Seville

The second stop on the Spain excursion was Seville in southern Spain.

I went to Spain with Andrea, Mona, Kiran, and Katie. Three of my traveling buddies had friends from back home studying at the universities in Seville so we had tour guides the entire time. It was VERY nice to always have with us people who spoke Spanish. The first stop was Plaza de España, a beautiful half-circle of government buildings with a fountain in the center.

Across the street is Parque Maria Luisa where we rented 4 person tandem bikes and biked through the beautiful park.

There are palm trees everywhere in Seville!

Justine (a friend who is studying in Seville), me, Andrea, and Mona.

We went into one of the largest cathedrals in the world (just an FYI: I have seen the top three largest during my travels: St. Peters outside of Rome, St. Pauls in London, and the Cathedral of Seville: Cetedral de Santa Maria de la Sede).

The cathedral has a tower which people can climb up to see a view of the city.

A sky view of what I think is the most beautiful plaza in Spain.

We saw a flamenco show that night (our hostel had one for free!) The show started with a guitar player. Then the flamenco dancer and the singer joined in with clapping. The way they used their hands is really like instruments. After some singing, we saw some Spanish dancing!

Jilu (one of the friends who studied in Seville), Katie, Andrea, Kiran, me, and Mona

The city is beautiful at night!

The Spanish days are shifted from what were use to. Work starts at around 10 or 11 in the morning. Lunch at 2:30, siesta from 4-6, dinner around 8-9, first drinks starting at 11 or midnight. The discotecas (clubs) open at 1, but things don't get going until 2am and they don't close until 6am. Crazy!

On our second day we visited a royal palace called Alcázar. The buildings were beautiful but nothing compared to the grounds. How would you like this for your backyard!

These orange trees are EVERYWHERE. They look delicious and when you peel them, they smell delicious. All the locals tell tourists not to eat them and then they laugh at the stupid Americans who do it anyway. They taste bitter and you'll spit it out of your mouth in seconds.

Me, Mona, Katie, Kiran, Katrina (another friend/tour guide) and Andrea. As a special treat we went to a Japanese restaurant before heading home.