Sevilla y Cordoba

I know this blog is long overdue but I was really busy with a project when I got back from Sevilla/Córdoba and then I got sick so I haven’t been doing much of anything. 

I left for Sevilla on Thursday the 13^th.  I took the high speed train and it was very fancy.  I felt like I was in a fancy first class seat.  It was very comfy and they played When in Rome in Spanish, which was fun.  The woman who had the window seat offered it to me because she wanted to get up and down a lot.  The trip to Sevilla was about 2 and half hours. 

Once I got to Sevilla I had a hard time finding the bus I needed to take, the hostel had emailed directions upon reserving my room.  I finally had to ask around to find the bus then once I got on the bus, they weren’t announcing the stops.  Luckily I saw a big sign, which is pretty unusual in Spain, with the name of the stop so I pushed the button and got off.  I followed the directions on foot from the bus stop to the hostel thinking it would be a quick walk.  It wasn’t it took like 20 minutes, mostly because I wasn’t expecting it to be 90 degrees in Sevilla and I was HOT!!  I finally got to the hostel, The Oasis Backpacker’s Hostel, and got settled in.  It was really nice, a pretty big place.  The beds were clean and comfy, the lockers were a decent size, and the bathrooms were pretty fancy and very clean.  Hostels will usually give you a map upon arrival and they did however it was very basic!  I used my map to get me to the main stretch through town and found the tourism office to get a real map.  Sevilla is ALL little winding roads, some with signs some without, so it is very easy to get lost.  In fact I got at least a little turned around every time I tried to go back to my hostel.  It was on a side street off of three other side streets off of one of the main streets. 

Sevilla seemed to be a very big shopping town.  There were lots of the chain stores that are here in Spain/Europe like Oysho, Desigual, Springfield (my favorite, and one of the cheapest), and ect. But they also have lots of little shops.  I found one that was a puppet shop, it looked just like where Pinocchio would have been built.  They had other wooden things such as signs and hooks and toys but the puppets were the cutest.  I also saw the oldest clock shop in Sevilla.  I planned on buying a watch or something there but they only had 300-3000 euro (yes euro, aka twice that much in dollars) Rolex type watches.  One thing I really liked about walking through the bigger streets in Sevilla was the stands of roasting nuts.  I think they were hazelnuts but they roasted them in a little basket over coals and it smelled amazing!

Once I got my map I made my way to a festival I had heard about called la festival de las naciones, the festival of the nations. They had goods and food from all over the world, although I doubt that some of the things for sale really came for the countries they supposedly came from.  My favorite part was the food.  They had stands with food from all over.  The United States had to share with Canada and they had ribs and burgers and Bud light, and everything was covered in bbq sauce.  The Spanish stand looked tasty but I decided I should get something else.  I ended up going with the stand of empanadas from around the world.  I had a Mexican empanada which was shredded chicken with grilled red peppers and onions.  It was AMAZING!  It was the second best empanada I’ve ever had (Puerto Rico makes some ridiculously good, and cheap empanadas).  But it was by far the best crust ever!  It was flaky and sweet but not overly sweet, it was one of the best things I’ve eaten so far in Spain, which is maybe bad since it wasn’t Spanish.

After the fair I wandered into the Sevilla equivalent of Retiro Park, called Maria Luisa Park.  It’s a big park with pedestrian boulevards throughout, pretty but all the plants were dead since it was so late.  But in the park is Plaza de Espana, which I have realized is something that exists in every major city. The Plaza de Espana in Sevilla is by far my favorite Plaza de Espana so far.  They had ceramic plaques of the crest, flags, and map of each province of Spain.  Of course I had to take my picture with Madrid but I liked the Catalonian crests the best because they had the “bloody” flag (if you don’t remember re-read Barcelona’s blog).  I was also impressed that Mostoles was listed on the Madrid map.  There were a lot of provinces of Spain so it took me quite a long time to get them all so my pictures turned from sunlight to flash at night but I had fun with my personal history/geography lesson.  I tested myself by trying to figure out where the province was before looking at the map based on its crest.  The provinces in Catalunya are easy because of the flag and I have been learning Spanish geography while I’ve been here so I am proud to say I knew some by name.  I am looking forward to printing all of the maps and puzzle-piecing them together for my final project, that should make for a very interesting poster.   

