Dia 2: Sevilla

In the words of April Ludwick:

We woke up in the beautiful city of Sevilla on the second day and headed downstairs to catch a light breakfast before we would head out for a filled day. Seth had made plans for us to go to the La Giralda Cathedral (which is the largest in the entire world). I didn't know what to think of this day, as Seth was explaining it, because I knew that if we were going to any place of great historical value I would either be lectured about it or quizzed on it by Dad. So we ventured out into the freezing and hectic city to walk through the shops and head toward the general area of the Cathedral.

Is this car for real? They are everywhere here!

This morning stroll included many sketchy looking men staring at us, cigarette smoke everywhere, and many road crossings. (Just as a side note, many of you know that I am driving now and have 2 months of experience under my belt, meaning that I am more aware of other drivers when I am on the streets). Spanish drivers have little common sense when driving, which is apparent when they break every rule that is laid out (including street signs, speed limits, lights, people walking across the street, etc.). They enjoy using their horns as often as possible, even if there is nothing going on around them. Anyways, we ended up getting to the Cathedral in one piece, luckily dodging the cars as they ran through the crosswalks when we were walking, and then honked at us like we were in their way. The trip moto, that Seth recites daily, is "Be Bold" and stare the drivers in the eye as you walk in front of them to let them know who is master.

On the way my mom and I would stop in almost every store and peak around at the Spanish styles, try a few things on, and then move on. Meanwhile I don't know what Seth and dad were doing but when we walked out of the stores they would be sitting on a bench with cigars in their mouths and one leg crossed over the other, and trying to look "authentic."

We reached the Cathedral and were completely taken aback. It was gigantic and very different from any ancient historical building I had ever seen.

La Giralda tower, attached to the Cathedral

To enter it we had to walk through these stone tunnels and rooms that were dated back to the year 500. I was a little uneasy with the fact that we were walking through a room that was built 1500 years ago, but soon forgot my fear when we entered the Cathedral. It was hard to take in; the ceiling stretched up 200 feet and had carved detail that looked like lace. It was all held up by ten enormous pillars that had designs that looked like professional doodling. There were little room cut outs with historical facts about what the rooms were used for and who was buried in them. We got to see the place where Christopher Columbus was buried in the church as well as many other people and popes. As we were taking hundreds of pictures we noticed that there was a large group of people sitting in the back of the church in pews. We looked and saw that there was a wall of gold deigns and statues and crosses. Seth told us that it was the largest altar in the world. We walked over to sit and look but couldn't move. We sat and took pictures, just trying to take it all in, for probably 15 minutes. Then Seth told us that they had the King's and Queen's crown in a near room so my mom and I made a b-line for the room that he pointed to. The King's crown consisted of 10,000 diamonds, and probably thousands of rubies and emeralds. This experience was truly amazing and something we will never forget.

Did Tiffany's make that?

We walked outside to see that there were 5 horse drawn carriages that we just begging for us to get in. We rode through the city and gardens until we came to the end where we enjoyed a nice lunch.
There has been a little issue with me during this trip that is made each day a little difficult. The food in Spain (to me) is weird and unusual, especially to a person that is semi-picky. The fam gets angry because I won't eat the dishes such as "Squid and octopus in their own ink," but I can't handle it. Most of the food repulses me, but I have now found ways to get the typical Spanish cuisine in a more conservative way.

After walking what seemed like miles back to our hotel, we all took a siesta so that we would be ready for the late dinners that Seth always talked about. We took a cab downtown at about 8pm to find a place for tapas (Spanish for tiny portions of food which they eat before dinner).

One of our tapas spots

We noticed that every place we went was either not open until 10 or was empty, so we hopped around to three different places throughout 2 hours. Seth had been hoping that there was a flamenco place nearby because he had gone to a show and loved it and wanted us to experience it as well. We all sat down inside the show room that we found and we very excited for the show to begin. To Spanish singers (males) came to the stage followed by a guitarist. The show was about 2 hours long and the dancing was phenomenal.

This is the classic veteran lady; she was the best

The background singing was another story. Seth was actually offended by the laughing that was taking my mom and I over, but it was uncontrollable. The style of flamenco singing is a mixture of a baby crying, a toddler whining, and a person screaming for their life. It was like long sustained wailing and was very difficult to focus on the dancing when this was going on. My dad then pointed out the guys' faces as they sang and it cracked us all up. Needless to say, I got many close up photos of the singers as well as the dancers. It was a crazy and busy day but was full of awe and laughter. We enjoyed everything that the first day of Spain had to offer and we excited to go to the hotel and get a good 6 hours of sleep.