TIm and Ryañ´s Last Day

The pub crawl the hostel put on, turned out to be a pretty good time. It cost 10€ but we got a shot at each bar and beers were only about 1€. Needless to say we got back to the hostel really late and crawled into bed.

We woke up at the usual time of noon, and got ready for the day. The plan was to see The Alcazar, but we got caught up roaming the streets of Seville. We ended up going to the ¨5th Avenue of Seville¨ and walked around and looked at all the trendy European clothes. I ended up buying some lame tee shirt for 6€, but I didn´t really care, I just wanted a clean shirt!!

After walking the shopping district Jed decided he wanted to get out of the city, so went on a day trip to Cadiz, a nice ocean down about 90 minutes away from Seville. I´m sure he´ll blog about that later. The rest of us decided we needed a siesta! So we went back to the hostel, and got out of the sun for a few hours. After our siesta, we went cafe hopping around Seville, and across the river into Triana. Triana is kind of like a borough of Seville, and not touristy at all. It was a really nice walk, and we kept stopping along the way for cervezas!

We all met back at the hostel at 9, and decided that we would go to a Flamenco dance show. We asked the hostel, and they pointed us in the right direction, and we ended up at this really cool Flamenco bar. At first it was empty, but by 10:30 it was packed with tourists. The Flamenco dancer was really good, and it was interesting to watch. Someone played the guitar, and another guy sang and clapped along with the dancer. It was actually really awesome. Jed thinks when he gets back to the States, he´s going to take lessons.

After the Flamenco show we headed back to our rooftop and hung out with all of our hostel friends. Hostel living is so similar to dorm living, theres always something going on, and you can never remember anyone´s name. Then we went next door to The Cave and got some late night eats with a guy from South Korea. He was really cool, and it was interesting talking about current events with someone with such a different perspective than our own. I think Ryan´s favorite part of this trip is talking about politics to EVERYONE, but his biggest disappointment is finding out that outside NYC, no one knows where or what Willimasburg, Brooklyn is!

Seville - Day 2

Yesterday was our second day in Seville. I woke up earlier than the rest of the crew and visited the pride of Seville: the cathedral. The Cathedral of Seville is the third largest gothic cathedral in the world. The scale is unbelievable. The cathedral itself took over 100 years to construct. The cathedral contains 80 chapels, all of which contain amazing detail. Other notable sites inside the cathedral include the tomb of Christopher Columbus, the tombs of many Spanish archbishops, a treasure room, an orange tree field, and La Giralda. A mosque originally occupied the site of the cathedral, and the minaret (La Giralda) is all that remains from the original structure.

In the afternoon we went on a walking tour of Seville sponsored by our hostel. Our guide told us a lot of interesting stories about the history of the city. All of the streets have a lot of history behind them.

At night we feasted on paella and sangria on the roof of our hostel. The chef of the night was Dario, a guide at the hostel. After dinner, we went out on a pub crawl with some others from our hostel and a neighboring hostel.

Seville, Ole!

Getting from Granada to Seville was a breeze! We took a taxi from the center of the city because the buses weren´t running, and easily got seats on the next bus. We ate a meal in the bus terminal, Ryan (who is a vegetarian) got a disgusting vegetable sandwich covered in mayonnaise, he hated every bite and we all laughed as we enjoyed our real sandwiches!

The bus ride was like 3 hours, and we all got some much needed sleep. It took about 10 minutes to walk from the bus station to the hostel, and was easy enough to find. This hostel is alright. It´s set up on 4 different floors, with no true common space, and the rooms are really hot! But it has a roof top terrace, which is awesome, as long as the sun is not up.

Day one was pretty uneventful, because we were all so tired from our late night in Granada, and the traveling. We walked around close to our hostel, and got acquainted with the streets, which are narrow, all look the same, and have at least three different names depending on where you get on them.

At night we went on a Tapas tour that the hostel provided. I have to say after Granada, I was not really impressed. There were like 20 of us, and it was hard to share the tiny plates, and it just wasen´t that good. We met this southern guy named Bo, who lived on a tobacco plantation. Words can´t describe Bo, he was truly a character out of a Mark Twain book.

After the Tapas tour we headed up to the roof with a few bottles of wine, and just chilled out up there talking to travelers. We met an awesome couple from LA on their honeymoon, who worked on the Kim Karsashian show, so we all kind of made fun of that, but they were really nice! After the roof we went to a bar next door, we called The Cave, because it had no real walls, just stone. They have the best menu though, and are open so late. It´s like living next door to a McDonald's!

