Tuesday, February 17, 2009

See ya in Sevilla!






Is there anything better than a place where oranges grow year round? Probably not. We spent the last weekend in January and the last few days of my 26th year in the beautiful city of Sevilla in the south of Spain. We arrived late Friday evening, but that did not stop us from walking around the city in the starlight and misty rain to find some tapas bars and sangria by the pitcher.
Saturday morning, we got up bright and early to the prettiest day I've had in 2009 yet. The sun was shining, it was in the low 60s, and the day was ours for the taking! First stop, the Cathedral and La Giralda. The Cathedral was built in 1401 on the site of the city's old mosque left over from the Arabic presence in southern Spain. La Giralda, a former minaret tower in the mosque, was converted into a big bell tower the for the Cathedral. We climbed to the top of the tower for amazing views all over Sevilla. Interestingly enough, the tower was built with ramps instead of steps. Great butt workout, really, but it was built that way so the Arabic soldiers could ride their horses all the way to the top to look out for enemies and guard the city. Super neato. The Cathedral also is where Christopher Columbus lies in pieces (not sure why they split him up).
Next we headed to the Alcazar, the Royal Palace of Sevilla. Built in 1181 but continuously updated for the next 500 years, Real Alcazar is a hodgepodge of Arabic, Christian, and Andalusian styles of architecture. It was fabulously, fabulously beautiful. Every inch was rich in detail and ornate. The gardens out back were probably my favorite, though. We played among the fountains and the labyrinths, the orange trees and statues. It felt like a truly magical place.
Saturday evening, we went to a live Flamenco show that made me wonder what I had been doing with my life as of yet, and question why the answer to that question did not include the study of Flamenco dance. It was insane! Followed by a lovely dinner of tapas, sangria, and many unknown fried things, it was a perfect evening.
Now, up until this point, our trip was just about as perfect as it could be. Sunday, however, the winds changed, and bad luck befell us with a vengeance!!! The calamities include:
  1. My roommate's laptop was stolen out of our locked hotel room.
  2. Torrential rains kept us from most of the city's attractions all day Sunday. We got soaked.
  3. Half of us came down with a bitter, bitter cold.
  4. Our plane to London was forced to make an emergency landing in Birmingham due to the largest snow storm in the last 20 years which raged through London, forcing the closure of all 3 major London airports.
  5. After keeping us in the plane on the tarmac at Birmingham for 3 hours, they finally let us out around 2 am to find no trains or buses available to Oxford for the next 15 hours.
  6. We had to barter with a truly neurotic cabbie to drive us the hour and a half back to Oxford. 5 seater cab, 8 people, 3 sick at that for an hour and a half.
However, we did finally make it back around 6 am that morning , and we were all very grateful to make it to our beds. Needless to say, many of us did not make it to class that day. :) All in all, I had one of the best days and one of the worst days since I have been on this fair continent, but we all kept our heads and remembered to laugh through it all. Check out my picasa web album of Sevilla for pictures of the city, the one called Sevilla The Cathedral for pictures of the church and La Giralda, and Real Alcazar for pictures of the palace.

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