Sevilla

Okay, I’m a bit behind on keeping the site updated. I actually left Sevilla on the 24th of Nov – it’s now the 30th and I’m about to leave Lisboa, Portugal.
Reasons : Poor internet connections, loss of photo data and power outages. Oh, and maybe a bit of laziness.

So once again, I won’t have the images up for a while, but I can tell you about it.

Gather round the campfire.

Here’s a story of a city with soul and passion. Sevilla, capital of Andalucia, heart and home of flamenco. Old men sit on stools in busy shopping alleyways playing piano accordians or guitars, women stand beside their roast chestnut stalls, people move about in the well-kept centre of town, spending their money and keeping their own pace. Further down towards the Guadalquivir river is the bullfighting arena. The people are proud of their heritage. They sing songs about their city in familial groups at three o’clock in the morning on a weeknight.

Down every street, orange trees are covered in fruit and colour. The city is very green despite the coming winter months. It rains hard the first day I stay and it doesn’t let up all day. I haven’t seen rain like this for years and years. Maybe never. I find some friends at the hostel and we cook up a storm of our own.

Thanks to Mariana from Buenos Aires, Arend from Toronto, Adam from the San Diego, Marie from Quebec and Angelo from Philladelphia. Many meals were cooked and bottles of wine consumed. What a team.

We hit the town looking for tapas and sangria despite the lousy weather. We were rewarded with smoky little bars serving up typical spanish food like jamon and patatas brava, calamari in a vinagrette, pollo (chicken) cooked on skewers with dates and tasty sauce or drenched in a rich almond sauce. (By the way, I’m getting better at ordering food in Spanish.)

We were all keen to see some flamenco, so we went to a bar with a group that was probably half the population of the hostel. The show was dramatic, centred around a female dancer. The tempo rose and fell, the rhythmn being kept by hands clapping and feet stomping. A guitar and flute player accompanied. It was quite different from what I was expecting, and I was pleased: flamenco is more than the rhumba rhythmns that have been popularised.

In fact, flamenco is now an umbrella term that is used to describe a wide range of styles – everything from traditional guitar-only instrumentals to flamenco inspired hip hop and dance music. Interesting. The seminal flamenco was a result of moorish travellers who travelled for so long from the middle east or India towards europe that they became their own people, gypsies.

We were all thirsty for more flamenco, so the next night we took the hostel staffer’s recommendation and trekked down and across the river to the quieter side of town. There, after much consulting of maps and scratching of heads, we finally discovered Casa Anselma. We were treated to a very different kind of flamenco here. A style that was thoroughly local and quite engaging. Three men sat and sung in unison, one with a guitar, one with a tamborine and one with a percussive box that may be unique to flamenco.  The music was always strong in rhythmn and usually had a fast tempo. It was almost the opposite of the previous night’s performance.  I was delighted when the owner of the house, Anselma, came out from behind the bar and took over the singing. She kept the audience captivated. Fathers got up to dance flamenco with their daughters. The chorus was sung by all the locals: “Sevilla, Sevilla, Sevilla”.

I fell in love with the city right then.

Okay, got my photos uploaded finally.

The largest gothic cathedral in the world:

Plaza Espana, this place is beautiful. Very regal. It was used as part of a set in one of the newer Star Wars films.

Around the back of the Real Alcazar (old moorish palace): This little area is quite possibly the most beautiful spot I’ve ever seen. Very romantic. The perfect weather didn’t hurt things either!

Okay, this is the Sevilla crew except for Angelo, who was taking the photo. We cooked a gourmet feast that day, and it cost us about 3 euros each, wine included. We served scrambled eggs with spinach, toasted crusty garlic bread, fresh tomatoes with olive oil and basil and chorizo.

Me and Mariana with our favourite drop (I’m in Granada right now and drinking it here too).


Viva Rioja!

One day at the hostel I helped some girls make pumpkin pie.

It turned out really well. Yum.
The Oasis hostel was a great place to stay – Good dorms, good rooftop, great kitchen and of course, I met some wonderful people.
The alley outside the hostel:

Thank you Sevilla!