It's always sunny in Sevilla!
Now we're in the south of Spain, in sunny Sevilla!
Wednesday morning, Bel and I got up early to go to the bank (where she helped me withdraw our tickets for the Alhambra in Granada) and we bought cough syrup for Javier in the pharmacy. Then she went to school and I went back to the apartment to pack.
We left the apartment at about 12 and took the metro to Atocha Renfe, the train station. In the station we bumped into Javi, a friend, who was with his relatives (and also heading to Sevila!). Then we boarded our train which left at 1:30.
The train ride was about two and a half hours long. We passed much of the time playing pusoy dos (Quintin kept on losing), then we bought some food, and I spent the remainder of the trip reading up on Sevilla. We arrived in no time and took our taxi to our hotel. Our hotel was in Plaza del Duque which I originally thought (based on the map) was quite far, but we later found out was only 15 minutes from the Cathedral.
Since the boys were hungry, we looked for a place to have lunch. We ended up in a restaurant and ordered the Menu del Dia. Here in Spain they have menus del dia which are set menus that change every day. You have a first plate, a second plate, and dessert and it almost always comes with bread and a drink. The number of choices varies per restaurant but you can usually pick from 4 choices per plae and 2 for dessert.
Mmmmm...
Our dessert - some yummy mousse strawberry thing
After lunch we took a siesta at the hotel. Haha. We relaxed for an hour or so then headed back out. Sevilla is hot, hot, hot! (Much hotter than I expected) so I changed into shorts.
We walked to the bullring and decided to join the guided tour. Bullfighting is really prominent in Sevilla (and also Madrid). Sevilla's Plaza del Toros is one of the oldest in the country. I actually find bullfighting to be a pretty interesting art. Of course, I don't like that they injure and then kill the toros, but the rituals the matadors go through; their movements; the details that goes into making their clothes, the swords, the cape, etc; and the other stories and history our guide told us... it's actually really interesting.
Plaza del Toros
The boys posing with the statue outside
After touring the bullring, we alked along the river (the Rio de Guadalquivir, which is the longest river in Spain) to the Parque de Maria Luisa. We later on realized that we took the long way to get to the park. We made it to the park, walked around, and came across the beautiful beautiful Plaza de Espana.
The Plaza de Espana was built for the Ibero-American expo in 1972 (it's now used as government offices). I've been trying to type to describe it but I just keep deleting the words because I feel that they can't justly describe it. I've seen tons of pictures of the Plaza before coming to Sevilla but it's even more gorgeous than I pictures.
To start off, we decided to take a boat ride around the mini river to relax. Well, Ange and I relaxed while the boys rowed.
Javier and Quintin. They took turns rowing.
They had these for all the cities in Spain. Here I am with my beloved Pamplona!
Then we just walked around and took pictures. I told the boys that the plaza was the setting for one of the Naboo scenes in Star Wars. Quintin kept asking exactly where in the plaza it was so I went online and got the picture. Interestingly, when I was downloading the picture, we were actually already in the exact spot!
So being the geeks that we are, we tried to recreate the scene. Complete with fake dialogue that went something like this...
Me (as Padme): ...We have to save he world from Darth Vader
Quintin (as Anakin): *pause* I'm Darth Vader!
Unfortunaely, the light was pretty bad (it was late afternoon) so we made plans to come back. Quintin decided we had to watch the scene on YouTube and memorize our lines.
Our first attempt. Wait til you see the second one.
After the Plaza, we started walking back to our hostel. We passed by the Hotel Alfonso XIII, which is this magnificent 5-star hotel, with really pretty architecture. We went in and looked around the lobby. We stopped in a small heladeria and got some gelatto since it was just so hot, then we just chilled in our hotel until dinner.
We looked for a nearby restaurant for dinner. We found one but the tapas were so small! :-( We vowed never to eat there again. We then headed back to the hotel and called it a night.
Wednesday morning, Bel and I got up early to go to the bank (where she helped me withdraw our tickets for the Alhambra in Granada) and we bought cough syrup for Javier in the pharmacy. Then she went to school and I went back to the apartment to pack.
We left the apartment at about 12 and took the metro to Atocha Renfe, the train station. In the station we bumped into Javi, a friend, who was with his relatives (and also heading to Sevila!). Then we boarded our train which left at 1:30.
The train ride was about two and a half hours long. We passed much of the time playing pusoy dos (Quintin kept on losing), then we bought some food, and I spent the remainder of the trip reading up on Sevilla. We arrived in no time and took our taxi to our hotel. Our hotel was in Plaza del Duque which I originally thought (based on the map) was quite far, but we later found out was only 15 minutes from the Cathedral.
Since the boys were hungry, we looked for a place to have lunch. We ended up in a restaurant and ordered the Menu del Dia. Here in Spain they have menus del dia which are set menus that change every day. You have a first plate, a second plate, and dessert and it almost always comes with bread and a drink. The number of choices varies per restaurant but you can usually pick from 4 choices per plae and 2 for dessert.
After lunch we took a siesta at the hotel. Haha. We relaxed for an hour or so then headed back out. Sevilla is hot, hot, hot! (Much hotter than I expected) so I changed into shorts.
We walked to the bullring and decided to join the guided tour. Bullfighting is really prominent in Sevilla (and also Madrid). Sevilla's Plaza del Toros is one of the oldest in the country. I actually find bullfighting to be a pretty interesting art. Of course, I don't like that they injure and then kill the toros, but the rituals the matadors go through; their movements; the details that goes into making their clothes, the swords, the cape, etc; and the other stories and history our guide told us... it's actually really interesting.
After touring the bullring, we alked along the river (the Rio de Guadalquivir, which is the longest river in Spain) to the Parque de Maria Luisa. We later on realized that we took the long way to get to the park. We made it to the park, walked around, and came across the beautiful beautiful Plaza de Espana.
The Plaza de Espana was built for the Ibero-American expo in 1972 (it's now used as government offices). I've been trying to type to describe it but I just keep deleting the words because I feel that they can't justly describe it. I've seen tons of pictures of the Plaza before coming to Sevilla but it's even more gorgeous than I pictures.
To start off, we decided to take a boat ride around the mini river to relax. Well, Ange and I relaxed while the boys rowed.
Then we just walked around and took pictures. I told the boys that the plaza was the setting for one of the Naboo scenes in Star Wars. Quintin kept asking exactly where in the plaza it was so I went online and got the picture. Interestingly, when I was downloading the picture, we were actually already in the exact spot!
So being the geeks that we are, we tried to recreate the scene. Complete with fake dialogue that went something like this...
Me (as Padme): ...We have to save he world from Darth Vader
Quintin (as Anakin): *pause* I'm Darth Vader!
Unfortunaely, the light was pretty bad (it was late afternoon) so we made plans to come back. Quintin decided we had to watch the scene on YouTube and memorize our lines.
After the Plaza, we started walking back to our hostel. We passed by the Hotel Alfonso XIII, which is this magnificent 5-star hotel, with really pretty architecture. We went in and looked around the lobby. We stopped in a small heladeria and got some gelatto since it was just so hot, then we just chilled in our hotel until dinner.
We looked for a nearby restaurant for dinner. We found one but the tapas were so small! :-( We vowed never to eat there again. We then headed back to the hotel and called it a night.
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