Sevilla

Seville! Happy Holy Thursday! We are on spring break here and Jano and I just got back from Seville.

The drive to Seville from Toledo was about 5 hours. We stopped for lunch and had sandwiches that Jano´s mom made for us. We had tons of snacks and when we got into Andalusia some of the signs were in srabic! We arrived on Sunday, checked in the hotel and took a nap. Then we walked around a litte that night and ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant that had the biggest spring rolls that I have ever seen. They were like the size of half a plate.

Monday we got up at 10 and went out to see the city! First we went to plaza de espana which was right by our hotel. We took some cool pictures, but the plaza was under construction so that took away from the atmosphere a bit. Then a stupig gypsy woman tried to put a branch of some plant in my hand and I told her I didn´t want it, but she said don´t worry no pasa nada and she wouldn´t let me go. Then she tricked Jano into giving her two euros. stupid gypies. Then I got interviewed by some student doing a survey about tourism in Seville. After the plaza, we walked toward downtown and went to a hookah bar, where we had juice and smoked. I also learned that Habibi means love or dear in arabic and was in every single song they played there. Then we went to the royal fortress/palace where we got in free because we were students! It would have cost 7.50 each so we saved 15 euros! woo! The gardens were really cool with the orange trees in bloom and some other tree that makes the whole city smell really good! After the gardens, we walked by the cathedral and the Giralda, a big tower, but didn´t go in because there was a really long line. Then I was a good tourist and bought some postcards, a shot glass, and a little something for calley´s birthday. Then, e went to a bar downtown that one of Jano´s sister, Alba´s friends from Sevilla, recommended for tapas. I had a calamari sandwich and manchego cheese sandwich. While we were snacking at the first bar it started to rain. It took us forever to find the second bar, and we were walking around in the rain. Finally, some guy told us where it was, and, it turns out, we were right next door to it. Then for lunch we had steak with a goat cheese sauce that was really yummy, fries and fried chipirones (Í´m not sure how to say it in english but it´s like calamari). After lunch, the rain let up and we bought tickets for a boat tour on the river. While we were waiting for our boat to leave, I had a coffee at a cafe on the riverside. The river tour was cool. We saw bridges, the gold tower where they stored all the gold that came from america, isla magica, the amusment park, and other cool things. After the boat cruise, we bought an ice cream and we tried to see a procession, but it turned out to be harder than we thought because we didn´t have the schedule. We ended up just going back to the hotel and had crackers with meat and cheese for dinner that we had bought. The next day we got up and went to take out more money and then went to Triana the neighborhood in Seville where are all the famous flamenco singers and dancers used to live and had lunch there. Jano had a serranito, which is a sandwich with pork, ham and grilled pepper and was our favorite moment of the trip. hehe. I had cod al pil pil which was some sauce that was good and garlic shrimp. After lunch we went to the grocery store to buy chocolate and drinks for the trip home the next day. Then we walked back toward the hotel to drop that off. Our plan was to buy doner kebabs and eat them in the park, but the kebab place we went to didn´t look very good so we decided to get VIPS to go. On the way, we bought penny candy because we are fatasses. On the way to VIPS we saw our first procession. They consist of music, people wearing KKK outfits carrying candles, crosses, or lantern things and a big statue of Jesus on the cross or the virgin Mary, depending on the brotherhood. We ordered salad and chicken fingers and then went to the park to eat our lunch. After lunch we took a nap and then later went downtown to see more processions. Monday we didn´t see any processions, but Tuesday they were everywhere. We had dinner at a little terrace downtown and ate croquetas and fried anchovies. We ended up walking A TON on Tuesday and went to bed tired but having seen almost all of Seville!

Wednesday we woke up, showered and packed and went home. We stopped at a Mcdonalds on the way home for lunch. We also passed through Cordoba on both trips which I forgot to mention earlier!

Now we´re in Toledo just relaxing and tomorrow we are going to have a barbecue I think!

love you and miss you all, there are pictures on facebook. I´ll try to put some on here later, but we are going to watch a movie now. mwaaa