The Goat has just left the building!
Trip Start
Jul 11, 2007
1
2
10
Trip End
Aug 05, 2007
Sevilla,
Spain
Monday, July 16, 2007
The title of this latest e-tale is not as exciting as it might allude to; no funny tale of a close encounter with the animal kind or any such thing. Just a really damn good plate of baked goat cheese that caused Sheila, in her food-induced state of euphoria to proclaim that "The goat has just left the building!" (in reference to how fresh it was!) I could not imagine leaving you without a food description; the baked goat cheese was absolutely drowning in a rich, green olive oil, and garnished with oregano and roasted garlic...we spent the evening in culinary bliss. Breaded camembert drizzled with raspberry sauce, roasted chicken in a tomato-frais sauce, potato salad with grilled tuna and garlic sauce, and octopus in galician wine sauce (that was Michael,s domain alone...anything with tentacles and/or suction cups is off my list of acceptable things to eat!)
Sevilla has been a wonderful city to visit
The view from our inn in Seville
. The catheral dwarfs our quaint little inn, located on a narrow cobblestone street in the Juderia - the area of town that was formerly considered the Jewish area. This morning we had a divine cup of coffee, baguettes, croissants, cheese and fresh Sevillan oranges on the inn`s roof top terrace, overlooking the Giralda (tower) on the cathedral. We spent half of the day exploring on foot, and the other half eating. Our lunch consisted of a 1.5 litre pitcher of sangria which left us so dizzy we had to sit in the heat of the day, sheltered only by orange trees, for over an hour until we relocated our feet and those leg things that attach them to the rest of our bodies. I know, life is rough!A small highlight of our time in Seville was our visit to the Archivos de los Indias -. or the indian archives. Though not on many tourist lists, this was a must for me, given that i devoted 3 years at OISE to a thesis in post-colonial cultural geography and the allegory of the female form in early explorer`s maps of the colonial city (yeah...you don't get that time back...) Anyway, it gave us quite the perspective on our trip to Peru three years ago...and makes so many things about Latin America seem more clear. I suppose you could say we completed the circle by touring inside the cathedral, where we came face-to-tomb with the supposed final resting place of Christopher Columbus; a tomb whose bones have been moved from Spain, to Hispaniola, to Cuba and back to Spain over several centuries
photo
. As our lonely planet book proclaims, it seems even death could not keep the bugger from travelling the world. Also in the cathedral you could say we came face-to-face with a more metaphoric grave site. A massive altar of gold, rising from the floor to the domed ceiling, sculpted and polished to the glory of God, and undoubtedly created of gold pilfered from the americas. As I joined michael in front of it, I was moved to proclaim "Well, there`s half of Bolivia!" to which he added "and most of Peru!" Our fellow touristas did not appreciate our apparent sacriledge, as we got more than a few dirty glances. However, the last time I checked, Spain had no gold resources other than those that came at the expense of several centuries of genocide. And truthfully, as impressive and breathtaking as the cathedral is (it is the largest in Christendom), is God, who supposedly created the heavens, the earth and the universe, that impressed? Anyway, Michael asked, as we stood in front of Columbus' tomb, that favourite "what if" question that every good Peel teacher who uses transformational practices and the infamous Q-chart asks: What if Columbus had never landed at Hispaniola? I prefer to ask "What if Spain returned all of its pilfered gold to South America? Would that close the debt?"On a lighter note, Michael is now downstairs pouring a glass of orange wine which we will take up to the terrace again, and enjoy in the evening breezes, as we watch Seville light up in the night sky. We are leaving tomorrow, and have three more days before we cross into Morocco. Until next time...
