Seville

There were only 2 buses that left to go to Seville, one at 6.30am and another at 1.45pm. i chose the early one because it gave me more time to hang out in Seville. I thought waking up that early was going to kill me, but i felt great - i didnt even yawn! but the trip itself was quite long, i got into Seville at about 1.45pm. after a bit of mucking around and trying to figure out the map. i found my hostel. i think in a pervious life it might have been quite a nice place, but it had been let go. it reminded me of Fawlty towers, but with a spanish feel to it. when i arrived they didnt have the key to my room so they kept screaming the names of the cleaners, (in a very John Cleese style, i might add) until they found the one with the key. then the cleaner threw it from the top level down three flights of stairs and landed at my feet with a thud! i couldnt help but laugh when i saw the expession on the guests faces. when i finally go to my room, it was pretty dodgy, the shower was gross and the toilet, for some reason, had a hanger sticking out of the top of it to make it flush. then at breakfast a HUGE cockroach, probably about the size of my fist, was walking around on the floor. suddenly everyone wasn't so hungry. but it wasn't all bad, they had a roof top terrace, which was nice of an evening, and offered a walking tour.

The Cathedral of Seville, is quite an amazing piece of architecture, i believe that its the largest gothic cathedral in the world. trust me in the flesh its mighty big! even if you don't go in, its quite impressive on the outside, with plenty of carvings and detail. inside is the tomb of Christopher Columbus, while i was here i heard that Columbus had to do a bit of exploring in the Queens pants to get funding for his trips, but i guess it was all worth it, they love him here. the Cathedral was build on top of an old mosque, everything from the old mosque was destroyed expect for the bell tower which still stands today. i went up the top and had a look around, as you can imagine, the view was pretty good.

i was told Seville used to have a real muslim feel to it but a lot it was destroyed by the catholics. only the tower in the cathedral and the Torre del Oro or better known as the 'Golden Tower' (which used to be used as a jail) are pretty much the only things left, but i think if you look hard enough you can find little bits here and there.

If big is your thing Plaza de Espana, is right up your alley, its bloody massive! it was build in the early 1900's for a world fair, but only for latin countries. i think its a bit of the old 'good from a far, but far from good' myself. as i got up close to it, i didn't find it too exciting except for its ceramics, which were taken from the town over the river called Triana which is known for its ceramics. its really hot here in Seville and i think the amount of bricks storing the heat don't help too much, the days i was here it hovered around the high 20's to low 30's but i've heard it gets as hot as 55 degrees here in the summer. so i found the parks surrounding Plaza de Espana quite refreshing to walk around.

while i was here i saw first hand how religious the Spanish are. they have this festival over easter called 'Semana Santa' where people from far and wide come to Seville (not always, but apparently Seville is the place to be for Semana Santa) they dress up in, what looks like Ku Klux Klan uniforms (in fact the KKK stole it from 'Semana Santa') and carry candles and effergies around the town from one church to the catheral. i got here on the sunday so i miss all the prosessions but i saw all the wax that had dripped from the candles all over the streets of Seville, red and white droplets everywhere - quite pretty really.

its big business too, hostels and hotels here bump up there prices, sometimes doubling or tripling them during the easter period. also some people lease out there balconies so others can watch the prosessions.

they have bull fighting here in Seville, which is the first place in spain i've come across that has done it. i noticed there were heaps of people dressed up to go see a the duel, i guess its kind of like how we dress up for spring carnival horse racing. anyway, a few people have asked me if i'm going to go to a bull fight while i'm here in spain, and i have to say the answer to that is, no. i know its one of those must do spanish things but i think i wouldn't find it an enjoyable experience. i've met a couple of people that have gone and they have said it was very hard to watch. the poor bulls haven't got a chance and i personally believe that if you don't believe in something, you shouldn't help fund it by going, no matter how much of a tradicional experience it is.

they also had a bit of flamenco dancing here in Seville. once again, Seville is the first place in spain that i've noticed that has done this. supposidly its a southern thing and doesn't happen much in the north. i didn't end up going to a concert because i'm meeting up with people in Granada and were going to see a show there.

for lunch one day i got recommended a good little tapas place. not a soul spoke english so once again i did the old point to the menu, smile at the waiter and hope for the best. the food there was really good, and reasonably priced, but i really enjoyed the atomsphere, so much so i didn't want to leave. the guy behind the bar was so funny. i had no idea what he was saying, but it was great just to watch his expressions. when you eat there you stand at the bar and i noticed that he wrote the price down on the bar in front of you with a bit of chalk. which i thought was pretty cool. i really love how in bars and in restaurants here, the walls are packed full of old photos, effergies, newspaper articles and other nic nacs, so much so, you can't see the paint. it looks so amazing.

Seville is really beautiful to just wander around. the buildings are quite old and typical of what you might expect from a spanish city, little windy roads, decorative tiles, earthy colours, i'm really enjoying the explosion of colour here in Spain, its seems everywhere and everythign has a rich, warm feel to it. i was walking down one little street in the jewish area that had vines growing over the top of it, only allowing a little bit of sunlight to punch through, and i was thinking to myself 'this is like something you would find on a postcard', then a walked about 5 meters further and found that it was on a postcard!

i mentioned in one of my more recent blogs about work ethic. to give you another example of this. they are building an underground at the moment (even though they probably don't need it, its big, but not that big. they have a tram here that only has 4 stops! whats the point?) anyway, the government wanted to get it done before the Semana Santa so they said to there workers, if they work more hours they would DOUBLE there pay, which i think is pretty unheard of during this economic crisis. instead they went on strike.

so far, i think Seville is the most 'spanish' place ive visited. and i think spain is quickly turning into one of the best places i've visited. next stop is Granada.