I took a walk down memory lane this weekend. With two of my flatmates (American and French) and three other lovely people from the country of France, I traveled to Sevilla, the beautiful city in Andalucía, Spain where I studied for three months in the spring of 2012. I was planning on only going once to Sevilla, in March when my good friend Paige comes to visit me, but when my flatmates decided to go I really couldn’t let them visit the best place in Spain without me, now could I? Plus I’ve never been to Sevilla at Christmastime so I was curious to see it in a different setting. Well the city was as great as I’d remembered. I was once again reminded why I love the place so much. This time around, I had a different type of experience, since I wasn’t with a host family but instead in a hostel. While the hostel had some drawbacks, such as one bathroom for everyone on the ground floor to share, overall it wasn’t a bad place and it was fun traveling with a group of people for a change. Plus, I guess I had to have the hostel experience at least once while in Europe.
Okay, let’s start from the beginning. We took a 10 pm bus from Murcia on Thursday night and with a lot of little stops along the way, we didn’t get to Sevilla until after 6 am on Friday. It would have been better if I’d been able to get a good amount of sleep, but I barely managed a little over an hour, so I was exhausted when we reached our destination. Fortunately, everyone else was also craving some more sleep, so after finding our hostel we all crashed for a couple hours. Rejuvenated, we ate lunch along the busy Avenida de la Constitución right next to the cathedral, which was the next stop of the day. Sevilla’s cathedral is I believe the largest Gothic cathedral in the world and so we spent a good amount of time visiting it as well climbing the Giralda to get a great view of the city. The Giralda is a tower attached to the cathedral and is the only remnant of the mosque that used to be where the cathedral now stands. Then we stopped for Starbucks because while Sevilla has at least four, Murcia doesn’t have a single one, so we had to take advantage of the opportunity presented us. I had a white mocha frappuccino and in case you were wondering, it was delicious. Next up was a visit to the incredible Plaza de España which is probably my favorite place in Sevilla. It was as beautiful as I’d remembered. All the other plaza de España’s that I’ve visited in other cities have been a letdown after seeing this one. This was one of the first things I saw in Spain because I’m pretty sure back in January of 2012 I went on a walking tour the day after my arrival and got to see the plaza at night. Good memories. After spending some time back at the hostel (which provided free sangria) we ate supper at an Indian restaurant where I had a dish with a name I don’t remember but it was basically lamb in a super spicy sauce with rice. Now I love spicy foods, but this was probably one of the most intense things I’ve ever eaten, so I was grateful we’d ordered bread to help balance out the fiery food.
View from the cathedral
Orange grove in the courtyard
The one and only Plaza de España, Sevilla
Las chicas!
The next day we took a bus to Italica, just outside of Sevilla, which was once a Roman town so there were a lot of ruins to behold. The best part was definitely the amphitheater which was a smaller version of the colosseum and we were able to walk around inside it. After returning to Sevilla I split up from the group to visit my host mother, Concepción. First of all, she is the sweetest person ever. When I called her ahead of time to tell her I was coming to Sevilla, she was so excited that I could hardly get a word in between her saying things like “guapa”, “mi alma” and other Spanish terms of endearment. So I met her at her apartment and she had two of her five grandkids with her (Martina and Fran) and they are absolutely adorable. I remember seeing Martina as a baby, so it was so cool getting to see her a little bit more grown up and with a toddler baby brother. We talked for a bit and then walked to a nearby plaza (known for its huge mushroom structure) where there were balloon houses and rides set up for kids. Of course Martina and Fran had to get in on the action so Concepción and I had a good time watching/helping them. On the way to the plaza, Fran had suddenly decided he didn’t want to go and just plopped down in the middle of the street and wouldn’t get up for anyone. So I helped out by carrying him. I felt so cool walking down the street with an adorable little Spanish boy in my arms. It was awesome. As we were leaving, I bought both the kids big balloons, and although they were expensive, it was worth it to see their excitement. Plus it was helpful in getting them to willingly leave the plaza. I’m not above giving a bribe for a good cause. After saying goodbye with a promise to visit when I return in March, I went to a vigil Mass for Sunday and then stopped by a Christmas market in Plaza de la Alameda de Hércules. There were all sorts of booths set up for anything and everything whether it be Christmasy stuff, jewelry and purses, food, or soap. There were also rides for children including some ponies and a string of camels. I also loved how all the streets had their Christmas lights turned on, which hadn’t yet happened in Murcia. After meeting back up with the gang, we stopped for some quick pizza for supper and then took the winding-through-little-streets way back to the hostel to avoid the crowds. I’m proud to say that I didn’t need to look at the map once to get us there.
Italica
Concepción and I
With the adorable grandkids
Christmastime!
Sunday morning we bid the hostel farewell and settled in for the long bus ride back to Murcia. Around 2 pm we stopped in Granada for an hour break, which gave us just enough time to eat lunch before continuing onward. The scenery from Granada back to Murcia was incredible. Since it was night when we left for Sevilla, the return trip was my first time seeing the landscape. The Sierra Nevada was visible in all its snowy splendor on the right side of the bus and on the left side the terrain was dry with reddish-brown cliffs looking like something in Arizona or New Mexico. There weren’t many people on the bus, so I spent some time sitting on both sides to enjoy the views. Eventually we arrived back in good old Murcia. It was an amazing couple days spent with some pretty awesome people and in my favorite city in Spain. I already can’t wait to go back in March.
Sierra Nevada
Desert side of the highway
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