Sevilla basics

So, because I spent 3+ months in the city, I decided I'd do a little guide on it. So if any of the five of you who read this decide to visit Sevilla, you'll know where to go and what to do...Or if/when I go back, I'll remember what I like and don't like :)

This will be done in parts, otherwise it will be too long. So first up is the general info on the city. Enjoy!

Sevilla is the capitol city of the Andalucían region of Spain (southern part of the country, near Portugal). It is within about an hour from both the sea and the mountains. It is Spain's like fourth-largest city or something like that. Maybe if I'm going to do a guide I should research my statistics a little. Whatever. Its big, but not giant. That's technical, right? Andalucía is known for flamenco, bull fights, pork and its lovely weather. Plus I'm sure a lot of other things.



The city itself is split into a few main areas or neighborhoods. Kind of like Portland, I guess. There is of course the centro (center, if you couldn't figure that out) where a lot of the main sights are; there is Triana-on the "other" side of the river, full of local pride (where you will finds shirts and signs saying, "República independiente de Triana"-Independent republic of Triana); Nervión, La Macarena, Puerta Osario (where I lived), Los Remedios...plus a few more neighborhoods. More on the sights and best points of the neighborhoods/cities to come.

WEATHER
Sevilla summers are hot. No, you don't understand. It's like you just-fell-into-the-fires-of-hell-hot. 115 degrees Fahrenheit on a good day, hot. So hot that the entire city completely shuts down during siesta time (from about 2:00-5:00 or 6:00). If at all possible, avoid the city in the summer, especially July and August. But if not, do NOT leave your house/hostel/hotel/whatever between the hours of 2:00 and 7:00 pm. You will regret it if you do. Unless you are going to Rayas to get some ice cream, then it might be worth it if you get enough ice cream. Except you have to gobble it down super-fast so it doesn't melt.



Winter, on the other hand, is quite nice. Well, compared to Oregon winters anyway. It is cool, but rarely gets super-cold, usually staying above 40 degrees even during the coldest months. And it doesn't rain too much. When it does rain, every single Sevillana gets out their umbrella (which can make it kind of awkward to walk down crowded sidewalks as everyone runs into each other with their pointy umbrellas). While the weather is mild in winter, houses don't usually have much in the area of heat (See above. Not that they are better-prepared for the hot weather, but they don't have much need for heated homes during most of the year). The old buildings have tile floors and let me tell you, they are like ice (which is nice if its August and you can sleep on the cool tile floor...). Little cloth slippers or just socks will not keep your feet warm. Either stay huddled underneath the heated dinner table, or get yourself a good pair of hard-soled slippers (you can get them for about 5 euros if you didn't bring a pair with you.). Your feet will thank you.

A lot of umbrellas.

PEOPLE
The people in Sevilla (and Spain, in general, from my experience) are pretty fantastic...once you get to know them. They aren't always the most outwardly friendly and warm at first. You may have to make the first move and speak first, but they will be nice once you get them to open up. They like their fútbol (soccer), wine, food, language, culture and weather. Sevillanas think they live in the greatest city in Spain, possibly the world. And they have a pretty good argument.

TRANSPORTATION
Sevilla is a relatively good-sized city, but easy to get around in and most of the main tourist sights are pretty close together. There are a few options for finding your way around:
1.) Walk. Bring comfortable walking shoes, because most likely you will be doing a lot of this no matter what. And watch out. You often share the road with cars, so you have to jump out of the way if you see/hear one coming. This was by far my preferred method of getting around in Sevilla (well, pretty much the only method I tried). It is easy to traverse by foot, as long as you don't mind getting lost now and then.

2.) Sevici-the city's bike-rental system. You have to put down a deposit of 150 euros, but you get it back as long as they get the bike back at the end of your stay. You pay as you go-I think you pay by the minute or something, can't quite remember. It's a fantastic and very popular option and the city is relatively bike-friendly. If you consider sharing the tiny, narrow roads with other bikes, cars and pedestrians alike, and riding a bike down uneven cobblestone streets "bike-friendly."


3.) Bus. The bus system is pretty good in Sevilla, but it just won't get you everywhere. The narrow streets were certainly not made for big buses.
4.) Taxis. They're everywhere. If you want to pay a lot, go for it. I have a terrible tendency to get ripped off by taxis, so I have all but sworn them off. But if you have extra money to spend, go for it.
5.) Horse-drawn carriage. If you want to be an even more obvious tourist, go for it (trust me, you're obvious anyway. There's no avoiding it.).


