Hostal Da Vinci Seville

... hour just trying to find something to cook for dinner... we ended up wiht a tomato for our couscous and a can of beans.
But the real magic was Sunday night. We finally caught a flamenco show, and this one was worth the wait. We sat down in a tiny little courtyard, with maybe 100 other people. The entire show was just 3 people: the singer, guitarrist, and amazing dancer, with faster than light ...

... a little, and had a decent siesta. In the evening I went to the other hostel run by the same people for their 3 euro tapas night with a crew from our hostel, and then we headed to an authentic bar for some Tinot de Verano, and then to another bar for a free Flamenco show :)

Because of the unrelenting heat Megg and I decided that it was definitely time for the beach, and maybe a trip to Morocco! The only place we could get accom was Cadiz so we headed there...

... the Semana Santa, the holy week leading up to Easter, where all the religious sects (like 500) carry their altars to the main cathedral to pay their respects. It takes a whole week for all the sects to have a turn, and its the biggest Easter celebration in the world, maybe. It was cool that we saw them practicing, and other signs of the preparations as well, like the risers where the rich people get seats to watch the processions and be ...

... When I arrived at the door and noticed the entry fee was 7.50 Euro I decided I was just going to imagine what it looked like. I did head over to the Palace though, the gardens themselves supposedly would be worth the price of admission. It was only 7 Euros, 7.50 for a freakin church and 7 for a Palace. I was thinking I was missing something about that Cathedral. Either way I made my way into the Palace and took the tour. A place once ruled by the Moorish and later taken over by ...

... even understand how they made it to the hostel. But they were entertaining to talk to and i was in hysterics for most of the night listening to them cause they really had no idea. We sat out there till late, as the night was beautiful and warm, and you had great views over the lights of the city. Yesterday (Wednesday) I tried to wander the city, but as it gets so unbareably hot by lunchtime i only got to see about half of what i wanted to. My camera also died and ...

... the corner to come and we all ate some pancakes. I've had a really bad cold the past couple of days so I only went out for a little bit Saturday night and then went home and crashed. Sunday I slept until noon, woke up and had some toast, went back to sleep for another two hours and then sat in bed all day watching movies. It was a very productive day. But I feel better now. I went to the Alcazar on Thursday, which is a palace built by muslims before ...

... doesn't talk to me. Its weird. In spain its really normal to live at home until you're married, and usually they marry later so there are people in their 30's who still live at home. My host mom and dad are really nice but they are super against drinking and I have a curfew!! They lecture me all the time about drinking and I have to be home by 12 or 1 during the weekdays and I can't be out too late on the weekends either. And here they stay out really late and get up ...

... on this visit that this establishment treats flamenco more like the art that it is. It is an extremely small venue and you should make reservations in advance. If you are going during a time of year when there will be lots of tourists you may find that it is sold out, just a warning. We really enjoyed the show. The dancer's name was Zambra and she was fabulous. It as nice being so close to the ...

... which probably would have been helpful later. Their apartment building is on a main street connecting the two main bridges in the central part of Seville. Seville has a river running through the middle of it, so everything focuses around the bridges because everyone more or less needs to go over them each day. It's really a great location, I've since learned, since you can get anywhere in the most popular sections of the city by foot in about 25 minutes. Nobody was in the ...

... the Christians regained control of Spain, they added the Cathedral proper to the compound. I walked around the whole church and saw where Christopher Columbus is supposedly buried (one book I read said his remains were actually scattered by the Catholic church as relics and only his scrotum ended up in Sevilla - gross - but I don´t think anyone knows if any of it is true). I then climbed to the top of the Giraldi and took in some impressive views of the whole town. The square ...