DAY 8: Cordoba -> Sevilla

Being in Sevilla was like being in the Mediterranean again.... white houses, "passionate" locals, crazy and wild tourists were everywhere! ....Maybe the only thing missing was the Mediterranean Sea itself!

For the first time in my trip I did not have to suffer from those supermarket leftovers as breakfast. I was checking out at the counter when I suddenly realized that the EUR 22 per night actually included a continental breakfast! Not too much to expect except some bread & butter and tea but it was better than nothing.... and I got to use the restaurant exclusively as no one was around at that time... not even a waiter...Orz

After realizing the bus route I came yesterday was a one-way only route, I had to make a decision whether to take the same bus and sat in there for half an hour for me to get back to the train station or just walked half an hour to the train station myself. As I was too "full" with my breakfast, (only had one slice of bread actually) I decided to do some exercises and walked to the station.

The 10:00 train I took to Sevilla was actually an AVE as well and surprisingly no one was at the ticket office at that time which meant that I didn't really have to buy the tickets in advance. So after 45 minutes (so quick that I couldn't even finish one episode of ¹q¨®¨k) I arrived at the capital of Andalucia --- Sevilla.

Unlike in Cordoba, this time the hotel was situated near the heart of the main attractions but there was no direct bus to it. Still, the bus routes were a lot straight forward than in Cordoba or Segovia. Two circular routes, one ran clockwise and the other counter-clockwise.

The bus itself had a TV announcing the next stop and actually showed a map of the next bus stop and the nearby streets! Wow! This was the most advanced bus I had ever been aboard... HK KMB buses should learn from this and don't always show boring roadshows all the times! There was really no way you could get lost, or miss a stop with this modern state-of-the-art technology!

Well I was wrong again! Near my stop at the University there were some roadworks and the bus had to take a detour... obviously the database was not up-to-date and so basically because of the detour I had no idea where the bus was going.... at the end I just got off at one stop and had to walk all the way back to the University stop (and what's more frustrating was I later found out that the bus actually came back to stop at this stop eventually!)

Barrio de Santa Cruz, the area which my hotel was located, was yet another maze. To meet my definition of a maze, it must be:

1. Not all the streets have names;

2. The street names did not appear on my map.

3. Many streets led to dead-ends, ie. even if you got the direction right, you thought you could come out on the other side and no, you were stuck in a dead-end.

4. The streets were not straight, ie. the compass was "really" useful...

Finally, I found my hotel after hitting many deadends and taking many U-turns. Un Patio en Santa Cruz Hotel was a beautifully decorated hotel. The hotel was about 4 storey high. As the name suggested, the main reception area was like a very small patio/courtyard itself, with the ceiling as high as the height of the hotel, with the rooms built around it on each floor. All the walls were painted white, decorated with pieces of paintings and flower pots. The roof was accessible for sun-bathing but the surrounding did not look nice.

I got my single room on the ground floor next to the reception. The room was small but the interior decoration was very artistic and modernized. It would be a nice room for an afternoon nap but I really did not have the luxury.

Although I had more time in Sevilla than in Cordoba, but I really had a lot more to cover than in Cordoba. I left the hotel at around noon time but I had to go and check these out all these within the same day: Bull Ring, Cathedral, Alcazar, the flamenco show and finally, an Arab bath to conclude for the day.

The first thing I did was to get the tickets for the flamenco show. According to the guy in the tourist office at the station, I went first to the cheap one he recommended. At only EUR10 a show, it was not surprising that it was sold out by the time I went there. So I went to Los Gallos next (because it was also nearby) and got myself a ticket for EUR27 (such a big difference!) for the 20:00 show.

