Sevilla, Spain

1/31/09

Morning came too quickly after a late night, and Heather, Max, and I rose in time to try to meet friends near the Catedral. Unfortunately it is hard to meet friends in a foreign city without cell phones, so after waiting in the designated square for awhile we gave up. We did run into other SASers, and had lunch at a little place that Max recommended. Afterwards, we explored the Catedral. The Sevilla has the 3^rd biggest Cathedral in Christendom, after the St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s in Rome and London. Construction began in 1402 and continued into the 16^th century. The interior is gigantic, with the largest nave in Spain. There is an exquisitely decorated, gigantic organ surrounding a choir box in the center of the nave. The tomb of Christopher Columbus is housed in the Catedral, riding on the shoulders of four horsemen. It is probably 20 feet tall. An even more famous monument to Sevillans, and something much taller is the Giralda Tower. At nearly 100 meters tall, it affords beautiful views of the city. Max and I climbed it and spent awhile up there admiring the views. We met Heather after climbing down and stopped for a drink, where we saw many groups of SAS kids passing by. Heather left with a group of our friends who were heading back to Cadiz that night, but I stayed in Sevilla one more night.

Max and I crossed the river and headed back to his apartment for dinner with his roommates. Around 9, my friend Andrew called and said he and my 3 friends Beverly, Patricia, and Alex were on the train halfway to Sevilla. It was a spontaneous decision they made at dinner! We met them downtown for tapas around 11, and then found them a hostel. It started to rain, and we got horribly lost on the way to find a bar… but it was an excellent adventure. We found the bar eventually, and it was crowded! A few Spanish boys tried to flirt with me, which was incredibly fun. I got to practice my conversational Spanish, It actually ended up being a great conversation, and they didn’t care when I butchered conjugations of verbs and forgot words. Shortly after that conversation we left and headed to a club that Max had heard of called Aduana. We were the only Americans in the place. It was AWESOME. There was a fog machine, laser lights, and techno(ish). It was slightly eurotrash, but was way fun because we were actually in Europe. We got there at about 2:30am... and there were about 10 other people there. So we went to the bar and had a few drinks. Slowly people started to filter in, and by 3 it was getting going. By 4am there were maybe 120 people there, which packed the place. A bit before we left, which was at 5, I was in the bathroom and started talking to some Spanish girls. I told them I was going to leave soon, and they asked "Why? We just got here, its really just starting up!!" I explained to them that just about everything in the US closes at 2, and they could not comprehend it. They are just getting ready to go out then. Thank god for siestas!

Again, the morning came too soon, and I caught the 9 am train back to Cadiz. I powered through the rest of the day and explored Cadiz some more. I had left Cadiz on a weekday, and now it was a Saturday afternoon. There were people in all the squares, kids playing soccer, parents and grandparents holding babies, and all sorts of people walking along. The markets are also open on the weekend, so I strolled through the fish market. A lot of the fish in southern Spain comes from Cadiz; there were all types of fish! In the late afternoon I returned sadly to the ship, promising myself that I will soon return to España. It was a wonderful, whirlwind tour of Spain. I got way less sleep than I usually do, because I wanted to spend as many waking moments exploring the cities and culture of Spain. It was so worth it. I had a fantastic time, and I cant wait to return!