So I know I need to post about life in Sevilla, because it is preeetty good. Spring has sprung, the city has come back to life, and it deserves a post.
But first I'll catch you up on my last trip: a visit to Zaragoza (and Logroño!) I'd heard there's not much there but a cool cathedral, but we all know I can't turn down a 13 euro ticket.
I woke up reeeeeeeeeeeally early that Friday morning (it was a few weekends ago), after not having slept much the night before cause I was last-minute packing. I meant to sleep on the plane, but couldn't. I was busy watching what might possibly have been the prettiest sunrise I've ever seen:
This meant I was absolutely exhausted the whole day, and dozed off in a museum during a video about Roman Zaragoza. So don’t ask me questions, cause I can't tell you much.
What I do know is that it used to be called Caesaraugusta and was founded by the oh-so-creative emperor himself a few years before Jesus was born. It was a pretty big deal throughout the millennia and has been a Roman city, Muslim taifa, Jewish hotspot, and Aragonese kingdom.
This history makes for some reeeeally cool, crazy mixed-up architecture. I loved this in Mexico too, when colonial cathedrals are sitting on top of Aztec ruins and right next to modern buildings.
Man, I am a nerd.
Roman theater (I bought the all-inclusive ticket but never made it to the baths or forum...)
The Cathedral. Like about a bazillion other Spanish cathedrals, this belltower used to be a minaret.
Check out the minaret-turned-belltower and Renaissance facade in the co-cathedral:
Oh, but wait! There's more! This is the side of that building!
This is the main plaza in the casco historico (the Spain Spanish name for like the historic, central part of downtown, which I like to translate as the "historic helmet"):
Then in the evening, I met up with my couchsurfing host, Alejandro. He's an elementary school teacher, so I spent the day wandering around, backpack and everything, till he got out of work and we met up. He was super nice and fun, and we had a good time comparing notes about our kids.
We dropped off my stuff in his car which he keeps in an underground garage spot during the day-- a necessity in many cities if you don't live near enough to your work to walk. Parking there (and in Sevilla) is a nightmare, I hear. There's just no room on the tiny streets!
Then we consulted one of the tourist office books I picked up for something to do, and walked across town to see this comedy/magic show at a bar. It was fun and funny (words that English learners seem to have a really hard time keeping straight, by the way), but by that point I was almost falling asleep again, so I was glad when it was over and we headed home.
Ah, yes, and before that, we went for tapas, including one called "morcilla"-- blood and rice sausage. I couldn't remember the name just now, so I wikipedia-ed it. That was a mistake; I could have lived a happy and fulfilling life without knowing the specifics of what it contains.
Alejandro and the morcilla:
The next day was a really lazy one. We woke up reeeally late, ate breakfast on his terrace cause it was sunny and beautiful, made an amazing pasta lunch, and watched a basketball game.
"What?!" you ask? "Basketball in Spain?" Or at least that's what you should have asked. Absolutely no one in Spain cares about basketball-- it's usually just soccer, soccer, and more soccer!
Anyways, when that was over, we drove a couple hours (!!!) to Logroño, the capital of the province of La Rioja, to tapear. (When you need to make up a Spanish verb, you usually add -ear, like facebookear, but this one is actually a real word-- to go for tapas).
I definitely hadn't planned or expected this to be part of my trip, but it was his idea and his car, so why not?
This province is really famous for its wine. Actually I think wine from there is the most popular in Spain. So I knew nothing about where we were going except what I'd learned in the grocery.
On the way (yes, we left at 8 and started eating around 10):
Anyways, there is this area that's a few streets of nothing but tapa places, and a ton of places with a deal where you get a small glass of wine or short cup of beer and a little tapa for a euro or two.
These tapas included a cazuelita (cazuela-- a palm-of-your-hand-sized flat terra cotta bowl/plate) of about three bites of meat in sauce, a long toothpick of a few mushrooms in some sauce, a tiny dish of eggplant with red peppers, and a pinchito (kabob) of fried calamari, and some other stuff that I'm not really sure what it was, but it looked good, so I got it.
Throughout the several hour period, one of the ones I saw was bread with goat cheese and strawberry jam, so I decided that would be my desert one. But when I was ready for it, the place where we were had it with those two important components, but on top of ham. Which is completely normal for Spain.
Ah, and the wine did not disappoint.
Here's my only picture from the night. It's from one of the fancier places. I like the grungier ones with more character, naturally, but, I'm not gonna complain.
Then we came back and he took me, super early the next morning, to the airport. 48 hours very well spent!
I don't have any more of these little weekend trips planned, so I've been enjoying my Sevilla time and looking forward to visitors! Including Hazel and Suzanne, who are coming Friday. I couldn't be more excited (a) to see them and (b) to show them a little bit of Spanish life!
Peace!
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