Sevilla, like a Cadillac

Sevilla, at first, did not impress me much. I had heard so much about how historic it was, how beautiful of a city was, but driving up all I could see were 80s era apartment buildings and other things like that. About 2 minutes walk away from the bus stop, however, my opinion changed very quickly. Streets began to narrow, all semblance of an organized system of streets faded, and I was in what I knew was traditional Andalucía. The whitewashed walls and narrow cobblestone streets, like in Córdoba, make you feel at home right away, and they really do keep the temperature down. We got there in the afternoon and had free time for the rest of the evening. We took a quick nap and then walked around to get acquainted with the area. Sevilla is bigger than Córdoba but you can still walk anywhere without it taking too long, which I really like in a city. The first night, we learned from some locals that there is one plaza with a few bars on it where everyone starts their nights. When we arrived, it was not at all what I expected. The entire plaza was packed with people around our age, and no one was in the bars. We quickly learned that this is because everyone gets their drink from one of the bars (they are all more or less the same, and everyone just drinks cañas) and enjoys their nice cold cerveza in the plaza, al fresco. It was definitely a cool sense of community, and I got the opportunity to meet up with a few of my good old Brophy brothers, Drew Eppenheimer and Diego Ezzre, which was cool.

¡Muchisima Gente!

All of the sudden we came to the realization rather quickly that everyone was leaving…but it was only like 11:30 or so! Where could they be going?! No worries, everyone was headed to the NEXT street that is full of bars where tons of people enjoy their drinks in the street. We went to a bar called Bare Nostrum (what is it with drinking establishments being named in other languages?) where you gather a group of compañeros and order a pitcher of shooters to share. We got an orange-grenadine one, which was pretty much just what you’d expect it to be. Nothing too special but the bar and the area had a really good vibe all around, and everyone was really friendly. The people of Sevilla are very accommodating and love meeting foreigners, so it was fun and a good night to practice my Spanish in a more social setting.

Chupitos

Day two in Sevilla was a day of learning. We started it out by touring the Alcazar of Sevilla, a fortress-castle that was used by both the Catholic Kings and the Moors. It is a beautiful example of Mudejar architecture, and the beauty that there is in its simplicity. The use of geometric patterns and differing materials, to me, is so much more timeless than the use of human images. It is interesting because although this was converted from a Moorish building to a Catholic one, the integrity was largely maintained unlike in the Mosque of Cordoba. The stimulation of all 5 senses and the use of materials with a short (relatively speaking) lifespan make you feel like you are truly in the moment, that you are more interacting with your surroundings than absorbing them. Overall it was a very beautiful structure with peaceful gardens, I imagine it wasn’t too bad of a place to live either.

Arab Bath in the Alcazar

After that we went to the cathedral. If I had to describe it in 3 words, I would use the following: immense, gothic, and America. Immense because it is absolutely massive, almost as big as the one in Toledo. While I have never really been able to understand the whole “power of God through the treasures of the Church” mentality, if I were an uneducated peasant years ago, walking into this cathedral certainly would have given me a sense that something was greater than me. There has to be something filling all that space between you and the ceiling, right? I would describe it as gothic because it is…Gothic architecture has always been impressive to me so I really liked it. It seems so much more honest than the rococo style like in Córdoba. And America, finally, because Christopher Columbus is buried there. There is some controversy over whether or not his remains are actually there or somewhere in South America, but I am still gonna tell people I saw where Christopher Columbus is buried.

Christopher Columbus

To finish our cathedral visit, we went up to the tower for a panoramic view of the city. This is always one of my favorite ways to see a city, so I really enjoyed it. It also gave you a sense of how big the cathedral really is, and the fact that it was built so long really is impressive. They were even smart enough to put ramps up to the top of the tower instead of stairs so they could ride a horse up to ring the bell…the world’s first escalator. From the top of the tower you have a great view of the bull ring, which is supposed to be one of the better ones in Spain.

Plaza de Toros, Bull Ring

Cathedral Courtyard from the Belltower

After that, we took a walk through the old section of town and saw where we were going to a Flamenco show that night. The tour led us back to our hotel, so we recuperated a little bit, then rented bikes and rode down to the river. Cities on rivers just seem more enjoyable than other cities. I think it is because you feel like it is a place you could survive naturally, not someplace where you are fighting against nature to keep a civilization going. No offense Phoenix...I'm sure the Salt River used to be pretty nice.

We began the evening with a very traditional Flamenco show in a tiny performance venue; there couldn’t have been more than 40 people there. The show was very impressive, especially the guitar for me. The woman dancing, however, was a surprise. It is far less elegant than I had always imagined, and much more of a display of power. The facial expressions they make certainly don’t help that cause either. The whole show was very interesting though, especially the way the different members interact. The supporting members constantly give yelps of approval and interact with the main performer in a more direct way than I had expected. It was a unique experience, and definitely not what I had expected going into it.

El Tablao

Bailando

From there, we set out to fill our bellies with some delicious Andalucían tapas that we had heard so much about. It is true….the food is better here. All of the dishes we had were delicious, and the portions were much bigger than they would be in Madrid, a product of the rural heritage in the area. There was far more actual meat as well, and far less seafood. We crawled our way up a street away from the cathedral, and all of the sudden we found ourselves back at the bar with the pitchers of shooters! Fancy that. As you have guessed by now, we shifted from dinner mode to going out mode and pretty much repeated our previous night. When things started to wind down, we realized that it was fricking cold in Sevilla! This was the first night it was cold enough to warrant a jacket my entire time in Spain. We headed back to the hotel and hit the sack, excited to head to Granada in the morning.