Spanish Conquest
[ Part 1 - Seville ]
At 10pm, N and I met up with A and M at London Victoria.. To get to Stansted Airport, we took a rather posh shuttle bus called Terravision (GBP 13.50 return, far cheaper than NX!).. Since our flight was at 6.50am, we had to sleep at the airport.. Apparently we weren't the only ones doing so.. The whole terminal was dead quiet, with sleeping bodies lying scattered across the area.. After we found a quiet spot on the floor - right opposite the RyanAir check-in counters - we tried to get some rest but the floor was ice cold we didn't get much sleep at all..
Then we took our flight an after a few hours, we were at Seville.. Spanish land, at last.. Ola! ;)
Our first impression of Spain? Racing taxi drivers with a penchant for flamenco dancing.. LOL.. Our taxi driver didn't speak a word of English, so it was funny how he tried to explain the interesting sights and sounds of Seville to us.. But you gotta give him credit for trying.. He started raising his hands to dance the flamenco, while his taxi was doing lethal rounds of 'corner maut' every now and then :P
When we got to our youth hostel, the rooms weren't ready yet so we went to visit Museo de Bellas Artes (Museum of Arts).. The whole museum was filled with a lot of Christian paintings and sculptures.. It didn't occur to me that this was just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Christian worship in Spain..
Afterwards, we made our way back to our hostel.. It's called the Bed and Breakfast Naranjo.. The owner spoke impeccable English, thank God :)
In the afternoon, we visited Maestranza or the Bullring, where past bullfighters used to battle.. The museum even had real bull heads hung on walls :P Then, we made our way to the Cathedral.. It was actually the Almohade Mosque before it became converted into a church.. Its tower called La Giralda used to be a minaret that was used by the muezzin to call the azan.. We went all the way towards the top of the tower, climbing all 34 levels of winding, sloping ramps.. There were no stairs, purportedly to allow the muezzin to ride his horse up to the top.. Once there, we could see the whole of Seville from all 4 corners of the tower..
In front of the entrance, we encountered gypsy women bearing rosemary leaves.. We avoided any contact with them, because from what was written on the Internet, these gypsies will give you some rosemary and proceed to read your future, then demand money from you.. They're also known to be master pickpockets..
Once we got back to our hostel, we all slept straight away.. N and I only woke up at 2am for our prayers :P
The next day, after breakfast, we walked to Plaza de Espana on the east side of the city.. Unfortunately, we got lost and trekked up north.. So we went to Alameda de Hercules instead, which is on the west side of the city.. We were imagining a huge green park awaiting us, only to be very disappointed by the sight of 'tanah merah' and scattered leaves.. The statues and sculptures in the middle of the desolate park was really an eyesore.. Apparently, the park was under construction :P
Then we trekked to Isla Magica, an amusement park that was unfortunately closed for the day.. That didn't stop us, anyhow.. We had a hilarious time taking pictures in front of the entrance.. We've never seen A get so excited ever! :D
After getting our bearings straight, we finally made it to Plaza de Espana.. It was a grand semi-circle building with intricate details everywhere you look, from the stairs to the ceilings.. What was interesting was that at the ground floor walls facing the entrance, you can find these small mini-altars made of mosaic depicting most major Spanish cities in painting.. The arrangement is alphabetical, so we walked all the way to the end to look for Seville and it was the last mini-altar of the whole lot.. It was missing from the original list of cities.. I suppose they forgot to include Seville before they finished construction beforehand :P
In Seville, we also sampled a good mix of Spanish cuisine.. We tried calamares (fried fish/squid? fingers) manchego cheese (strong goat's milk cheese), churros (Spanish version of 'char kueh') dipped in melted chocolate and tortilla de patatas (potato pancake).. Sighhh :)
Observation : Spanish people are animated, but they don't smile a lot :/
For more pictures of Seville, visit my Yahoo! Photos page and N's fotopages.
Parts 2 and 3 will be continued after I come back from Glasgow on the 31st :)
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NHA at 12:41 AM ::
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