Seville, Spain

We have now been in Seville for a couple of weeks, thought I had better update the blog before I forget all the stuff we have already seen and done. After a short two hours on the bus we arrived at the bus station in Seville. Our host was waiting for us and took us to our new little home. Rooie (our host) is British, he has been very helpful and welcoming. The next day we headed out, lost as always (as we prefer). We figured out how to use the subway and took it into the center of town and proceeded to walk around exploring. The first thing that hits you in Seville is the cathedral, it is massive, starting out as a mosque in the 10th century, then turned into a Catholic church in the 1500’s, and Columbus’s tomb is kept there. The architecture is breath taking (please check out the pictures as it cannot be described). We walked to the top of the Tower of Gold, dating back to the 1400’s, standing guard at the rivers edge. It is called that because at one time it was covered in gold colored tiles. The sailing ships that discovered the New World all sailed out of Seville which is 30 miles up a river. The slow river current allowed the big ships to glide in with the tide and flow out with the current, while giving protection for storms and pirates. Tons and tons of gold, silver and spice flowed into Spain this way and made it very rich, in the day. You can see that they spared no expense building huge churches and palaces here. Everywhere we walked we found ourselves looking up and gawking at the beauty of the buildings around us. We didn’t walk another block before running into a10th century castle with walls that used to surround the entire city (166 towers!). The next day we thought, as we often do, that we would grab a tour bus to get the lay of the land and target places we wanted to visit. So much to say about Seville, where do I start. To sum up Seville in as few words as possible: Bull fighting as a religion, Orange tree’s along the streets, World exploring seafarers, Iberian pork (prosciutto), tile art, wine, Flamenco dancing, Columbus had the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria built here, Celts, Romans, Visigoths, Moorish, Spanish, Catholic, Home of the Spanish Inquisition, castles, palaces and Gothic architecture, Arid, inexpensive and very beautiful. (Phew...) So we try to go slow and visit one or two places a day at most. Spending time just sitting at sidewalk cafes reading and watching the world pass by or just exploring our own little (ethnic non-tourist area) neighborhood. So in two weeks we have so far visited: Santa Ana church (the oldest in Seville, built in 1250), the Royal Castle aka Alcazar, the Plaza De Espana Palace, Maria Louisa Park (huge), the bull fighting museum and ring, the Macarena basilica (home of the city patron saint “Macarena” another version of Mother Mary), went aboard working replicas of Spanish wooden sailing ships, visited the tower of gold, the ancient pottery kilns and museum, San Jorge Castle (home of the Spanish Inquisition), the Jewish quarter (dating back to roman times), an art museum of 14th through 17th century painters and sculptors and just general exploring around town. Lots of walking which is good for us. We feel very safe out at night here, streets are well lit and very clean. One thing we have had to get used to in Spain is that many businesses close at 4pm and open again at 6 or 8, most people here don’t go out to eat until 8pm, so restaurants all stay open to midnight. We have tried to find some restaurant to feed us at 4 or 5, forget it unless you are in the tourist district. We have a friend (Thomas) coming to visit us for a few days. He shared a hostel with us in Medellin, Colombia and again in Ecuador. Thomas is from Norway and travels the world working online for a living. He is currently in Malta (in the Mediterranean) so we told him to come visit us as he was close. It has been really cool to catch back up with people we have met traveling as you expect with 7 billion people out there you most likely will never see each other again. We have been able to do this several times and it’s always amazing to run into them. The climate here has been warm for this time of the year in Spain (70’s during the day 60’s at night) chalk that up to global warming. We still have much to see here before we continue our trek south. We plan on staying on the south coast of Spain in a town called Malaga for a month. We will be right on the north shore of the Mediterranean. We plan on visiting a few historic places there (Granada and Gibraltar) and then we will take a ferry across the straits into North Africa. Stay tuned for more Chrysalis Adventures and be sure to check out out pics in the photo gallery.