The Seville's Bull Ring was my next stop. After passing through numerous roadworks and haled a few litres of dust and CaCO3 I finally found Plaza de Toros de la Real Maestranza, one of the oldest bull ring in Spain. Visits could only be done via guided tours. So while waiting for the next tour, I quickly had lunch for the day: a Kit-Kat from the vending machine. The guided tour only costed EUR 4, but considering the spanish accent of the tour guide and the quality of the Span-glish, I thought 4 euros was a rip-off! The guide tried her best in speaking English but I thought I might understand more if she spoke in Spanish..... -_-"

The ring itself was impressive but it was a shame(?) that there was no bull-fighting on that day, so basically it was just like entering a football stadium imagining all the actions happening down there. The musuem next door was more impressive and had a display of all the tools and costumes used in the bull-fighting history. There were also a display of Bulls heads hung on top of the walls. All of them save one were bulls fought and killed in the ring. The only exception was a cow's head, which was the mother of an "exceptional brave" bull that killed one of the famous matadors/bullfighters during the fight. That bull was put to death later, together with his mom whom they thought should not live to give birth to such "evil" bulls again... Sad thinking!

On the way back to the cathedral I took a stroll along the riverside of the river Rio Guadalquivir that was quite pretty but had a lack of boats and people along the riverside. Maybe no one could be bothered to take cruises under such a melting hot weather.

Seville's Cathedral is one of the biggest in the world, just came after St.Peter's in Vatican City and St. Paul's in London. The most worthy display inside was the Capilla Mayor, which has the biggest and richest altarpiece in the world; with over 1000 carved biblical figures and took almost 80 years to finish. Another interesting sight inside the cathedral was the tomb of Christopher Columbus (but scientific dating tests suggested that the remains inside was dead much later than Columbus himself) The tomb/coffin was bore by 4 sepulchure-bearers that represented the 4 kingdoms of Spain at that time.

Next to the cathedral was the bell tower "The Giralda". When it was built it was the tallest tower in the world at 97.5m in height. It was originally a mosque's minaret. One interesting thing was that the tower had no stairs but instead had ramps wide enough for people to ride the horses and climbed all the way up to the top. At the top, besides the bells, was a magnificant view of Seville!

When I came out of the tower, it was already about 5 o'clock. So I quickly rused to the Alcazar that was just next to the Cathedral.

The Alcazar of Seville was very different from the Alcazar of Segovia. The latter one was like an medieval castle with pointed wizard hats-like torrents. This one was more like a muslim palace with beautiful gardens and patios throughout. It was a really nice place to stroll around but I was too pressed for time that I had to rush through the whole process.

So I managed to "finish" all the sights I planned for "within schedule" and I now had to get back for shower, dinner and go to watch Flamenco.

Dinner was in a rush because I had to be at the place for Flamenco at 19:30 and I only arrived the restaurant at 19:00. The waiter was very kind to prepare the meal for me "In Express" (At that time the restaurant was just barely opened and there was only one other table.. and those people were just drinking their happy hour.) So for EUR 8.5 I got a 5 tapas course (one was a dessert) with bread. A glass of 1/2 Litre Sangria costed and extra EUR 3 (which tasted far better than the tapas themselves) One of the dishes was actually a curry chicken, could u believe it?

Finally made it at Los Gallos at 19:30 and surprise, no one was there. So I managed to get myself a good seat at the front.... and I got another Sangria (one free drink included) When I took my camera out, the usher actually impolitely told me that only one or two photos were allowed.... but he never told off the other Japanese lady who also had the camera brought out. Was it because my camera was too professional? >_<

Speaking of Japanese, there were suprisingly many Japanese audience that night in the show.. maybe Los Gallos was highly recommended in their guide book?

Well the flamenco show itself was very interesting at the beginning but it fell short, partly because:

1) The female performances were too old and ugly. The most handsome/pretty performer was a guy!

2) The dance was amazing at the beginning but there were not enough variations to keep me awake. Only at the end were some duo or trio performances. But most of the time it was just a solo performer on the stage.

3) The music was provided by 1 or 2 guitarists and hand clappings... the rhythm was a good way to put you to sleep.

All in all, it was worth watching as Andalucia was the home of Flamenco, if I didn't watch it here where else should I watch it?

By the time I got back to the hotel it was already around 11pm. My original plan was to go for an Arab bath. However, I double-checked the brochure and found out that I had missed the last time slot of the day. Reservation was needed in advance! So instead I devoted the rest of the night out there hunting for some drinking water. (It took me a long time before I could find a store that sold water)