Seville: So Much To Do, Slightly Freaked Out

We took a flight from Barcelona to Seville and are staying in a hostel a street away from the Cathedral. The place is clean, but pretty empty - not really travelling season, but there are enough people around the streets and it´s really close to the University, so I guess we fit in somewhat.

And yes, I´m feeling a bit weird about something that happened on my way back today, but I´ll get to that soon enough.

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Monday

After arriving, we immediately went searching for lunch. Lonely Planet recommended a place right down the street, so we went there. Relatively inexpensive, but the food was a bit ordinary in my opinion. Still, they had an interesting cakes and biscuits section. Familiarised ourselves with the immediate vicinity - the Town Hall had an interesting exhibition about the city´s history, including an intriguing letter from a 16th century Japanese Embassy (I think I´m remembering the date right). Returned for a siesta as we were all tired from the flight and waking up pretty early.

Went out again after and got a little lost in the back streets - not designed for pedestrians and vehicles to share. It feels different at night than during the day. Found some nightlife, but it was pretty late by the time we had decided on and found a place to have dinner - more sangria and some pretty good food. Stumbled back to get some more sleep.

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Tuesday

After a light breakfast, we went to the Cathedral, which is connected to the famous minaret the Giralda. It´s the third largest Christian cathedral after St Peter´s (Vatican City) and St Paul´s (London), which we will have to visit now I think. It´s the largest in area though. Lots to see and again I was overwhelmed by the sheer size, wealth and ostentation of Catholic churches. I really liked the baptismal font - a simple and elegant thing. The trek up the Giralda was interesting as you walked up 35 levels of ramps, originally designed for a horse to ride up. If only it wasn´t raining and misty, the views woul have been fantastic. They were pretty good as they were though - somewhat Romantic with the city shrouded. Bells rung for 45 minutes of the hour, so I went down before they rang for the hour. There are so many bells up there and they´re not small.

Returned to make lunch, which ended up really late. By the time we headed back out to look for a nearby convent that apparently sells really good wafers (according to the inflight magazine), lots of things were closed. I spotted some nuns and they´d just left the convent, so we´ll have to return. Went for a walk down to the river, then around until we found the Parque de Maria Luisa, and finally founds the Plaza de España - an amazing building and plaza with a massive fountain. The building is in bricks and ceramic. The bridges have ceramic tiling - how cool is that? It was a bit dark so it was hard to see some of the detailing. Returned for a supper, of sorts, and some cakes from the cafe nearby.

The hairdrier they have installed in the bathroom blew up in my hand when I tried to use it. Worked fine the night before. I ended up with soot on my hands and the cord was burnt through. A bit of a worry.

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Wednesday

My friends all went to Córdoba for the day, but I stayed in Seville as there was a lot I still wanted to see here. Un fortunately, I can´t do everything.

Went to the Hospital de los Venerables where they had a temporary exhibition ´Rescuing Classical Antiquity in Andalusia´. It was really good for the price as I got an audioguide with it and ended up listening to everything as the place wasn´t huge. Lots of artefacts and paintings from lots of other museums and galleries. I really liked a lot of them. Also really enjoyed the permanent exhibition they have ´Centro Velásquez´, which has the influence of the artist from various sources and the way he helped introduce naturalistic style into Spanish Mannerist art. Learnt a lot.

Hungry, I went hunting for lunch and ende up in a small bar somewhere, where the waiter didn´t speak any English. That was interesting, trying to figure out what he was asking me. In the end it all ended up working out. Somehow. That amused me.

Went wandering in the Plaza le España again, this time in the afternoon sun, which was really nice. A lot more people around and people selling souviners. I imagine it must get pretty busy in the summer. Wandered around the Parque de Maria Luisa again - a botanic gardens, with lots of Spanish-Moorish style structures, water features and bits. Stumbled across the Museo Arquelogico after a while, which was where I wanted to go, so I went in. Pretty good collection of things and covers a long period of time from prehistory to the modern era, although several of the last rooms were closed for refurbishment. Some of the pieces were missing, as they were at the exhibition at the Hospital de los Venerables.

So anyway, what happened was that I was walking back through the park to the get to the river so I could get back to the hostel that way. It was just after sunset and a Spanish guy started to talking to me. The whole experience was a bit weird. For one thing, he didn´t speak much English and I was not understanding Spanish and ended up speaking in French...I figured he was hitting on me after not too long, which I will admit is a new experience for me, so you´ll have to excuse me for not recognising the signs. It´s not my fault that I´m a late bloomer...

Well, I had to go and meet up with my friends for dinner, so after I managed to communicate that, I got my bearings and um, ran away. Not literally, but effectively that was what happened. Not exactly freaked out and I can laugh about it, but it worries me a little seeing as I was all by myself.

I´ve had enough of dealing with Spanish people at the moment, so thank goodness my friends went to the supermarket for food. I want to have a good long sleep.