I retired pretty early on my first day because I wanted to get back and plan my days.  On Friday I got up early, ate some free breakfast at my hostel which consisted of some chocolate cereal and non-refrigerated milk.  I must say I am not a milk drinker at all but I cannot wait to get regular milk back I am so sick of the icky, rarely served cold milk that they have here!  The kitchen in the hostel was very nice too.  Although I didn’t buy food and make anything it was nice to be able to bring back leftovers and to keep cold bottles of water in the fridge.  After breakfast I went to the Cathedral.  Mass was going on so entrance was free but only to a very small part of the Cathedral, not to the part I really wanted to see – stay tuned.  So I decided to go to my next stop which was the old royal palace or alcazar real, but it was closed until 10.  So I decided to go to my third planned stop which was the tower of gold, el torre de oro. I think it used to be a light house of sorts but now it holds old maritime memorabilia from Columbus’ time and offers a very cool view of the city.  Although I thought I feared for my life on the 100 or so extremely steep and narrow stairs.  After the torre de oro I went to the bullfighting museum.  The museum is held in one of the oldest bullfighting rings in Spain.  I was hoping there would also be a bullfight happening that night but sadly I was too late in the season.  But the museum was really cool!  We got to sit in the stands and see the ring.  I learned that the ring is not actually a perfect circle, but it’s not an oval either, it’s just between the two.  Also, there are five distinct gates to the ring.  The first is for the bullfighter and horsemen to enter, the second is for the bull to enter, the third is to take any fighter to the infirmary or hospital, the fourth is to carry out the dead bull, and the fifth, called la puerta principal, the main gate, is for the winning bullfighters to exit.  They get carried out on the shoulders of the crowd.  The most expensive seats are in the front row above the gate for the bulls.  There is also a special box seat section reserved for any member of Spanish royalty, even if they do not come the box remains empty.  Other fun facts I learned in the actual museum: In the beginning of bullfighting they used to play games to keep the crowd entertained before the show started.  The caballeros, men on horses, had to try to either lance a wooden head or get a lance through a small metal ring.  There have only ever been three men killed at that bullfighting arena.  When a bull kills a matador (which literally means killer, matar= to kill, dor at the end makes it an occupation or person doing the action) the other matadors instantly kill the bull and they also find his cow mother and kill her so that she cannot create any more killer bulls.  One of the most famous matadors of that arena started when he was 9 and was famous by the time he was 13.  He was also killed by a bull at the age of 16 or 18, somewhere around there.  The bullfighting museum was one of my favorite parts of Sevilla.

After the museum I crossed the river and found a market, La Triana, which was like a very small version of la boqueria in Barcelona.  It was pretty cool and pretty smelly with fish and wild game.  They had birds still with feathers and heads, they had freshly cleaned rabbit, and they had shellfish that was still moving, it was quite the assortment.  There was also cheese and ham and fruit like other markets but the wild game stood out most. 

After the market I crossed back into the main downtown of Sevilla and headed for the Cathedral once again.  This time I had to pay to get in but I got to see the main attraction.  In the cathedral of Sevilla there is a tomb that holds some of Christopher Columbus’ bones.  His remains have been transferred many times and at one point they were very hesitant to believe he Columbus was actually inside.  After much DNA testing, it was still a mystery.  But years later a “great” times about 10 granddaughter of Columbus funded more DNA testing and they were able to determine that it was either Columbus or one of his brothers.  Since they knew where his brothers are buried they have decided to believe that those are truly his bones.  But apparently after all the shuffling he’s gone through and the DNA testing, many of his pieces didn’t make it back into his tomb so there is only a small but of Columbus in his official tomb.

