Una excursión sevillana

Excursions broaden the study abroad experience.

So far I have visited Madrid, Toledo, Ronda, Malaga, and this past weekend, Sevilla, with ISA taking care of hotels, transportation, and tours. They give us plenty of time to wander, buy touristy stuff, eat food, and experience culture first hand. ISA Malaga also sponsors weekly visits to buildings and museums within Malaga and sends us a weekly itinerary of cultural events. Somehow they are able to help us soak up as much Spanish culture without making us feel like kindergartners visiting the zoo, and I appreciate that.

The trip to Sevilla is a blur. After staying up late blogging, I felt tired in the morning so I skipped my usual cafe con leche to help me sleep on the bus. Tere packed Matteo and me a lunch of bocadillos, manzanas, and Cola for the trip--we love her. My first hour and a half on the bus consisted of an iPod-induced music coma followed by a fuzzy-brained trip to the rest stop. Like rest stops in every nation the food was overpriced but my sleepy brain wanted a bocadillo. Then it told me to get back on the bus to finish my morning nap.

An hour and a half later we arrived in Sevilla, a huge, beautiful city intersected by the Guadalquivir River which we learned to be historically important in Cultura class. Spain has a linear coast with irregular rivers so Sevilla is the only city with a puerto fluvial (port on a river). River ports are much easier to defend, making Sevilla an important port city that flourished during the days of los Reyes Catolicos when all sea voyages had to start in Sevilla. Cristobal Colon (Columbus) himself prepared for his New World voyage in Sevilla.

Upon arriving, we quickly left the bus for our first stop on the trip: el Alcazar, the royal palace of Sevilla. This palace is a blend of architectural styles from over five centuries of construction and additions. It is one big hot mess. Despite the confusion, it ended up being both beautiful and interesting. We saw plazas, bedrooms, gardens, and even the dungeon. We were told that one of queens had been murdered in the dungeon, drowned in the pool of water by her husband for having an affair with his brother.

Our guide told us about Rey Pedro I of Castilla on whom the legend of Don Juan is based. Each night he disguised himself to seduce women and then kill their husbands or fathers. Pedro I promised to behead whoever this horrible man was. When the alcalde (mayor) of Sevilla discovered it was Pedro I himself, he went to the king and told him he had discovered the perpetrator. When Pedro asked the mayor to show him the man, the mayor held up a mirror. Pedro had a statue made of himself and cut the head off the statue. Kings do what they want.

After seeing the dungeons, the guide led us out of the Palace through la Juderia (Jewery). During the many years centuries of Christian rule of Sevilla, Jews were permitted to stay and keep their own religion as long as they lived in this certain part of town. Having their quarters connected to the palace proved to be a helpful thing for the Jews, for whenever something went wrong (plague, drought, murder, war, depression), people blamed the Jews, and the king protected them from massacre. We took a little break there, and I ate my bocadillo.

Our next stop was la Catedral de Sevilla, the largest cathedral in Spain and the third largest Christian cathedral in the world. An entire football field could fit inside. It was overwhelmingly beautiful. It had a variety of different chapels where misa (mass) could be heard, and the main one had the largest chapel front piece in the world, covered in pan de oro (gold leaf). We saw the final resting place of one of Colon's sons and a famous painting of San Antonio from the which the image of San Antonio was stolen and recovered. Since St. Anthony is the saint of lost things, no one was too surprised when they got it back.

Colon's body is suspended in a box held up by four figures which represent the four kingdoms of Spain: Castillo, Leon, Aragon, and Navarra. There was a big controversy over whether Sevilla or the Dominican Republic had the real body of Colon. Sevilla tested the DNA of the sample with the DNA of many other relatives of Colon, both alive and dead, and found that Sevilla does have Colon's body, or at least part of it. The DR has refrained from testing what they have.

Our last stop at the Cathedral was a trip up la Giralda, the tower. The whole thing has a ramp instead of steps, so while the climbing is easier, it seemed like we would never reach the top. However, all the climbing was extremely worth it. From the top, we saw the entire city of Sevilla layed out beautifully. When you look from the tower, the city extends for what seems like forever in every direction and you see the beauty of the capital city of Andalucia in a whole new light.

After the Cathedral, our group had some free time for lunch, and Elena, Lisa, Alejandro, Jen, Rubia and I wandered for a while, going into gift shops and watching some tunos play their guitars and sing. I was kind of grouchy and tired, so as soon as we got to our beautiful hotel, I collapsed on my bed--Felipe and Matteo did the same. We took aggressive siestas for a while until I was awoken by a call from Rubia.

We wanted to watch the U.S./England World Cup match and decided to have a party in my hotel room. In true celebration of our American roots, Jen, Rubia, Alejandro and I went to KFC and Dominos and purchased a disgustingly large feast. We stuffed our faces in American food and watched the Americans tie. I should clarify that Alejandro and Rubia watched them tie--Jen and I were on my laptop, looking at facebook and skyping my brother and sister.

Alejandro left to go to bed and Felipe came back, ready to go out for the night. Jen, Rubia, and I decided to take in a little nightlife ourselves, so we put on nice clothes, crossed the Guadalquivir and met a bunch of our fellow ISA students. Jen, Rubia, and I were distracted by a marching band playing at 1 AM so we decided to investigate. On a backstreet, we discovered a huge mass of people crowded around a procession celebrating the Virgin Mary. The last part of the procession is the best, with dozens of men carrying a huge silver throne covered in candles and a statue of la Virgen. Every so often the throne would stop and a man would relight the candles while another man sang a song about the Virgen from a balcony above the street. We felt privileged to be part of a tradition that has been happening for hundreds of years.

Jen, Rubia and I felt tired after that so we headed back to the hotel. The hotel foolishly only gave out one key per room, so I woke up at 4:30-5:00 to hear Felipe kicking on the door. I opened it for him and saw a puddle of blood on the floor. On his way back to the hotel he had suffered a massive bloody nose, and he quickly hurried to the bathroom. I went into pool manager mode and quickly cleaned up the drops of blood, doing my best to make the hall and room look less like a crime scene. After making sure Felipe was ok, I crawled back into bed and fell asleep. I do not remember much of Felipe coming back--he told me about it in the morning.

While Spanish breakfasts are usually light, at hotels they are buffets and we all took advantage of that before heading out. One of the ISA directors, Iker, was our guide for this day, and he took to a park. We stopped at la Glorieta de la Palomas, a plaza filled with white doves and other pidgeons. He bought some pigeon food and gave us all a little bit--I am proud to say that I merely opened up my hand and a pigeon flew up and began to eat the food. After owning a parakeet, I must be a bit of a bird whisperer now.

We walked through the park and after seeing the world's tiniest and most adorable puppy, we arrived at la Plaza de Espana. La Plaza de Espana is breathtaking. It was built for Sevilla's World Exposition and now is open to the public. Each of the 52 provinces of Spain has a little booth painted with a characteristic scene and covered in symbols that define the region. Iker told us that part of Episode II of Star Wars was filmed there. If you watch the clip, you should know that the scene was edited slightly--however, that is basically how the Plaza looks.

For lunch, a bunch of us found a Tex-Mex and enjoyed some Mexican food in Spain. Believe it or not, Spanish food and Mexican food are quite different--Tere has never served me a burrito, taco, enchilada, or quesadilla for a meal. I ordered a giant bowl of guacamole and sank deep into avocado heaven. After eating, we made our way back to the bus (after stopping at Starbucks as Profesora Cristina had commanded us).

I slept the three hour trip back and groggily wandered my way back to Calle de Santa Cristina and up the elevator to my apartment. Sevilla was nice, but Malaga felt like home.


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