So I lied. It’s been a little more than four days since my last post, but I am ready to tell you all about Sevilla. The first surprise came in the form of a petite, sweatshirted mass of sonrisa known as Meghan, a fellow Nebrijan Meredith, Shadi (the girls I was traveling with) and I met at the bus station. Five more girls I knew from Nebrija came along, and it was quite an entertaining bus ride!
When we got there, much unpacking and eating ensued. I got churros con chocolate–it was delicious! We tried to go to the Catedral, but it was closed, so we walked around a bit. Saw the Torre de Oro (a watchtower-like building because Sevilla was the big port city back in the day).
And as we were passing by the cathedral that night to go back to our hostel, we noticed the cathedral door was open. Apparently there was an Ordination of Deacons going on, and since Shadi is Catholic, we all felt it was necessary to attend such an event in the LARGEST GOTHIC CATHEDRAL IN EUROPE. Yeah, its beautiful.
Couldn’t really take pictures during the actual Ordination, but once it was done, I definitely snapped a blurry few (sorry, fotos sin flash kill me).
On Saturday, I went on a walking tour of Sevilla, which was perfect because the weather was AMAZING. We saw some cool Roman ruins
some examples of the world famous Sevillan patio
visited the Judería, the historically Jewish neighborhood, in which there was a massive massacre during the Santa Inquisición. There’s a story of one Jewess who was dating a Christian soldier. She had converted to Catholicism and so had her father, but he still wanted to organize a rebellion against the Christian authorities. Susona, the daughter accidentally told her lover about it, and he, in turn, got his men to kill her father. Susona, completely broken, becomes a nun, and when she died, asked that her head be mounted in the window of where she used to live. It stayed there for 200-300 years until it was replaced with this plaque:
There are sooo many cool pictures to share, but I feel the album wouldn’t be complete without one of the cathedral in much of its glory:
And one of the Giralda, the prayer tower that remains from the Mosque that was there before the cathedral was added on
Then a new buddy of mine, David, the Quebecois (I learned all about Quebec and how it’s different from Canada; it’s quite the story) and I went to rent bikes
and explored Plaza de España, where some of Star Wars II was filmed.
It was lovely, and on the way there I met up with – wait for it – yet another of my friends from Madrid, Louise! She was there on vacation with her boyfriend, and we hit up a few tapas bars afterwards where we encountered a bunch of musicos who were kinda enough to perform the whole time we were there!
When I got back to the hostel, the owner invited us to a typical Sevillan flamenco-ish show. The proprietor of the establishment was a famous Sevillan singer, and when she belted out those wild Andalusian melodies, my soul hurt–though not a bad pain, kinda like the good muscle ache of working out, but for the alma. It was that lovely.
The next day, Meredith and Shadi returned from Córdoba ( I didn’t go because I was feeling a little under the weather for a 7am bussed daytrip), and Shadi insisted on Plaza de España again–she’s in love with Hayden Christensen. I’m glad we went. It definitely vale la pena.
From there, we hit up the Alcázar (Remember the previous one in Segovia? It means castle/palace mix), that was a mix of Roman, Arab, and Catholic influences. I absolutely fell in love with the Mudéjar part of it. The details were exquisite. Soul ache, part II.
Here’s another of the courtyard:
Afterward, since the Cathedral was finally open to properly visit and go up the Giralda tower, we checked that out. Here’s the alleged “tomb of Christopher Columbus.”
And the view from atop the highest point in Sevilla? Breathtaking.
Hope you guys enjoyed that chock-filled picture post! Hasta luego!
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