Once upon a time, less than 48 hours ago, Maggie and I boarded an overnight bus to Sevilla. We arrived at 7 the next morning. There began our great adventure.
My dad sometimes says, "Dawn is the best time of the day, if you have the nerve to get up and see it." We witnessed dawn in Sevilla, not from nerve but necessity. It was breath-taking. New cities are exhilarating at any hour, but strolling unfamiliar streets as dawn breaks over them is a truly unique experience.
Close to our hostel, Maggie and I stopped at the historic cafe La Campana for coffee. This purveyor of delightful pastries has appeared in two short stories involving Sevilla, including one by Hemingway. Now it's in three.
We arrived at our hostel, Oasis, in time for free breakfast with fellow-travelers. Some hailed from New Zealand, Australia... and Illinois! We actually met a girl from Naperville stranded in the Madrid bus station the previous evening, and shared food and travel tips. Small world.
We toured literally every famous sight of Sevilla during the following hours. The Cathedral, 3rd largest in the world after St. Peter's in Rome and St. Paul's in London. Its scenic Giralda Bell Tower, where we bumped into our Notre Dame friends for the first of 4 times that weekend. The Plaza de Espana and, on Sunday, the Royal Residence (Alcazar) and its magical gardens.
We picnicked in the park for lunch and went tapas-hopping for dinner, meeting friendly cafe workers and trying some delicious but peculiar dishes. (Warning: Don't just point at a menu and hope for the best, unless you're partial to fish.) We joined native Sevillans for their evening walk, or "paseo"- the whole city is out in the evening; strolling, talking, shopping, eating, watching street performers and providing entertainment of their own.
Best sights of the Evening Paseo:
1. Violinist who performed Schubert's Ave Maria
2. Cool skate-boarding teens in Plaza Nueva, competing with each other for the highest jumps
3. 25-30 grown men straining to carry what looked like a wooden platform covered in heavy concrete bars... Sevillans are already practicing for the heavy parade floats of Semana Santa
4. Beggars displaying the following signs (in Spanish)... "For Whiskey" "For Beer" "For Rum" "At least we're honest."
5. Refreshing helado (ice cream) devoured by Maggie and me!
After dinner, we headed to La Carboneria, a huge and packed bar that offers free flamenco nightly at 11. It was amazing. Sensual and passionate, yet intensely controlled- true art. I loved it. Met two Chinese students at the show, one of whom just finished studying in Cuba for a year. I was so thrilled, and demanded details about Cuba.
Sunday morning, we attended an inspiring Mass at the Cathedral. Breakfast at the hostel included discussion with our Viennese roommate of the snoring Frenchwoman who slept in the bunk below me, and a taste of the infamous Vegemite (condensed yeast extract) from our Australian friends.
Best Bloopers:
1. While touring the Toledo Cathedral, Maggie enthusiastically read aloud to me from her Rick Steves guidebook. We used it for almost our entire visit. "And to the left of the Sacristy is the tomb of Columbus!" she declared. We didn't see the tomb... "Darn that Rick Steves," said Maggie. "Ask someone!" So we did, and I asked a friendly staffer, "Where is the tomb of Christopher Columbus?" He led us to a large painting of St. Christopher, but no Columbus. He insisted that the tomb was not in the Cathedral. Confused, we returned to the guidebook. "Maggie," I said, "that's the map of the cathedral of Sevilla, not Toledo!" WHOOPS. Please remember we'd been using this guided tour for a solid half hour.
2. For lunch the last day, us cheapos bought 6 chocolatey "fun-bars" apiece at 6 for 1 euro. Somewhat of a misnomer.. our bowels will never be the same.
3. Getting slap-happy and goofy and impersonating German backpackers as we waltzed through the Royal Alcazar. For some people it's "Figaro" and the Barber of Seville... for me, Sevilla will always be associated with Maggie's rendition of "Waltzing Matilda".
And somewhere amidst all this, in my Sevilla of strummed guitars and ever-present orange trees, of fierce flamenco and peaceful churches, I realized... This may be one of the best days of my life.
The End.
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