Sweet Sevilla

6/23/10

Today was all about Sevilla. We woke up early to an amazing breakfast at the hotel. I'm talking buffet with eggs, bacon, croissants, jellies, fruit, cereal, and coffee. It was like heaven on earth. It's amazing how sick I am of white bread and nutella.

More observations about Sevilla: It has a Florida-like climate and is without a doubt hotter than Madrid. The sun is so bright and there are even palm trees. Bikes with baskets are really popular here and I would love to see the city by bike when my padres come to visit:)

At 9am sharp we left for a tour of the city. We actually started with Italica. This is right outside of Sevilla and is the site of Roman ruins. We visited the arena where gladiators would fight. The floor is covered in sand, or in Spanish- "arena", this is actually where we get our English word arena! Cool huh?

There were also ruins of houses with mosaic floors still intact. It was pretty surreal because these things are so old.

Old Roman Arena

Cool Shadows

From there we went to the Plaza de España for only a few minutes. This is a place where I would like to visit again. It was built for the world fair in 92 (i think) and was used in a couple of movies...one being Star Wars 2. The beauty and intracacies of the architecture are beautiful.

Later we went to the Alcazar which is like a palace. The architecture and decor was very Arabic and had a lot of beautiful tiles, patios, and fountains. At this point we were wearing down, starving, and our feet were on fire from pain. BUT, thanks to Dr. and Lady Crider (as she's sweetly called) we kept going. Off to the cathedral! Here we saw the tomb of Christopher Columbus and climbed to the top of the bell-tower. I really thought I wasn't going to make it but the view from the top was beautiful.

View from the Top of the Bell Tower

This building is where all the original documents from the New World were kept from the time of Columbus!

For lunch some of the girls stopped at a cafe across the street from the cathedral--we couldn't make it any farther haha. I downed a whole pizza by myself. yum.

We have free time this afternoon (siesta!!) and after dinner at the hotel we're going to a Flamenco show! I'm really excited because Sevilla is supposedly where Flamenco began. It should be amazing.

Tomorrow we're off to visit Gibraltar and then on to Torremolinos for 2 nights at the beach! This week is flying by!