I also went back to the Maria Luisa park to see more of it during the daytime.  I wandered around for a while before heading back to my hostel.  Then I realized I was starving so I went back out and stopped at a close restaurant which happened to be Italian and I had the best risotto ever!  It was four cheese and they gave me about 6 servings, I ended up eating it for three meals!  I went back to my hostel planned my last day a little and went to sleep. Saturday I only had one main goal, the old royal palace.  I was able to get in pretty early but it was still crowded, and very confusing.  There was no set path of how you should walk around but not everything connected.  I ended up at the end of the tour about ten minutes in, along with quite a few other people because it just seems like the logical way to go.  The palace was cool but not too exciting.  You could see the Arab influences here with heavy geometric shapes and bright blue colors.  After the palace I mostly wandered looking at shops and people watching.  I did see a bride taking pictures while I was in the royal palace.  She looked pretty but she seemed very stuck up.  But her husband/husband-to-be had the biggest smile ever so that was pretty cute.  I also decided to see a movie in Sevilla.  I realized that I’ve seen a movie in almost every city I’ve ever visited, so now it’s a bit of a goal.  I love how all the theaters are different.  Here, in Spain, what really throws me is that there are huge velvet curtains right inside the doors to the theater so you can’t tell if the show has started or not.  Also you usually have one of those embarrassing where is the split in the curtain moments.  I saw a movie called Beginners.  It was an indie American movie with Spanish subtitles.  It wasn’t bad but very strange.  I also ate some frozen yohurt which I expected to be just like frozen yogurt at home.  I thought it would be called frozen yogurt but really just taste like slightly low fat ice cream.  But it really tasted exactly like yogurt that had been frozen.  I had it with chunks of watermelon, it was pretty tasty anda great retreat from the 90 degree weather.  I know I have mentioned it a few times now but it was HOT!  I was not prepared for how hot it was given that it has started to cool off quite a bit in Madrid.  I was in jeans and t-shirts and sweating like crazy!!

Sunday I had an early train to Córdoba so I decided to take a taxi to the train station.  I bought my ticket to Córdoba and my ticket home.  I had tried to reserve all three tickets over the phone before my trip but they said just buy them day of so I did and everything was fine but it was a bit nerve wrecking.  The train no Córdoba was not nearly as fancy, it was a little like the Metra into Chicago.  But the trip was only about an hour so it wasn’t bad.  Luckily the tourism office was at the train station in Córdoba so I just picked up a map on my way to the bus.  I got to Córdoba, found the bus easily and the driver announced the stops so that was good and the hostel was very close to the bus stop.  When I got there around 10 the woman said the room wouldn’t be ready till about one but they would hold my luggage for me.I returned about one and she gave me the key.  I walked upstairs to find the mattresses in the hallway and a man painting the room I was meant to be staying in.  He promptly went down to the front desk and reminded her that that room was out of commission for the whole weekend.  They put me in another room that seemed to be a private room.  For those who don’t know how a hostel works you either pay of a shared room, usually bunk beds with anywhere from 5-15 people or you pay for a private room.  Private rooms are always more expensive and you have to pay per person per room so if you are one person and the hostel only has a private double room available you have to pay for two people even though you are only one person.  Anyway it was a private room that I got for the price of a shared room, which was already super cheap.  The bed was not too comfy and they didn’t really provide a blanket, just a thin sheet but I managed fine for one night.  What really made me laugh was Monday morning.  I was woken up around 7 am to morning rush hour!  There were lots of cars going down the very narrow street outside my room.  The streets are so small and the buildings are tall enough that the noise gets trapped in the area and it sounds like 10 cars are going by not one.  Also people in Spain tend to do 30 to 40 kilometers over the speed limit, even on streets where your car hardly fits down the street. 

