Beautiful facades and the scent of orange blossom
Trip Start
May 23, 2008
1
30
54
Trip End
Ongoing
Seville,
Andalusia,
Spain and Canary Islands
Thursday, August 21, 2008
I spent Tuesday evening up on the terrace as promised, and hung out firstly with 4 Canadian girls who were sunbaking out there (crazy as it was sooo hot!), then after dinner with a German guy that i met in my room, a guy from the Netherlands, and these 4 American boys who were very funny but completely naive idiots who had come to Europe for a couple of weeks but hadnt planned anything, had no idea how to get around, no idea what they wanted to see. I didnt 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 therefore missed out on a lot of photo opportunities. But i wandered down through some parkland to the Plaza De Espanya, a beautiful plaza with a big fountain in the middle and tiled walls featuring images from all the regions in Spain. Though some of them were in restoration the ones i did get to see were beautiful.
Across the road was another park which i walked through to get down to the river, which winds its way through the city. I wandered along the banks back to the main part of town, where i cut back in and wandered the main shopping district before getting overwhelmed by the heat and going back to the hostel for a siesta and chillout on the terrace.
a toasty 41 degrees
Last night i went with the american boys and 4 Italian girls on a free pub crawl, which incorporated people from a few different hostels in the area, and we were taken to 5 different places, with a free drink in each. The first place was a tapas bar where we got to have some dinner, the second was an Irish Pub, the third a really cool bar with cheap drinks - 1euro shots, beer and sangria... the forth was a flamenco bar full of locals, and the last an upmarket club with a great looking rooftop terrace with huge lounges and huts to sit in. Luckily as in Tarifa, Seville is also currently full of Europeans rather than Aussies, and out of the 20+ crowd that we had, there were only 4 of us. Which meant that we got to meet some great people from all over the world. I did get chatting to Sean though, who was one of the aussies who is travelling around with his sister Georgie, and discovered that we are both doing the exact same itinerary for the next week and asked me if i would like to join them as they had a hire car and could take me along with them. I had no hesitation in saying yes, as a roadtrip through the south of spain sounds awesome to me! And i wasnt going to give up the chance to avoid getting on another bus hahaha.
Another random person i met while on the pub crawl was this black kid from the US, who had decided to randomly come over and try and live in Spain. He was looking for work (cash in hand of course - he didnt have a visa) and told me and one of the Italian girls that he loved it there and wouldnt go back till they kicked him out...
monument in park
which would mean a free ticket home! I loved his theory. He wasnt even on our pub crawl, he was just hanging out in one of the bars looking for someone to chat to over a beer. I still cant get my head around this place. Its crazy.My navigation skills kicked in on the way home, as the guide had pretty much walked us to the other side of town and then bailed, leaving us there. We walked some of the people from another hostel home and then i took 2 of the American boys through the maze of streets to our hostel - as they had no idea where they were. We had previously lost 2 of the other boys and i was relieved to find them back at the hostel, though one had been wandering around for 3 hours completely lost! Again, complete idiots. But very funny. I still cant believe that they were a year older than me! Silly Americans.
By the time we got back to the hostel it was about 5am and so i headed to bed, as i wanted to try and get up reasonably early today to check out the rest of town. I ended up being a little too tired to see it all but got to see the main sights today, like the Alcazar, a 9th century fortress that housed royalty back in its time, and the beautiful Cathedral, built in the 1500´s. I didn´t pay to go inside anything as i am starting to get sick of churches, but looking from the outside was still amazing, and still hard to comprehend the ages of some of these buildings!
The architecture of the buildings still amazes me. This is one of the most beautiful cities that i have ever seen. And i think definately my favourite city in Spain, if not the whole of Europe. The Andalusian architecture is utterly stunning, the buildings are painted in rich earthy yellows, oranges and browns, and the details in the decorative finishes around the windows, balcony railings and roofs is gorgeous. I cannot rave about the beauty of this city enough, i hope you can see from the pics how gorgeous it really is. If there is anyone considering going to the south of Spain you must MUST go to Seville. Absolutely no question. It has some of the most lovely parks and monuments, and the roads lined by orange, lemon and lime trees is unusual but just adds to the aesthetics. In fact, i think we should start doing it in Melbourne as the smell of the trees is great.
This-avo i got back to the hostel at about 3pm, planning to have a little sleep, but ended up sleeping till around 9pm! I got up and have been doing a few hours on my blog, but should really go to bed soon as i have an early start with my new roadtrip crew tomorrow. Its gunna be great im so excited!
Comments
Smart Aussie Girls
Glad you are showing those yankie boys a thing or two Kate. Do they become dumber the more of them there are in a group? It's great you are also meeting people with so many different nationalities as that's a special part of the travel experience. I'm glad you're at least showing them Aussies can be intelligent and not just yobbos. Keep up the good work. Luv Mumxox
Lovely Place
Oh Kate, this place is really nice, but you are really copping the heat, but whats with the scarf?? Isn't it too hot or is it thin material so you don't get a burnt neck or something?? Today was a lovely 18 degrees for us. Love that roof top terrace, it has inspired me to change my back deck. Love hearing about the different characters you are meeting and glad you met up with Sean and Georgie and yeah milk that free car trip for all it's worth..have fun. Oh my god first Larry now the camera! Loved this blog you make me laugh.
Luv Donna xx