Friday:
This day can be summed up in two words: it rained... (a lot). Our hotel was about a 45 walk from the city center, which was pretty miserable to make in the pouring rain. My black TOMS shoes were wet from the night before, so I wore flip flops all day. Brilliant. Anyway, since the processions were all canceled, which really was disappointing, we decided to visit the "pasos", the elaborate floats that each church uses for their special procession, which were stored in their respective churches due to the rain. I wasn't really expecting much out of these floats, because I thought they would be like standard American parade floats hastily thrown together by groups of volunteers. I could not have been more wrong. The pasos are beautiful, old structures that can be carried by multiple people in a procession. They are quite amazing. Most of them feature large hand-carved statues of Jesus on the cross and/or Mary with tears on her cheeks. (I just Googled one of the pasos I saw, and it was carved in 1620 if that gives you any idea of how cool it was to see them.) They also had beautiful arrangements of fresh flowers on the floats. I felt like I was looking at something almost magical because of the enormous significance the pasos have in Spanish culture. The people were very sad and I heard many of them praying to God asking Him to stop the rain so that the processions could take place. We went to two different churches to see the pasos before going to find lunch. (Be sure to look at my photos on flickr of the pasos! They are unbelievably elaborate and beautiful.) We grabbed sandwiches at a random restaurant/walk-up bar that were so delicious and continued walking.. in the rain. We also stopped at a bakery for treats. I asked for the most typical Sevillan dessert and was given a honey and white wine soaked piece of toast that was indescribably good. At that point, our group had split into two groups since trying to decide what to do with 7 people can get a bit confusing sometimes. My group went for a walk along the river and found the other group on a boat rowing down the river. It was quite picturesque. We saw the Torre de Oro, which isn't actually gold like the name implies. It was once covered in gold, but for some reason, people stole all the gold off the sides of it. We found a little frozen yogurt shop, and yes, I freaked out and immediately ran inside to order. They only had plain froyo but you could choose a sauce for them to coat the inside of the cup with, a sauce for the top, and a topping. I got the cup coated with Ferrero Rocher sauce, then the plain yogurt went in, then Kinder Bueno sauce, then toasted almonds. It was pure bliss. I loved just walking around Sevilla, despite the awful rain and the tricky puddles all over the streets and sidewalks. The architecture is so beautiful, and I wanted to (and sometimes did) photograph just about everything I saw. The people there have a funny accent that is very difficult to understand since they often leave off the ends of words, but they were all very nice. We searched Google Maps on my phone (I cannot even express how much of a lifesaver my phone has been. Thanks to my family for getting me a global phone!!!) to find a cheap restaurant nearby and decided upon a Chinese buffet. Yes, a Chinese buffet in Sevilla, Spain.. sounds good, right? The food was just okay, but it was definitely a good choice because of the price, especially for traveling college students. After a couple pitchers of sangria and a countless plates of food from the buffet, we walked around the riverfront at night. There was a little market that we looked at for a while which had some cool stuff in it including handmade Sevillana goods and Mayan chocolate. We took some pictures near one of the bridges and a statue near the river (that I slid off of after being forced to climb up it wearing flip flops.. I am not a climber.) before making the 45 minute trek back to our hotel. I tweeted, "I stepped on all of Sevilla today." which is a good summation of this day, but you also must remember I did it in the rain in flip flops.
Saturday:
It wasn't raining when we woke up!!! I was psyched, and my TOMS shoes were dry. I knew it was going to be a better day. We went to a small fruit and veggie market on the long walk from our hotel to the city center, and I got the most delicious Pink Lady apple I have ever had. Andrea, Emma, Amit, and I headed to the Alcazar Palace to spend the day. While waiting in the very long line, Hannah, Lydia, and Chelsea joined us as well. After waiting in line for a long time and defending ourselves against women trying to sell us sprigs of trees, we finally got inside the palace, and it was definitely worth it. It doesn't look like much from the outside, but once you enter, it is beautiful. Inside the buildings there are little rooms filled with art, tapestries, beautiful tile work, and more. We all went picture-taking crazy at the palace since everything was so lovely. My favorite parts were the gardens and the bath room that had beautiful lighting. We spent a long time wandering around and taking photos before leaving to grab lunch. We saw a sign with a picture of a sandwich full of calamari, so we decided to go there. It was amazing. It was just fresh bread with freshly fried calamari with no sauce, but it was so yummy. While we were eating, we heard some distant drumming that seemed to be getting closer, so we ran to see if there was a procession since it wasn't raining at the moment. We ran to the street in front of the main cathedral and were told to move so that the procession could pass. We jumped the small fences behind us (that were there so that people could sit and stand behind them) just in time to see the beginning of a procession. We were so excited at that point because no processions had taken place during the entire week, and we just happened to be in the right place at the right time to get a front row spot. After a band of little kids and some people in the KKK-esque robes passed, we saw one of the pasos featuring Jesus coming closer... and it started pouring down rain. They rushed into the doors of the main cathedral as fast as they could while carrying a heavy, giant paso while the crowd applauded and battled with umbrellas. I had a little taste of a procession, and I wanted more. All the people were so joyous even though it got rained out midway through, and we were so excited that we had had such great timing. We went to Starbucks again to seek refuge from the rain.. again. For some reason, we left Starbucks in the middle of the rain storm and stood in a small park in the rain, waiting for it to let up.. which took a very long time. We tried to go into the cathedral to see the inside of it, and the tomb of Christopher Columbus, but when we got to the entrance, they weren't letting people in, but the members of the brotherhood from the short procession earlier were entering and we were told they were going to try to do the full procession later that night if the rain stopped. We looked for the Arab baths but couldn't seem to find them in the winding streets, but we found something even better... a Tex-Mex restaurant. I think I squealed when I saw it. I miss Mexican food so much. We entered into a restaurant that made me feel like I was in Texas. The table we were shown to had a bunch of t-shirts on the wall next to it, one of those of course including a longhorn. I took a picture and turned it upside-down. I ordered chicken enchiladas and enjoyed every bite. They were not as good as the food at Pueblo, but they helped curb my craving a tiny bit. After our early dinner, we tried to go to the cathedral again. We saw thousands of people lining the streets near the entrance, which could only mean one thing... the processions was about to happen!!! Again, we had perfect timing and were able to grab some pretty good spots near the cathedral to see the exit of the procession into the street. The sun was setting, it wasn't raining, and everyone was so excited. It was almost magical to see the people in the procession come out of the church doors and into the streets and to see people's reactions of joy when it happened. We stayed in that spot and watched the pasos go by, which was so cool. We went to find some other people in the group and ended up walking alongside the procession as it made its way down the street. The candles lit up the statues in such an awesome way. I really can't accurately describe the magical feeling I felt while watching the procession. We stopped at a very uncrowded spot to take more photos, and at one point I was standing in the street with the procession to take photos, which was awesome. The drums and the music perfectly complimented the procession as it winded its way through the streets. We headed back to the hotel pretty early to repack and sleep, because the next morning (at 5am) we had to catch our flight to Paris!
Here's the link to my flickr album from Sevilla!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lynne222/sets/72157626514235611/
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