Ok so I just got back from Deutschland, but haven’t had the chance to post about Daddy and my tour of Andalucia. Our first stop was to beautiful Sevilla (say: Say-vee-yuh…NOT seville). We took a 6 hour bus ride from Madrid to Sevilla which is not recommended (very bumpy/curvy) but WAY cheaper than taking the 3-hour train. choose your battle.

So we get there quite early in the morning, jump in a cab to get to our hotel, and drop our bags off until we can check in around 1pm. Also, I was going through my documents I needed to send off to apply for a scholarship to dental school, and realized that I never printed off my CV. I spot a printer behind the check-in desk and ask if I can use it just to print 2 pages. The man is very nice about it, and so now I have everything ready to be sent off. The deadline to have everything postmarked is by 5pm TODAY. So our first objective was to find a post office! Well, we found the place that everyone told us was the closest one…walk in, and are told that this is just the mailing center, that we need to go around the corner to send something off. so we do find it, send it off, and YAY! relief. dad and I had been working SO hard to get all that done, so it was nice to get it off our shoulders.

Afterward, we decide to go wander toward the center, and we spot the MASSIVE Cathedral of Sevilla (biggest cathedral in Spain and apparently the biggest Gothic cathedral in the world). We happened to get in for free because mass was taking place (since it was Semana Santa, there is at least one mass every day), but unfortunately could not go up the tower (also known as La Giralda…at the time it was built it was the largest tower in the world). Construction of the cathedral started in 1402 and continued until the 1500s.

Later, we walked along the Rio Guadalquivir and saw the Torre del Oro (Gold Tower), built in the 1200s to control access to Sevilla. It also served as a prison in the middle ages and a place to store all the gold the Spanish stolen from the Americas! – also a possible origin for the name. There is debate as to how the name came to be because the tower also used to be covered in gold tiles

Next we passed by the Plaza de Toros (bull ring), but there was a MASSIVE line due to the bullfight that day, so we couldn’t get inside. We then accidentally found part of the University of Sevilla – what used to be the science building but is now the language, history, and geography building. It is like a castle in itself…Actually, before it was even a University, it was a tobacco factory which the King own and supplied a ridiculous amount of cigars to all of Europe (can’t remember how much but it seems like at least half). If you’re into Opera – fun fact! Carmen was filmed here and she worked as one of the cigar rollers in the factory. The tobacco factory was converted into a University building in 1953.

Not far away from the University (and after dodging a bunch of gypsies…no joke) is the spectacular PLAZA DE ESPANA! All I have to say is that it kick’s Madrid’s Plaza de Mayor’s booty. by a lot. It is a huge half-circle and the epitome of Moorish-Spanish architecture, with a nice fountain in the middle and 2 arched bridges that go over the MOAT! haha. and you can ride boats thru the moat when the weather is nice! Also, it has tiled alcoves on the lower walls which represent every region in Spain.

Daddy and I have already seen a lot considering we have not even checked into our hotel yet! So we start heading back to the hotel and spot a “buffet libre” for the same price as a Menu del Dia, so decide to go drop off our things, get cleaned up, then get some lunch! I expose daddy to the wonderfulness that is Tinto de Verano (wine + some sort of carbonated lemony water)…and he goes on to ask, “so it’s like a wine cooler?” I respond that wine cooler has such a bad connotation, but that technically, I guess that’s what it is. He still liked it tho! Sometimes it is too hot to drink vino tinto, and that is where tinto de verano comes in.

On our way back to the hotel, we run into our first procession! Keep in mind that we had no idea what to expect, and so we learned throughout the whole experience. First we see the pointy-hooded people, and one gave me a piece of candy! Later we hear music coming from the left (they were walking to the right), so we thought maybe the music would eventually go by us. Then we hear the music to the right of us, and decide to go follow it! It was so powerful and moving with the horns and the drums. See the fotos for pics…I am going to try and upload videos later but this is a new thing for me so we’ll see how it goes.

We later realize more or less how the processions work and people involved. So each church has a different float for every day of Semana Santa, starting on palm Sunday until Easter Sunday (I believe), with things like the kiss of judas, last supper, and the crucifixion in between. They each leave their church at a certain hour (after noon) so that they are spread out, and have a planned route throughout the city. By our 2nd day in Sevilla, we realize that you cannot avoid the processions at night even if you want to! Also, each church is represented by a “cofradia” which is basically a religious club. They all wear more or less the same outfit, but have different colorings and symbols and whatnot. Also, the people who hold and carry the float are called “costaleros” and have their own outfit which are basically black knee-length short type things (think liederhosen without the pee flap), a white t-shirt, and what looks like a rolled up towel on their head that flows down their back (not rolled up like a turbin). So the processions go sort of in this order: cofradias, float held by costaleros, horns, drums…many times with family members of those in the procession interspersed.

So that is a procession in a nutshell. It took a while to figure the whole thing out honestly!

The next day we meet up with Victor at Plaza de Espana, then head to a nearby park before we go to lunch. Dad and I want to see the Alcazar, which Victor had already been to, so we go there and decide to meet up again with Victor later. The Alcazar is a royal palace in Mudejar-style architecture, and the upper levels are still used by the royal family. There are no little ropes to guide you around like some places, so we had some difficulty figuring out where we had and hadn’t been, but in the end I think we saw everything. There are numerous patios and nice gardens…I only know a little bit of the history, so if you are interested, there is always google!

By the end of all this, daddy and I are pretty tired so we go to the hotel for a siesta. Later, Victor and his dad pick us up (a little late because a lot of the roads were blocked for the processions), and they take us on a car ride around the city! woo! This is acceptable to daddy and me because we were not trying to go through the narrow cobble-stone streets like we saw many cars attempt to do, but we went on a loop around the city and got to see the river at night, plus the Plaza de Espana right before it closed for the night. And Victor’s dad (Jesus) took us to one of his favorite beer and tapas spots! We got prawns (which Victor said were the first prawns he’s ever liked), ensaladilla, some dried fish things (can’t remember what they were called, but the were good), and some mussels. Victor and his dad do not know much english, and daddy can pick up a few Spanish words, so I had a blast being the translator it’s honestly really fun to know what’s going on on both sides, but sometimes hard to switch back and forth…I kept finding myself speaking spanish to dad and english to victor, hahaha

After some pool (jesus is AWESOME at pool), they take us back to our hotel and we get some sleep before our train ride to CORDOBA in the morning!