Seville

Go to Seville!  Seville is absolutely beautiful!  I was completely blown away by the Moorish architecture in Seville and Cordoba.  It rained on and off while we were there but that didn't stop us from having a great time.  Seville is just packed full of life.  In Spain most people don't have dinner till about 10pm.  It was a little hard for us the first day but we soon got into the rhythm of staying up late and sleeping in.  We weren't impressed by the tapas though.  The best food we had was from a Lebanese kebab shop.  While in Seville we went to the art museum that focuses exclusively on Spanish artists including Velazquez.  It's in an old monastery with beautiful tile work.  Although after a while there's only so many paintings of Jesus dying on the cross that one can take.  

The entire city is covered in orange trees.  We were lucky and the oranges were ripe.  I've since learned that Seville oranges are only ripe for two weeks of the year and that they're used for marmalade because they're bitter.  We couldn't understand why people weren't picking them and eating them until we actually tried one.  They look great though!

One of the highlights of any trip to Seville is the cathedral.  It used to be a mosque until the Moors were pushed out of Spain and they converted all the Mosques to churches.  It is one huge room that has a basilica in the middle that was added later.  Behind the alter there is a huge wall of gold coated sculptures.  There's no way my pictures can show just how amazing the sight is with the candles playing across the gold.  Left from when it was a mosque is the courtyard filled with orange trees.  The bell tower use to be a minaret.  It's big enough for a horse to climb up the ramp.  It's the largest gothic church in existence.  

We also went to the Plaza de Espana which we still can't figure out exactly what it is.  The building has a tiled tribute to each Spanish state around the courtyard.  They were really cool.  

  

We spent New Years Eve in Seville.  We started the evening at a Flamenco show.  It was in a small courtyard of a hotel.  The fifty or so people there sat around the edges and in the middle was a small stage.  The was a singer, guitarist and two dancers.  Besides the Alcazar this was my favorite part of the trip.  The artists were amazing and the show felt so intimate.  It made me wish I'd spent more time exploring different types of dance rather than only ballet.  After we went to the Irish Pub.  Sad I know, but besides a few restaurants it was the only thing open.  They had a DJ who played mostly American songs and then every so often a random European hit that none of us knew.  We ended up staying and dancing till late with a couple we met at the bar.  Christian is German but he's studying at St. Andrews in Scotland and he's the spitting image of Prince Harry.  People actually came up to him throughout the night to ask if he was the prince.  We hung out with him and his girlfriend Lisa all night and it ended up being a great New Years!

This last picture is for Cole.  We thought of you one afternoon when we gorged ourselves on Churros y Chocolate.  You would love it!  Actually I can't imagine anyone not liking them!  At the stand they fry up the churros fresh for you so they're warm and crispy.  They them wrap them up in newspaper and serve them with thick hot chocolate to dip them in.  Amazing!