Sevilla

Train from Granada to Sevilla was about 3 hours and seamless. This train was called Media Distancia. The journey types all seem to have different names, but all sold by the same company - Renfe. My seat was backwards this time which I don't like. Partially because I prefer to see where I'm going instead of where I've been.

All my seats have been in the caboose. Not sure if the guy at the Madrid train station had it out for me or what. I put on my little eye mask and plugged in my ipod for most of the journey because there were little old couples that would not stop chattering. It was endearing for about five minutes.

When I got to Sevilla I hopped into the tourist office in the train station, picked up a map, and had the info desk guy point out the area where my hostel is. While the hostel gives directions for a bus and short walk, walking the entire way was nice and easy.

I checked in, threw my stuff in my room, made my bed (which is always the first thing I do) and headed for the bus station which is across town from the train station, my hostel being somewhat in the middle of the two. I wanted to buy the bus ticket from Sevilla to southern Portugal since there are only two buses a day. I can only buy the next two bus tickets I'll need once I get to Portugal.

Speaking of Portugal, am pretty excited to try and speak Portuguese there. The bartender in Barcelona from Portugal and the Brasilian I met in Granada both told me that it'll be harder for me to understand Portugal Portuguese than Spanish. I find that so odd. I do remember my freshman year advisor from Mozambique telling me he had a really hard time understanding the Portugal folks as well, but we could understand each other just fine.

Anyways, once I booked my bus ticket for Monday I went to a nearby market and bought some juice and snacks for the next few days to store in the hostel fridge.

It's been raining here off and on. I took a siesta in the hostel after my snack to dry off a bit. I scored another bottom bunk (some hostels assign you a bed number like this one, sometimes it's first come first serve). However, the bed is on the floor which I don't love. I'd almost rather the top bunk here. Grass is always greener. The girl from Hong Kong I met last night showed me a photo of her hostel room in Granada - they shove so many people in each room that they have triple-decker beds! Crazy. Apparently the middle bed is the best because it's the only one where you can sit up.

Before I forget - two more things about Granada:
1) To clarify, most of Granada is actually pretty flat, but the cool old part of town close to the Alhambra and where I stayed is very hilly.
2) Yesterday I took a little siesta and was woken up pleasantly by a guy singing and playing the guitar. After I booked my flamenco ticket I walked back towards my hostel to try and find him. Turns out there was also a guy tap-dancing next to him, kind of adding a drum sound to the music. I sat and watched them for about an hour sipping some tinto de verano before the flamenco show.

My stroll today around Sevilla was nice. I walked around just getting the lay of the land, not really paying attention to the sites just yet. Although some you couldn't avoid wondering what they were. I walked through the Centro and El Arenal neighborhood. Headed down Avenida de la Constitucion, passed the cathedral that I'm going to visit tomorrow, and then a large structure that I thought might be the Alcazar palace (which I also want to try and visit tomorrow) but it turned out to be the Universidad de Sevilla and apparently this building used to be the royal Fabrica de Tabacos. Really pretty.

After a quick view of the Plaza de Espana I headed towards the Rio Guadalquivir to check that out. Looking at the map and the layout of Sevilla reminds me of Roma with the flow of the river and all the bridges. Sevilla is also much larger than I thought it was going to be.

I walked past tons of flamenco shops. As tempting as it is I don't think I'll be purchasing a flamenco dress. But I definitely have to get to a show here. The one in Granada was very nice but small and I couldn't see her fancy footwork, just heard the noise her shoes made.

Walking by the river down the Passeo de Cristobal Colon there were lots of policia directing traffic. Some event either just happened or was about to happen. I then stopped where tons of people were standing outside a circular building. TV cameras everywhere, so I naturally had to find out what was up. About a minute after I approached the building there were loud cheers and I could see a guy walking out. I could just see his arm waving and head - and I could tell he was wearing a fantastically flashy bullfighter outfit. So I asked a woman next to me and sure enough she confirmed that he was a famous torero. After walking a bit more I could see the sign of the building - Plaza de Toros.

On cue after the torero got into his little van it started pouring. Everyone flipped open their umbrellas and started scattering. I ducked under a thick shrub and sat on a bench for a few minutes. I managed to stay dry but thought it best to start heading back to my hostel. Am going to try and get up and start sight-seeing early. Unfortunately it's supposed to rain all weekend.