The Alhambra Deux

Spain, like much of western and central Europe, has a history greatly intertwined with religion. Between large populations of jewish settlements, islamic rule for seven hundred years, and centuries of state sponsored catholic fanatacism, almost every history lesson we learned was deeply rooted in religion. This is especially true for the city of Grenada, which was the last bastion of Spain in the Moorish Empire. We visited the Alhambra, the architectural wonder and Islamic fortress of the fourteenth century.
Walking through these ruins is like walking through a history book. It made me think even more of the religious wars that plagued Spain and much of Europe during it´s early modern period of history. Philip II bankrupted the once powerful Spanish empire four times because of his fanatical devotion to Catholicism. More than anything, it made me appreciate the basic rights that we enjoy in much of the developed word. The rights that many, myself included, are guilty of taking for granted.
The first Amendment in the Bill of Rights offers freedom of religion, a freedom that millions of people died for over the course of European history. Viewing Spains vast Islamic architectural influence, and seeing the exact history where so many people died for religion, has made me truly appreciate the rights that we enjoy today.

The Alhambra

Greetings from Seville! We are a few days behind but don´t worry we can catch you up quick!

After our wonderful night of Tapas, spent much of the next day resting and getting ready for our big trip up the the Alhambra. We had tickets to see the Palace at 5:30 but since there are so many other things to see, we got there around 3, and started exploring!

The Alhambra is like nothing any of us had ever seen before. It´s a complete city enclosed by huge reddish walls, on the top of a mountain, overlooking Granada. The views are breath taking, and the history of the place is so interesting. It was built in the 12th century as a Palace for the Moorish kings, but was taken over my the Spanish Catholic Monarchs in the 15th century. We were able to walk the walls, go into the alcazaba, climb the guard towers, and hear stories about it. We all did the audio guide, and although it was a bit cheesy, it was a lot better than just walking around by ourselves. It was built directly in line with a river flowing down from the mountains, so it had flowing water everywhere, and was really pretty. From the highest point of the tower we took some great pictures, and were able to see down into our Hostel!

After we left the Alhambra, we went back to the hostel...and in typical hostel fashion we went out with about 15 other travellers to get more Tapas! We went to a few bars, but quickly got full. Every time we ordered a drink we had to be like no tapas, and the bartender would look at us like we were crazy! After the tapas bars, we went to a club that was in a converted movie theater. It was a pretty good time. The cheapest thing they had on the menu was Jagger shots...so obviously all we drank was Jagger shots. Everyone had an awesome night!

Tapas Tapas Tapas!

Yesterday we left the hostel in Barcelona at 6:45 in the morning (painfully early in Barcelona - where it is not uncommon to stay out until 6AM) and went to the airport to fly to Granada. Granada is a small city with the Mediterranean Sea to the south and the Sierra Nevada mountain range to the north. The mountains provide beautiful scenery. Yesterday was 95 degrees in the city, but the peakes of the mountains were still covered in snow!

Yesterday we went on a self walking tour from our guidebook, then went on a bus tour. We saw some very interesting landmarks, including some buildings built in the 13 century, and a statue in the city square commemorating when Columbus presented Queen Isabella with maps of the new world.

One interesting note about Granada, is that most of the shops close from around 1 to 4pm. This is the traditional siesta time, but some people eat or exercise or just relax. After experiencing the blistering sun during this period yesterday, I am not surprised!

Granada is famous for its tapas. Tapas are provided for free at bars and restaurants when drinks are ordered. Last night we went tapas hopping, going bar to bar and ordering beer or sangria and feasting on the tapas. The tapas are delicious, better than most meals I am accustomed to paying for in the states.

Later today we are going to Alhambra. It is a big fortress on the top of a mountain, and the second most visited attraction in Spain.

A Little Karaoke??

After the extreme bike riding tour of Barcelona. Tim and I headed to the beach to wade in the water. It was surprisingly cold. We took in some sun, saw some very large people hard core making out, and headed back to the hostel.

When we got back we all showered up in the tiny showers and heard the hostel was having a karaoke tour. We played some drinking games and headed to the Karaoke bar with about 8 people from the Hostel. When we finally got to the bar it was packed with tourists but we luckily found a table. The beers were really cheap which is always good. Overall it was a great time and with the social lubricant heavily flowing Joe and Ryan sang a song in front of the whole bar! The deut was beautiful!! We hung out there for quite some time and headed back where we all passed out.

Today (Monday) we all woke up around 11 and headed out at Noon with a friend from Brazil. I had a lost wallet scare before we left but found it... in my shoe? After yet another Jamon et Queso we rode our bikes to the biggest attraction in Barcelona the La Sagrada Familia. Tim and I did the full audio tour and really took in the Cathedral. It was huge and so detailed that it made sense why its taking over 130 years to build. I went up to the top of one of the towers and almost dropped my camera while holding over the edge to get a pic.

Tim and I headed back to the hostel to meet the rest of our group and we got some food then decided on going to the Picaso Mueseum. Unfortuently we got seperated and never made it. Now were back in the Hostel excited to get some Topless tonight. Oh wait I mean Tapas....(inside joke)