Sevilla

Evergreen left Cadiz by train at 10:00am to Sevilla. At the Sevilla train station we got maps in English and had lady at the tourist desk to show us where the hostel we were going to was on our maps. After checking into the hostel we walked around looking for a place to eat. We found a cute little café that serves tapas (well, they all serve tapas). We got peach salad, curry chicken, chicken sandwich, and provolone au gratin. After lunch we went to the Catedral y Giralda or the Cathedral and Giralda. It was amazing, I tried to capture the amazingness in pictures (I took around 300) but it is one of those things that just have to be experienced so I won’t try to describe everything I just want to say that almost everything was huge and covered in gold. We also walked up the 34 levels of brick ramp and one flight of steps to reach the top of the tower Giralda. The view was amazing to say the least. After walking around for hours and walking up and down the tower and around the orange orchard we left the cathedral to wander around Sevilla. We found a gelato place and each ordered two scoops I got chocolate and mint chocolate chip (it was very minty) and evergreen got chocolate orange and mint chocolate chip. We had to eat it very fast because it was so hot outside that it was melting really fast. When we finished we wandered down by the river Guadalquivir. Tired from all the walking we had done that day we went back to our room at the hostel and showered. At 10pm or so we went to get some dinner (in Spain the earliest the Spanish eat dinner is 9:00pm). We went around the corner and ate pork in a tomato sauce and chocolate filled pastries. I slept soundly that night despite the heat.

The next day (Tuesday) we ate breakfast at our hostel (toast with peach jelly & hot chocolate) before walking to the bus station to check on times. We bought tickets to go back to Cadiz at 7pm and left our backpacks in the lockers. We went to Reales Alcazares Palace which is right next to the cathedral. It was so beautiful I took over 300 pictures inside and outside in the gardens. When we got so we thought we had seen everything we left to go eat lunch. This was at about 3:00 in the afternoon which in Spain is lunch/siesta time. We sat down at a table outside and ordered three things. The first was garlic and mayonnaise potato’s which was basically a potato salad and a really good one at that. The second was chicken and fruit salad which was lettuce with chicken, apples, orange, and pear pieces with a dressing. For dessert we got a lemon and sugar crepe that was also very delicious. After we finished eating we walked to the really big park in Sevilla. It was almost as grand as the gardens at the Alcazares. There were trees and flowers and trellises with vines covering some of the walkways. At every turn there was either a statue or a fountain, and sometimes both. For the science people there were even plaques around that had the scientific names of some of the trees and probably some more info but it was all in Spanish so I couldn’t read it. Before heading to the bus station we decided to get some more gelato. I got a flavor called whipped cream which kind of tasted like an ice cream version of cool whip and was very good. Evergreen got a scoop of chocolate and a scoop of orange but the way they scoop the gelato kind of mixes the two. Evergreen said that it was really good. We had a good bus ride back to the ship we both spent most of it reading for classes. For world religions we have to read The Chosen. I am almost finished with it and I really like it. If I was at home and not in Spain I wouldn’t be able to put it down. It was very nice to come back to the ship all dirty from walking around the hot streets all day and take a shower in our own clean little room.