Sevilla, Spain

Renfe Train from Granada to Sevilla, Spain

Wednesday night I packed for Sevilla. Unfortunately, I got a sinus infection and had to call Mommy to take care of me. Good news is she prepared me well and sent me to Spain with plenty of medications, so I had everything I needed. Plus, just talking to her made me feel better.

I woke up Thursday morning with a terrible headache yet somehow managed to get up on time, eat breakfast, and walk to the train station. Luckily, the train ride to Sevilla from Granada was three hours, so I put in my ipod and slept the whole way there. I was still exhausted when we got there but I sucked it up.

We met our professor's friend (and our tour guide) at the train station and all hopped on a mini bus that had just enough seats for everyone in our group (21 people). We drove around the city and got an overview of everything. Our first stop was the Plaza de Espana, which is a gorgeous state building that has a huge open courtyard with a river and little sections for each city in Spain. It was probably my favorite site in Sevilla. Side Note: Parts of Star Wars Episodes I and II were filmed here!

Our bus

Plaza de Espana

Such a beautiful place!

Each major city in Spain has a section that depicts its characteristics, hence the title, Plaza de Espana

Boat ride, how romantic!

Group Photo at the Plaza de Espana

Mimicking the statues. Past, Present, and Future love. I am present love.

We then walked to a statue of Gustavo Bequer Rimas, a famous Spanish poet. We had a little poem sharing session; everyone had to read a poem that they found before coming to the city. Most of the poems were about love. Next to the statue was a statue of three women, symbolizing past love, current love, and future love. We mimicked the statues, I got to be current love, which was very fitting. Our teacher asked me if I was in love, and I proudly said "si."

Gustavo Bequer Rimas

Group photo of the girls, and John

We took the bus to another courtyard called Pabellon Mudejar, Museo Artes y Costumbres Populares. Basically it was a pretty courtyard with lots of birds and a nice pond.

We checked into the hotel around 4; our professor told us it was a hotel fit for princes and princesses and that we deserved a nice hotel. It was really nice, the lobby was cute, and Nicole and I had a cozy little corner room on the second floor. It had two twin beds that were pushed together to form a double bed, it was funny. We joked about not crossing the line to each others' beds; I didn't care, they were so comfortable. The bathroom was also very entertaining; the door barely opened past the sink counter, and the shower was huge! I didn't bring shower stuff, but it was still cool. I felt really really drained and tired, so I took a 10 minute nap before we had to meet our group.

Hotel breakfast area

Our bedroom !!

Chestnuts!

Our tour guide, Carmen's friend, walked us around the center of Sevilla, which is where all the shopping takes place. While walking, we saw a vendor selling chestnuts. One of the boys in our group loves cooked chestnuts, so he bought a bunch to share with everyone. I wasn't a fan, they tasted like dry popcorn with a weird after taste. Nevertheless I was excited to try the one thing he raved about all the time. We then went to our first church of the trip. It was pretty but nothing too special.

Pastries!! Yumm!

We had some free time, so a bunch of us went to a local pastry shop and bought some sweets. Sevilla is known for its pastries, so obviously we bought a bunch to try. My friend got a chocolate moose cake which was fantastic, and I got a whipped cream filled pastry that was amazing. It was the best whipped cream I have ever had!




We all met back at the hotel and got ready for the night (dinner and a flamenco show!). We went to a cute restaurant for dinner; we got served three courses, all paid for by the school. For our first entry we got to choose between a soup, salad, or french fries with eggs and ham. Obviously I chose the french fires with eggs. For our second entree, our main dinner, we got to choose either Cod fish or pork, so I got the pork. It was served with a balsamic glaze and fries, which was very yummy. Lastly we got dessert, which was flan with a glass of wine. The flan was very sweet, and the wine was a bit dry, but both were tolerable. It was quite the dinner nonetheless.

Pork and Fries

Flan

Flamenco Show

 The group walked to a flamenco show in a cute little theater. The room was set up with a bunch of tables and a few rows of seats, all facing the stage. We got free drinks with admission. I had such a headache and wanted to go to bed, but I was excited. The show was very good; all the dancers were great and very talented. However, many were very old. I honestly don't know how they can move their feet so fast. Regardless, the first 45 minutes of the show were good; the dancing was good and the live singing was entertaining. However, I got bored and very tired after a while, and the loud stomping of feet was making my headache worse. It finally ended after 1.5 hrs and we headed back to the hotel. I passed out on my bed almost instantly.

Thankfully, our wake up time Friday morning wasn't until 9:45. I slept wonderfully, it was very exciting. We had a continental breakfast at the hotel; there was so much food, I was stuffed. After breakfast we went to our second church of the trip, La Giralda, which is the third largest church in the world. It was built in the 1500s and honestly I don't know how it was built back then without modern technology. The ceilings were super high, and the detail in all of the church was beyond amazing. Part of Christopher Columbus' body was buried at the church, so I got to see that. There is also a tower that is 40 stories high that I climbed. Luckily it was ramps rather than stairs, so I wasn't completely dead when I got to the top. The views from the top were awesome! You could see all around the city.

Christopher Columbus' Body (part of it)

Rooftop Pools

At the top!

Climbing!

After exploring the church for quite some time, we went to the Real Alcazar Palace, which was surrounded by beautiful gardens. I could've stayed there all day, the sun was shining and everything was so green. The palace itself was huge and very interesting. The only downside was that our tour guide wouldn't stop talking, so we had to stare at each room for an excessive amount of time, which got very boring. I wanted to just explore and walk around on my own. We did get some free time at the end to walk around, there was just so much to see!

Chamber of Secrets!

We dove into the water!!

We got two hours of free time for lunch, and thank God because I was starving. Everyone went to an Italian restaurant called I'Oca Guiliva for pizza. The place was adorable, and looked like a little furniture boutique. Jordan and I got a pizza to share; it had tomatoes, sausage, spinach, and ricotta cheese on it and was very yummy. It wasn't something that I would normally get, but I am glad I tried something different. After lunch I hung out at a fountain and sun bathed peacefully in hopes of getting rid of my food baby.

We met up with our professor at 4 and went to a hotel that is very much like a palace. It had grand rooms with fancy furniture and everything. After that, we went to our final church of the trip (thankfully!) and got another history lesson. I was so tired that I completely zoned out, so I have no idea why this church was special.

Church

Hotel

Squished in the taxi

We took a taxi to the train station; the car was very old and the ceiling was pinned up with tacs so the cloth wouldn't fall down. Nicole, Maria and I had quite the laugh during our drive, and then caught the train at 6. The train ride wasn't quite as nice as the first time because it was completely full. Nicole and I had to relocate our seats a few times because our seats were taken, and every time we found a new seat, someone kicked us out. But after a few switches we found a seat with the rest of our group. The train ride was only suppose to be 3 hours, but the train kept stalling at each stop while waiting for other trains to pass, and so it got in an hour late. For the last our of our ride my group listened to music and had a dance party at the back of the train to pass the time. We were all very tired and bored. Finally we got to Granada at 10 and I walked back to my house. Javier and Beatriz were waiting for us with a nice dinner and snacks, I was so happy. They were thrilled to have us back and to hear about the trip. After dinner I took a well-needed shower and went to bed.

Pins holding the taxi ceiling in place... 

Note: Sevilla has a Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts (called Dunkin Coffe, my guess is because Spaniards cannot say "donut"easily, but who knows the real reason), McDonalds, Burger King (called Euro King) and a Ben and Jerry's!