Academics:
International Studies
Garrett in Spain
Journal #6
Posted 10-31-03:
hello all! this past weekend i went to seville with my group (api). seville is a pretty large city, actually it is the forth largest city in españa, so i was very excited since there would be a lot to see there.
well i think as soon as we stepped off our bus it started raining and stopped raining when we got back on our bus to come home.
luckily for me i love the rain so i did what every crazy tourist would do... i had my fun exploring in the rain while others sat in their room complaining.
it was great since we did not get to seville until 7ish on friday there was not a lot to do so i looked in my guide book to find a place to eat and a club/bar that i could listen flamenco music.
i went to eat and then got lost on my way to the flamenco club i had read about. Soon enough (2 hours later) i was at my flamenco club, it was called la carbonería, and had two huge rooms and in different areas they had people playing flamenco music. it was different because it was not a flamenco show, it was only people sitting and playing their guitar and others singing. i had never seen anything like it before.
on saturday i went to the cathedral and giralda.
first they were huge. the cathedral is one of the largest cathedrals in the world measuring 126 meters long and 83 meters wide.
giralda, which is a large tower connected to the cathedral. To get the feel of giralda: it is almost 95 meters tall.
the cathedral was beautiful. it is more gothic looking than i am used to. (later i will send pictures soon so you can give me your opinion about it.)
next i went to barrio santa cruz (this is the same area that la carbonería was) where one can find the older houses of spain. in this barrio there were many small winding roads that lead to some of the prettiest houses i have ever seen. almost all of the house had patios in the front that had flowers and different spanish arquitecture (precioso).
after i saw the barrio santa cruz i walked the rio guadalquivir where one can find the torre del oro and la plaza de toros (bulls). first i saw the plaza de toros which is one of the most elegant and is the oldest bullring in spain. this bullring and the bullring in ronda were the first bullrings to have toreros (bullfighters) fight on foot. before this, the toreros were on horses.
second i saw the torre de oro (tower of gold), a tower on the bank of the guadalquivir river. it is a 13th century muslim watchtower that was supposedly covered in golden tiles hence the name.
i then proceeded to walk to the parque (park) de maria luisa and the plaza de españa.
the parque de maria luisa is huge, there are about 3500 trees, a pond, many fountains, and two museums (museo arqueologico and museo de artes y costumbres populares). these two museums are separated by a pond and on a sunny day one can stand on one side of the pond and see the reflection of one building and on the other side of the pond one can see the reflection of the other building. it is the prettiest park i have seen thus far. i liked this one more than the park in madrid (by the way the park in madrid is called ´´parque del bueno retiro´´)
then i went to the plaza de españa which is one of Seville's favorite relaxation spots, with fountains and mini-canals around it. It is one of the largest buildings constructed in 1929, when the parque de maria luisa was made.
that evening i went to search out another club called el tamboríl and again i got lost and didn't get there until around 1:00am but that was ok since the club was amazing. it was neat because as soon as i walked in, everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at me, i dont think they are used to a guiri (foreigner) in their bar so i did what everyone would do...i pulled up a chair at the bar and asked for a pitcher of sangria. after a while they stopped watching me and the party continued. this bar/club was small and there was only one guitarist but there were dancers there and it was fun to watch.
i stayed there until i was finished with my drinks and went back to the hotel.
on sunday i went to the alcazar which is a beautiful palace-fortress. it was great and i took a lot of pictures. some say that alcazar and the alhambra are two of the prettiest monuments in spain and many say the alhambra, in granada, is prettier but yo creo que la alcazar es mejor. i need to go back to the alhambra so i can decide which is better, but they both sure are pretty!
we did not have a lot of time on sunday and since i spent a lot of time in alcazar i did not have time to do anything else before we left at 4:00pm and headed back to granada. it was a great weekend even though it rained non stop.
for those who care about my classes, they are going very well and since i cant help but arguing in class i am starting to talk much more in my classes and things are coming to me a little quicker since then.
this weekend i plan on going to cordoba which is also a very pretty city but smaller than the last two ciudades. tomorrow i will send more pics.
yo espero que el todo de mundo es bien
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