Feb 1

When we got to Sevilla we… WAIT, it wasn’t that easy.

We got to Sevilla but never really got to our hotel. Tom Tom led us wrong. We turned right up a pretty wide street with cars parked down each side and even through the middle then stopped half way up the block. Apparently the GPS didn’t know that the road was closed due to construction of the new Metro system through Sevilla. Don Juan, our driver, tried a fifteen point turn, but after backing into a brand new Mercedes decided to unload the bus so he could work under a little less pressure. So loaded up with our bags we walked through the city to our hotel which was “only a 100 meters away” but which seemed more like 1 km. After we got our rooms we went right back out for dinner. We ended up at a place called Aladdin which was all Middle Eastern food which made a lot of people happy. Except for Molly.. her food ended up making her extremely sick… it’s hard for her to always be able to find food that she can eat.

The next day we went out of town to visit the old Roman city of Itálica, amphitheatre and all. It was incredible to see such a huge structure built without any aid of power or power tools. Unfortunately in the 1300 years since it was built the third level of seating had fallen/ been removed.. The city itself was incredible too though; it was mostly for upper class Romans because the floors of the houses were all covered with really intricate mosaics. Apparently, all of the roads used to be covered with wood overhead so that you wouldn’t have to walk in the hot sun, rain, or snow. Along with that they built huge thermal baths… for living so long ago they sure had a good life. They even had drainage pipes underground so that the city wouldn’t flood.. just incredible.

After the Itálica we drove back into the Sevilla and went to Real Alcazar. Basically it was a huge palace built by Arabs for the Catholic kings using Arabic art and architecture. What they didn’t know was that they were just writing scripture from the Koran on all of the walls. It was really nice too with some really amazing gardens including a hedge maze and a duck pond. I didn’t actually see the duck pond but Sarah and Molly went to see it and Sarah slipped and fell in duck poop and Molly laughed so hard that she peed herself. I only know because they were both still dying laughing by the time they met back up with us.

The rest of the day we had to ourselves so Sarah, Becky, Molly and I walked around and saw the Torre de Oro and the Plaza de Toros. We hung out a while to watch the sun set over the Guadalquivir, but it wasn’t quite as spectacular as we’d hoped. Who would have guessed that construction equipment would have been in the way… Construction is everywhere!

That night Molly stayed in because she still wasn’t feeling well so just Sarah Bec and I went out. For dinner we went to a little place we saw on the way back from the river.. I had a frozen pizza, that’s as much as we’re going to say about that restaurant. (Apparently the deer that I asked for from the menu wasn’t in season…) After that we went to a bar and watched FC Barcelona get beat by Zaragoza on pay per view. Just a hint, beer for a Euro is gross. From there we went out to a club where we were supposed to meet Aubrey and one of her friends who is studying in Sevilla. We caught a cab and got to the club a little bit before Aubrey. We were standing there waiting for their cab when a limo pulled up and Louise, Taylor, Aubrey and her friend all piled out.. it was really weird but apparently the club has free limo shuttles from various bars in the city.

The girls drank free until 1 but it was 12:45 by the time we got there so they ended up having to pay for the most part. Sarah must have spent all of her money because Becky and I ended up having to force her to stop dancing with all of the old men there and drink some water before we headed home.

The next day we ate breakfast then hung out at the hotel for a little while because the Catedral didn’t open until 11 (Breakfast was still at 8:30 though). The cathedral was really nice though and full of mystery. That’s an art history joke.. sorry. Be happy that you don’t get it. Then we got to go up to the Giralda, which was the Bell tower that over-looked the entire city. We didn’t have to walk up steps though, it was nine floors of ramps instead. Apparently the Arab king who originally built the tower wanted to be able to address the citizens of the city from the tower without being out of breath when he got there, so he made it possible for his horse to take him to the top instead.

After the Cathedral the normal group plus Alice, our Czech friend went to the huge park where I climbed a tree (the kind Sarah wants to live in) and where we saw a huge albino peacock. Just a warning.. don’t eat the oranges on the trees in the park, they our intensely sour and make your tongue go numb. I realized it faster than Molly (she didn’t really understand why I was spitting so much until her tongue really went numb. The five of us ate at a little café for lunch then went to the bus for the short trip to Córdoba.

Just as an example of why I’m glad you don’t have to give tips at restaurants in Spain-
While at the last café I mentioned our waitress was talking to us taking our order, when her phone rang, she answered it and walked away. Incredible. I’ve heard that some people have worse stories though.

Word of the Day(s)- vomitorio- exit (this is what the exits from the amphitheatre were called because people “spewed” out of them [ever wonder where we got the expression?])