Seville

When we first arrived in Seville, it was a dirty rainy city with seemingly less character than where we had come from in Granada. We rented a really nice apartment, so we got to cook our own food and pretend we lived in Spain. Actually, if either of us could live anywhere else Spain it would be high on the list.

The rest of of rainy first day was spent roaming the shops, Lee-Anne bught some bright red sandles and a stylish black leather-looking jacket. The second day we had a day trip to Cordoba to see the Mezquita--another jaw-dropping cathedral/mosque. On our first real full day in Seville (our 3rd actual day) we discovered what an amazing and beautiful place Seville is. We walked out of our apartment to one of the main plazas and the first street performer we saw was balancing 5 hula hoops on her nose. It was a theatrical display with comedy, crowd particpation, and circus-type acts. I got some footage of the woman doing a hula-hoop routine that I´m going to try and mimic. The street performers were very different than others I´ve seen, very professional. We also saw some flamenco and guitar playing that was entertaining as well. We walked on to our destination, the Cathedral. It is one of the largest in the world, and in a gothic-renaissance style. Everything else I see now pales in comparison, I feel I have become a catherdal snob. The pillars are MASSIVE - tall and wide, and it wasn´t as goddy as some of the other cathedrals we´ve seen. The cathedral has beautiful stain-glass dating back to the 15th century, and (the savage) Christopher Columbus´s tomb.

The afternoon was spent walking to to the Plaza Espana, a huge area built for the 1929 World´s Fair. A beautiful fountain dominates dominates the square, title work on the grounds and all along the walks of the buildings. Then we walked all over town to find a little hole-in-the-wall flamenco place - awesome!

On our fouth day, we slept in and ate a leisurely breakfast then hit the town. We walked along the Rio Guadalquiver, Spain´s historic River. It was the best weather days we had and everyone was out enjoying the sun. Then we saw the most breath-taking gardens I´ve ever seen, and a magnificent palace: The Alcazra. Residence of many generations of kings. This place, like many others, has renditions done by each of it´s residence spaning across the centuries starting in the 11th century, it is mostly in the Moorish, Andalucian style--tiles, archways, fountains, pillars, carvings, etc. Our day coutinued with a walking tour of the city, down little ally-ways, and stoped for tapas and sangria.

We left the next morning on a plane to Barcelona to meet up with our friend Spench.

Lee-Anne and Russ