Sevilla

These past two days we have taken a weekend trip and have stayed in Sevilla. I am coming to realize that I like the smaller towns way better than big time city Madrid. They are easier to get around, have cuter shops, are not as crowded, and overall a lot less stressful. Everything is just more peaceful. And it doesn't take at least 30 minutes to get anywhere, like how it is in Madrid. Anyways, our bus drive was way longer than usual because Larson seems to have trouble with estimating time. (Like we are talking off by a couple of hours). On the way there we took at a pit stop that was dedicated to Don Quixote. It was pretty cool and made for some great pictures. 

Only pretending to be an ox. 

Beth Ann and I with the one and only Don Quixote.

We next stopped at Cordoba and toured a cathedral that has been used by muslims and catholics. I was confused on who owned it and during what periods it was. Like I think a muslim mosque was built first, then a catholic church was build in the center of it. But by now the cathedrals are all starting to blend together. 

There has been a large number of asians at the most recent sites we have visited, so I decided to take a picture with them. They just didn't know I was taking it. 

We had a few hours after the tour of the cathedral to walk around Cordoba and explore its streets. It was mainly a lot of touristy shops, but still fun to visit. 

After that, we made it to SEVILLA! We stopped at our hotel first to unload all our stuff and have a little bit to get ready for dinner. It felt so nice to be in a hotel room and not feel bad for using the water, energy, etc. And guess what the first thing Robyn and I did? Find a TV station with english. Too bad it was just CNN...

We had a nice dinner that night with the whole group that included 3 courses. What is it with food and Spain? After that, we walked through the town for a bit and had to say audios to the night because we were exhausted!

After an early breakfast that next morning at 8:20, we made to some old Roman gladiator thing. However, exactly when we got there, the sky decided to open up and pour rain on us. Rather than reading the brochures we received, we put them to practical use and covered our heads with them.

We then stopped at yet another cathedral. An interesting thing about this one is that it did contain part of Christopher Columbus' body. It also had this cool bell tower that has somehow survived several earthquakes. We had the privilege, no the pain, to travel all the way up to the top. It was really fun seeing the view from that high. And my legs got a great workout... 

In the cathedral, they did have this huge thing build for a procession in honor of the virgin mary that was to take place that night. Its 3am, and the procession is still going on. Crazy Spaniards!!

Next stop: a muslim mosque with a beautiful garden outside of it, designed to replicate gardens like you would find in England. It was so beautiful and lush!

After all the tours of the day, we had the rest of the day to do as we please. Getting very used to the schedule of Spain, we found some american-ish restaurant to eat at and went back to the hotel for a siesta. We did some exploring slash shopping, despite some pouring rain during the afternoon. Then decided to eat dinner at a fabulous pizza restaurant. Oh, and I think it is necessary to say that I had 3 desserts today. When in Spain, eat as the spaniards do! We have become addicted to helado, which is their version of ice cream. Much sweeter than what we have in the US. Meaning, I love it all the more! 

After dinner and the third dessert, we participated in the procession of the Virgin Mary, tried to get on camera of people filming the procession, managed to annoy several Sevillians by singing songs native to Texas, and found a man dressed up as a bullfighter with his friend following him with a speaker playing funny music to take a picture with. All in all, I called it a good day.

Maria