Sevilla

Sorry for the delay of posting this, it was written over a month ago. Yikes!

Ahh Sevilla, what a beautiful city! The bus ride to Sevilla was just under 3 hours, but just under I mean 2 hours 45 minutes. I fell asleep for part of the ride, but from what I saw, it was a very scenic ride with lots of mountains.  We arrived in Sevilla around 1pm and it was so warm that people were sunbathing near the river. There were also many people kayaking and biking. When we stepped outside of the bus station and were trying to figure out which street would take us to our hostel, there were at least 10 people on bikes that zoomed passed us in the bike lane. Okay, so 10 people riding bikes is not that many to see, but the few I've seen in Badajoz wear professional biking gear while biking on the highway.

While we were walking to our hostel, it was clear we were far from Badajoz and in a real city (Sevilla is the third largest city in Spain). The hostels we stayed at was a 15 minute walk from the bus station and our walk was filled with views of people shopping, hanging out in various parks and eating outside. There were multiple Burger Kings, McDonald's and Starbuck's. We ventured into the old part of town and walked through a maze of streets that were filled with clothing and shoe stores. There were so may great looking shoes, we all just wanted to shop,shop,shop! haha. But we didn't. Instead we walked around to see the Cathedral and Alcazar Real and the city during the afternoon and evening.

 After dark, we took a walk by the river and stopped at a small bar to have a beer. Some people tried something that said "vino de naranja" which turned out to be red wine with Triple Sec - not at all what they were expecting. haha.

We waited too long before deciding to eat dinner, so we were getting grumpy because all of the restaurants were full around 10:30pm. We saw a restaurant that wasn't too busy but looked a little pricey (we could tell it was a nice restaurant because the chairs that were outside had seat covers) and immediately sat down. We ordered 4 racionces, but quickly found out that was not enough food for 8 people. We must've looked crazy because we inhaled the food as soon as they brought it to the table. They also watched us and took the plates away shortly after we finished eating. The bill came to about 10€ per person, which is way more than we had wanted to pay for dinner, so we were unhappy and left quickly. Being so unsatisfied with our dinner, we stopped at a pizza place next to the hostel. They had a deal where you could get a giant slice of pizza, a soda, french fries and ice cream for something like 4.50€, so four of us got it. We ate on the roof of the hostel and met an Australian guy who has been traveling the world since January. We then had a few drinks and went to a giant discoteca where we danced until 4am.

Though we all stayed up late, we were ready to explore the city around 11am. We ate breakfast in the hostel and then went to see the cathedral. Colombus' grave was inside the cathedral. que guay! Also, there is a tower you can walk up and the view of Sevilla is fantastic from the top. The tower did not have stairs, but had a series of ramps so that soldiers could get up to the tower with their horses!

We went to a cute and busy restaurant for lunch. There were people waiting outside in the street for their names to be called. At this place, you give them your name and the size of your party and you wait. We enjoyed some wine while waiting and just before they called Simon's name (my party) I saw a friend from Beloit walking down the same street as the restaurant. Que casualidad! We had taken a Spanish class on 19th Century Spanish and Puerto Rican Literature. We exchanged numbers and Joanna told me that another Beloiter was in Sevilla for the weekend. She said they were going to meet up later for tapas and asked if I'd like to meet up with them. Of course I said yes. While I was talking with her Simon's name was called, so we said goodbye and entered the restaurant. The food there was so good!! I ordered a tapa of stuffed eggplant and solomillo cooked in whiskey sauce with garlic. There was so much garlic and the meat was the perfect size. With a bottle of wine, our meal came to about 5 € a person. We were much more satisfied with this meal than we were with our dinner from the night before.


After lunch, we went to Alcazar Real, but not everyone had their TIEs to show that we were students. It's free for students and costs 4€ otherwise. Catherine, Sally and Stephanie stayed to explore it, while the rest of us vowed to come back after we got our IDs. We went to H&M and then went back to the hostel for a siesta.

Me, Joanna, and Aaron.We just happened to be in height order. 

 I met up with Joanna around 6:15pm and then we went to Aaron's hotel. We walked for a good 20 minutes and ended up 5 minutes north of where I was staying. However, we took a different route to get there, which was filled with cute restaurants and shops. It was fun seeing Joanna and Aaron again. Joanna is also working as an English Language and Culture assistant like me, but she applied through CIEE, not the Spanish government. She's working in a small town an hour west of Sevilla. Aaron is studying abroad in Alicante and his group took a trip to Sevilla for the weekend. We walked around the city with some of Aaron's friends looking for a churreria.

By the time we found one it was close to 9pm and I had to go meet up with my friends at the hostel. I thought we were going to an Indian restaurant, but everyone decided to eat the Moroccan food they made at the hostel. I got there too late though, so there was not enough food for Catherine or me. We went to a restaurant down the street and ate some paella, bacalao dorado, and fried eggplant with honey. It was delcious!

I don't know when I'll go back to Sevilla, but I'm excited to return.