Back to Sunday… I started by walking across the old Roman bridge to see the river and the old Roman lighthouses and gate.  Just like Barcelona and many other cities in Spain there used to be a wall surrounding the city back in Roman times.   I crossed the bridge back into the main part of Córdoba and headed up through the winding streets.  The streets are big enough for a car and basically one pedestrian, but the pedestrian has to be pressed up against the building.  The sidewalks consist of a different colored brick but no barrier such as a curb.  My first stop was a museum of torture devices used during the Spanish Inquisition.  They were mostly graphic tools used to force open body parts of heated up to rip body parts off.  My favorite was a description of a torture called the drip-by-drip torture.  The victim is bound lying on their back with their mouth forced open.  The at random intervals a small drop of water would be dripped into their mouth.  It wasn’t enough water to drink but enough to realize that you were thirsty, especially from having your mouth open for a long time.  Plus it was psychological in that you never knew when the water was coming so you could never relax or sleep. 

After that happy visit I wandered around more.  It is basically impossible to get lost in Córdoba because somehow every street leads your right back to the center.  Once I found myself ending up back at the center I tested it and made sure to go in many different directions but I always ended up back where I started, or close to it.  I saw another part of the Roman wall and visited the old Royal palace of Córdoba.  Legend says that some of Christopher Columbus’ trips to America were planned in that palace.  They also had a cool tower that overlooked much of Córdoba and all of the palace’s grounds.  This palace had cooler gardens and fountains and a lot fewer buildings compared to Sevilla.  I also went back later around 9:30 for their light and fountain show.  It started with a projection show about the history of Córdoba including Columbus, the Spanish Inquisition and more up to Córdoba’s current fame of flowers. Then it moved to a fountain show with music and lights similarto the one I saw in Barcelona but not quite as cool. 

I decided to eat a traditional Cordovian dish for lunch called Flamenquín Córdoba, there was no translation for this word.  It was a medium thickness piece of chicken that had been breaded and wrapped up with a white slightly cheesy sauce and small pieces of Iberian ham and shrimp then cooked.  It was a little like chicken cordon bleu in its shape and style, but not taste.  On Monday I also decided to try another Cordovian dish I had seen around town.  I saw it on many menus on Sunday so I looked it up Sunday night.  It is called Pastel Córdoba, Córdoba Cake.  Online I read that it was puff pastry like dough filled with vermicelli noodles.  I thought this was very strange but I hadn’t yet seen a piece of this cake so I couldn’t say it was wrong.  When I ordered it on Monday I asked what was in it and the woman told me the name of the fruit in Spanish.  I didn’t recognize the word so I asked if it was similar to apple because it looked like apple filling.  She said no it was related to the pumpkin.  It tasted a little like apple or pear, it was the same consistency as an apple pie. 

There is not a whole lot to see as far as tourist destinations in Córdoba.  I tried to go to the movies but the theater didn’t open early enough to go.  But in checking out the theater I found a mall and wandered into a toys r us.  In the toys r us I found a very cool wall map of Europe, in Spanish of course.  It was hard to pack but it makes an excellent addition to my room.  I did some other shopping in Córdoba for some pottery, one of their main productions.  I mainly just liked wandering around in Córdoba because it was so fun to walk through the tiny streets. I also visited the famous Mosque slash cathedral .  It used to be a mosque and has since been converted to a cathedral.  It is very beautiful.  It is filled with high red arches.  It was probably the prettiest religious space I have ever been in.

I got on the train back to Madrid around 7pm and I was back in my apartment around 10:30pm.  Overall I really enjoyed my trip, it was a lot more relaxed than Barcelona which was good and bad.  I would like to go back to Córdoba in the spring when all the flowers are in bloom because there are flower pots everywhere and I’m sure the city would be very bright and fragrant.  Especially La cajellon de flores, which is the alley of flowers.  It is filled with hanging flower pots and from one end you can see the tower of the Mosque, which made a very pretty photo.