boards to find out which platform we needed, went to security, put our bags through, and got on the train.  Seats are assigned, and I thought they were relatively comfortable.  It’s a much better way to travel than a bus.  On the 2.5 hour ride, Maggie and I watched a movie on her laptop, Michael slept, and Dad read about Sevilla and studied his Spanish for Dummies book.  He definitely learned a lot on this trip.

We got into Sevilla around 11:45, and hopped in a taxi to get to the hotel.  The streets in Sevilla are very narrow and winding—great place to get lost!  Once we arrived at the hotel, we checked in, got our rooms, and freshened up before our walking tour.  The hotel is quite nice, with several courtyards and sitting areas.  The rooms were lovely, but Maggie’s and mine was very cold for some reason—not too comfortable.  Anyway, we met our guide, Jaime, in the lobby for our walking tour of Sevilla.  He took us first to the Jewish Quarter and explained a lot about the history of Sevilla as a city.  We walked around most of the old part of the city, but the biggest landmarks were the cathedral and the royal palace.  The palace was built by Muslim workers, for Christian kings, and paid for by the Jewish community of Sevilla.  It is very beautiful inside, and Jaime explained that they are discovering new things about the palace all the time (for instance, up until 2 years ago, the main courtyard was a completely flat floor; now, it has a huge water feature in the middle and two gardens dug in the ground on each side—the original design of the courtyard).  The gardens of the royal palace were beautiful—lots of great vegetation.  Sevilla is covered with orange trees, but Jaime told us that they are bitter oranges.  They are good for marmalade, so they are harvested and sold to the U.K. to be made into marmalade.  :)

After the palace, we went into the cathedral, which is the largest Gothic cathedral in the world.  And one of the incredible things about this cathedral is that they started building it in Gothic style and they finished building it in Gothic style!  Most huge projects like that will start in one style but end in another style.  The cathedral is quite impressive, and it is the final resting place of Christopher Columbus (as well as his son).  At the end of our walking tour, Jaime left us at the cathedral, and we decided to climb the tower to get a high view of the city.  The journey to the top of the tower consisted of 34 ramps that we had to climb.  It was built with ramps rather than stairs so that the guy who calls the Muslims to prayer 5 times a day could ride a donkey up to the top rather than walking.  However, there was no donkey available for me.  I was dying after about 12 ramps, but I made it.  The views of the city were awesome!  I was most jealous of the rooftop terraces and pools—I wanted to be there, enjoying the sun!  :)  Then we climbed back down and headed back to the hotel.  We were hungry when we got back, so we ordered a little snack from the hotel—I had the Iberian ham, which is really good (and I don’t like ham!).  Then we had a few hours to rest before our tapas tour that night.

Later that night, we met our second guide of the day, Roger, for a tapas tour of Sevilla.  Roger is from Wales but has lived in Sevilla for 24 years.  He’s a huge food and wine enthusiast, so he was perfect for our food tour of Sevilla!  First, we went to a place called El Rinconcillo, where we had an awesome spinach dish, a meat dish of pigs’ cheek, a tomato dish, and croquettes.  Roger also ordered a red wine/fruit juice mix for me, which was lovely.  I thought everything tasted fantastic, and the restaurant was cool.  The second place focused on seafood.  We had shrimp omelette, cuttlefish meatballs, and a calamari-like dish.  There, I had a citrusy white wine.  Yummy.  Next, we went to a place that specializes in Iberian ham.  This place was a little more crowded and loud, but the food was good!  We ended our tour at a cheese place (not my favorite, but I tried some, and I loved my red wine!).  It was such a wonderful experience, and very nice since Roger knows everyone and took care of everything—definitely the best way to experience Spanish culture and food.  :)

On Saturday, we had breakfast at the hotel and then had a biking tour of Sevilla starting at 10:30 AM.  Our guide, Sam, who is from New Zealand, but was born in Hong Kong and raised in Japan, met us with bright, lime green bikes at the hotel lobby.  It felt a little funny to be on a bike after so long without riding, but it was fun.  At first, we saw several of the same things as we did on the walking tour, but then we got further from the hotel because we could travel faster.  We stopped at a monastery/convent to buy some sweets for later in the trip.  Sam took us through the city and to the river.  I didn’t take many pictures because I was riding, but it was a great way to see the city.  We stopped at the café along the river for a coke and the sweets (which were egg yolk candies covered in sugar—I didn’t really like them, but it was interesting).  We rode through the public gardens of the city and stopped in the Plaza de España—beautiful!  Then our tour was over and we rode back to the hotel.  After we rested for a bit, we walked around Sevilla to find somewhere to eat lunch.  Unfortunately, eating in Spain can be a bit of a hassle, especially if you don’t speak Spanish, don’t understand the customs, and don’t want to stand or endure horrible service.  So, after striking out, we stopped at the supermarket, bought bread, salami, cheese, potato chips, and some dessert.  We took our treasures back to the hotel and made lunch in the courtyard.  Delicious and inexpensive!  That’s what they get when traveling with a college student!  :)

Saturday night, we went to a restaurant that Maria recommended we go to: Rio Grande.  It is right on the river, so our table had a great view.  I had the swordfish, which was excellent.  Service was mediocre, but that’s simply what you have to expect in Spain.  When we left, the three of us kids wanted to get a taxi back, but Dad was convinced we could walk, so we tried.  We took bets on how long it would take us to get back to the hotel.  Dad ended up being right that we could walk back, and it didn’t take too long!  Luckily, we didn’t take any wrong turns, which would have messed us up a lot.  So, we got back safely and went to bed.

On Sunday, we slept in, had breakfast, and then quickly packed up and left to catch our train back to Madrid.  On the train, I studied for my philosophy midterm, which is in a few hours.  (Wish me luck!)  We got back to their Madrid hotel, checked in, and just hung out for several hours.  We got dinner at a place right across the street from the hotel.  It was very good--we had quesadillas, spaghetti, pizza, soup, lasagna, and a burger.  Delicious and great atmosphere in the restaurant!  Around 9, I knew I needed to be getting back to get ready for the school week, so I said goodbye, and Dad walked me to the metro.  It was sad to say goodbye, but I am very thankful and happy that they had the opportunity to visit me and see a little bit of Spain.  Thank you Mom and Dad for provided such amazing opportunities for us at such young ages!

Well, that was my weekend.  I am so glad that I got to spend time with my family.  Now I’m excited for Mom, Emma, and M to get here in March!  It’s going to be such a fun time!

Until later,

Love,

Elizabeth

My blog was being difficult today, so the pictures follow, rather than being dispersed throughout the text.  Sorry!

Hotel Alma Sevilla

Cute!

Courtyard with fountain and lots of orange trees

Orange trees!

Cathedral

Cathedral

Palm trees!! :)

Royal gardens

more royal gardens

Michael and me in the Royal Gardens

View of Sevilla from the tower

Bells in the tower

I wanted to be on these terraces and enjoying these pools!

First tapas stop

Look at all that ham behind them!

Second stop

Bikes!  Looking great, I know.

View of the river

Narrow alleys and colorful buildings

Last night in Sevilla