Day 14 - July 12th

  Seville, Andalusia, Spain and Canary Islands
Saturday, July 12, 2008

This morning we woke up at the crack of dawn to board the Renfe Ave (the High Speed Train) for a fun-filled day in Seville! The train ride was about 2 and a half hours...and of course, considering how tired I was the day before, I slept the entire ride! I only woke up one time to the guy that was sitting next to me that jumped over me instead of waking me up to go to the bathroom...so, to say the least, I woke up and his crotch was in my face - I was a bit scared! Not a pretty sight to wake up to! But, as soon as he got over me, I went back to sleep...now that I think about it, I wonder how he got back to his seat - guess he crossed over me again, woops!

Once we arrived in Seville, we went to our hotel, the beautiful Hotel Siilken Al-Andalus and put our bangarangs down before we hit up the town. We did a LOT of walking - through the Botanical Gardens...within the city center all the way to the Cathedral and the Reales Alcazares.

Our Beautiful Hotel

The botanical gardens

Sorry, I'm just a fool!

Commemoration of Colon

Walking in the Gardens

Sitting in the Streets of Seville

The view from the top

All that walking wore me out!

Perfect Image of Sevilla

After we walked through the cathedral (and saw Christopher Columbus' tomb), we were brave enough to the top of the Bell Tower in the Cathedral where we got to see a beautiful view of the city. As a matter of fact, we must have reached it on the hour because the big bells rang as soon as we stepped on the last step. I like to say that the bells were announcing our presence at the top of the tower...but I guess the truth was it was really just marking the hour. Regardless, it really was gorgeous there - but I sure was tired once we got up there!

After that, we walked back down to catch the Real Alcazares, a set of palaces in the city. The palaces are huge, have beautiful courtyards and have tons of beautiful memorabilia of the old days. I'm glad we got to see it - but by then I was exhausted!

We did a little bit more walking through the city - stopped off to get some lunch at a pizzeria, ya, I know, I've given up on the Spanish food thing, and then headed back to the Hotel to get ready (as fast as we could) for the night. Once we were ready to get out, we were definitely being silly Americans...arguing with each other about whether or not it was more economically efficient to take taxis or the bus. What ended up happening is we got out of the taxi and after we had made up our mind, we were no longer welcome in the taxis - and they had basically red-listed us from going in any taxi. So, we had to walk to another corner and attempt for some other taxi driver to pick us up off the road - luckily we got one!

Sangria -- Pink & Green Straws....lol!

The Live Band

The Live Band

We had a very interesting and entertaining night that night. After seeking out tons of recommendations, we finally decided on this free Flamenco show in Seville. The other ones cost a ton of money and we preferred to see it with the large group if we were going to pay such a grip for it. Instead, we thought we would experience something a bit smaller before we saw anything else. We got ready and ended up going to some Mediterranean restaurant for dinner before heading to the show. We got this time - after they put the bread on the table, we asked if it was "gratis" (free) and they said No - hahahaha...we got them! No gracias so they would take it off the bill in advance. We learned this time.

Afterwards, we walked down this really long narrow alleyway to get to the Flamenco show. Because things don't open until about midnight, we had to wait around for a little bit over an hour before we could get inside. But once we did, it was all worth it! It was a little hole-in-the-wall bar that had "locals" enjoying Flamenco. There was a live band and everyone in the crowd was getting up and Flamenco dancing for the crowd. It was great - we sipped on our sangria and enjoyed the show. I'm so glad we got to do this...most of the time, as tourists, we don't have the chance to hang out with locals and do what they do - so it was total entertainment!