Seville

This weekend the director of our program planned a group trip down to Seville for the first 56 students to sign up. He claimed that Seville was an experience we all needed, and I totally agree, however I question his true motivation because the second we got there until the second we left, a female friend of his who lives in Seville and him were inseparable. I made sure to get my name on the list and for 90 euro a three-day, two-night, breakfast and dinner included trip was mine! On Friday we took a chartered bus from Salamanca to Seville which took about six hours. As we pulled into Seville (pronounced Sa-vee-ya not Sá-vil) the first thing I and the rest of the bus noticed were the orange trees that lined all the streets. Seville is famous for these bitter oranges (and yes they are very VERY bitter- I learned the hard way of course) and a majority of them are exported to make marmalade. We checked into the Hotel America and had the afternoon to explore the city on our own. Christian, Daria, Corynna and I started the afternoon off with some lunch at Spala Duque where I had oxtail stew that was to die for. The waiter brought us a round of yellow liquid after we finished our meals and a debate ensued as to what was in the glasses and who was going to be our guinea pig. Our fist thoughts were that it was bull urine, being that Seville is famous for its Plaza de Toros and its passion for bullfights which you can catch between the months of April and June and also in September. After all taking a whiff of the drink, urine was ruled out and we all finally decided to just drink it. However, the question was whether this was a shot or something to sip. Fortunately there was a group of older ladies next to us who had the drink as well so we followed their lead and sipped away. Even when we left the restaurant we still had no idea what in the world we had drank but found at that night that it was lemon cello. We spent the rest of our afternoon walking a big circle around the center of the city and got caught in a torrential downpour that came out of no where (thank goodness we had that lemon cello to keep us warm). After getting some gelato to make us feel better about being soaked to the bone we worked our back to the hotel. We tried to find something to do that night but didn't learn until the next day that the nightlife happens on the other side of the river. In the end we settled for drinking cans of Cruzcampo, the local beer, in the park outside our hotel. Classy huh?
Saturday started with a guided tour of Seville during which we visited Plaza España, The Royal Alcázar Palace, and the Cathedral of St. Mary of the See. We also got to see the many pavilions built for the 1929 Iberoamerican Exposition. Each of the countries involved was tasked with building a pavilion that represented the culture of their country and today they serve a variety of uses from embassies to museums. Our tour guide Elena had been giving tours for 18 years and Seville and was a wealth of knowledge! Here are some of the most interesting facts she endowed us with!
Plaza España has a bench representing every province in Spain and the four bridges in the plaza represent the four kingdoms of Spain; Navarre, Aragon, Castilla, and León.
The plaza is very architecturally unique and it seriously looks out of this world! The makers of Star Wars thought so too and used it as the Naboo Palace in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.
In Alcazar, we learned that the dollar sign is an adaptation of the Royal Spanish Coat of Arms. The symbol has the two columns of Hercules (the two vertical lines of the dollar sign) with a ribbon winding between the two columns (the s shape of the dollar sign) that reads Plus Ultra which is Latin for "go beyond."
Before Columbus discovered the New World and during a time when the earth was perceived to be flat, the ribbon on the coat of arms read Nec Plus Ultra which roughly translates to "do not go beyond" and was meant to serve as a warning to sailors to not sail off of the edge of of the earth. Once Columbus made his discovery and the "flat earth" perception was discarded, King Charles V had the motto changed.
The architectural style of the Alcazar is Modeja which combines both Christian and Arabic styles.
The Cathedral of St. Mary of the See is the largest cathedral in the world in terms of square feet. Every time I visit a cathedral I'm always amazed at the size but the magnitude of this cathedral was seriously breath taking. It wasn't just the size that left me speachless, but the level of intricacy that was achieved on such a grand scale hundreds of years ago that absolutely blows my mind.
Christoper Columbus' tomb is inside the Cathedral. The story of Columbus' journey after death and final resting place is quite the story, but Seville is proud to say that after a recent study the remains in the tomb really in fact belong to Columbus. Columbus was at one point buried in Santa Domingo but when Spain lost the island during the Spanish-American war they moved his remains to Havana and eventually back to Seville. The Dominican Republic to this day claim that they gave Spain someone else's remains and Columbus' true remains reside with them. Regardless, it is safe to say Columbus was quite the sailor both dead and alive.
In the Cathedral, you can walk up 34 ramps to the top of Giralda Tower, the highest point in Seville, and get some amazing views of the city. The tower's name derives from the giant angel weather vein, La Giralda, that sits atop the tower. Girar in Spanish means to turn so La Giralda translates to "The Turner"- good name for a weather vein huh?
In between walking through the seven acres of private gardens inside Alcazar (they literally looked straight out of a fairytale with pools, waterfalls, flowers and giant hedge mazes) and visiting the Cathedral, we had a snack break. Christian, Daria, Corynna and I ordered a pitcher of Agua de Sevilla which Christian had heard everyone who visits the city must try. After i ordered the pitcher, I'm not sure if it was the sound of coffee spewing out of her mouth or the gasp for air that followed that made me turn around to see coffee all over the table our tour guide was sitting at. She was quick to inform me that Agua de Seville is one of the strongest drinks in Spain (like I didn't already know but relaxed after I confirmed we were all over the age of 18. Agua de Seville is made by mixing Seville orange juice with rum, cava, brandy, and cointreau then topping the pitcher off with whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Basically the best drink I've ever tasted!
After the tour we had planned to go kayaking in the river but as it turned out the second we got back to the hotel most of our group ended up crashing for an extended siesta. When Christian woke up we watched some hilarious Spanish TV for a bit, one channel only had one show that was kind of like Real World except for nothing was edited and the camera rolled 24 hours a day, before finally settling on a horror movie. Those of you who know me know I do not do anything horror because I am just about as jumpy as they come. I spent most of the movie watching it from the bathroom where I could see it reflected on the picture that hung over the beds and for some reason was far less scary than watching the TV screen directly. That night we went and watched Flamenco.
If you do nothing else in Spain, you have to see a Flamenco performance. Flamenco is the traditional song and dance of the gypsies of Andalusia and Seville is famous for its Flamenco dancers. Arenal is probably the most famous venue for catching a Flamenco show but it is super pricey and the show itself can be a little long if you're not a huge dance enthusiast. We went to La Carboneria, a bar with plenty of atmosphere which has free Flamenco performances throughout the night with the purchase of a drink (great opportunity to try that Agua de Seville). Although the back patio is big, I suggest getting to the bar as early as possible, 10:00 p.m. at the latest, to secure a seat. We didn't show up until right before the first performance which started at 11:00 and were barely able to secure a spot to stand. We saw three performances between 11:00 and 12:30 and each one left me more and more in love with the dancer. She was probably twice my age but boy could she dance! The performance sort of reminded of step in that the beat is made through claps and stomps. Unlike step, a Spanish guitar is used and it truly is a dance. The combination of visual beauty and unique sound may very well make Flamenco my favorite experience in Spain.
After watching Flamenco we started working our way back to the hotel and ran into some students from Penn State who were studying in Seville for the semester. They took us across the river to their favorite bars and as happens every time we have a night out in Spain, we finally made it back to the hotel around 4:30 in the morning. Fortunately we were able to sleep in the next morning before jumping back on the bus to Salamanca.