6.) Find a handsome Spanish man to take you around on the back of his moto. Find one for me, too, while you're at it.
7.) Skateboard. Just kidding. Don't you dare. Leave it at home.

To get OUT of Sevilla (if you insist on doing so), there are a few options. Flights within Europe are super cheap on airlines like EasyJet and Vueling (and RyanAir if you are really, really desperate). BUT, only Vueling flies out of Sevilla. Well, so does RyanAir but its just really not the best. The airport in Sevilla is small, so flights out of it are not the cheapest. Its usually cheaper to get to Barcelona or Malaga (by train, bus or even air), then fly from those larger airports.



Depending upon where you are going, the train and bus are also excellent options. Trains leave from the Santa Justa station and are operated by Renfe. The website is sometimes impossible to purchase through, so its often easier to just go to the station to buy your ticket. Renfe's AVE high-speed train will get you to Madrid in 2 and a half hours, much better than the 8 hours it used to take. But its not cheap (I paid 80 euros one way when I first got there). It might actually be cheaper to fly sometimes.

The bus system in Spain is excellent. Sevilla has two main stations, Plaza de Armas and Prado San Sebastian. Your destination will usually determine which station you leave from. Make sure you pay attention when you buy the ticket to which one you'll depart from. This is another time where it may be easier to purchase at the station. But you can go online to check schedules/prices and also buy, from sites like ALSA (super efficient and easy to use) and Damas. I'll put some more information on the best ways to get to certain destinations from Sevilla in a future post. I loved the buses in Spain and pretty much traveled almost exclusively that way.

FASHION
Spanish fashion is something that is kind of hard to figure out. It's a little bit trendy, a little bit grunge, a little bit classy and a little bit funky all at the same time. I don't know how it works. First of all, it doesn't matter what you wear. Even if you shop at the most Spanish of Spanish clothing stores and get your hair cut at a Spanish salon, you will be immediately spotted as a tourist. They have an eye for these things. I don't know if its the way we walk, talk, carry ourselves, etc., but they know right away when you aren't from there. Now, as long as you know that, there is no harm in trying to imitate the fashion of the Sevillanas. Buy yourself some pants that are tight on the calf and baggy in the butt, get some boots or ballet flats (you can never, I repeat never go wrong with ballet flats), and a fun top and you'll be stylin. I don't understand the fit of the pants there (at the time I was there anyway). I tried on multiple pairs of pants and apparently they just don't make normal-fitting ones. And its not just because I don't have a butt, they are made to look that way on purpose. Anyway, clothing is pretty well-priced and cute, so have fun shopping!

SHOPPING
You can buy anything you want or need in Sevilla. Go to Corte Inglés for one-stop shopping. You can quite literally buy everything in this mega-store. Or head to the Plaza de Armas mall for shopping and a movie. Calle Sierpes/Velazquez is the main shopping area in the centro, with stores like H & M, Zara, Mango, etc. Go to Triana for ceramics and amazing locally-made things. Calle Feria for more indie stuff, as well as for the weekly flea market (the "jueves," held each jueves-Thursday). The Feria or Triana food markets for amazingly fresh produce, meat, seafood, etc. Marypaz for shoes (especially if you have big feet...). Near the cathedral for touristy things. Dia or Mas for groceries. Outside of the Museo de Bellas Artes on Sunday mornings for amazing creations from local artists. A "chino" store (mostly owned by immigrants from China who keep the stores open during siesta and sell just about everything) for all kinds of random things that you couldn't find anywhere else. Or for gummies (you can also stop at any street stand for these deliciousnesses). And just wander into anywhere to explore, there's some great stuff!

SMOKING
Everyone smokes in Sevilla. In Spain. In all of Europe. Get used to it. There are some places in Sevilla which are starting to prohibit smoking. But there aren't many of them at this point. Just expect to dine and drink in smoky establishments and to walk in smoke all the time as the people surrounding you are all smoking. To come home with literally everything you own smelling of cigarette smoke (I swear it smells different there-not as bad. But that might just be because you can't get away from it.). If you are a smoker, this will be great for you. If not, well...too bad. Just deal with it.

SCHEDULE
The Spanish day is quite different from the American one. Morning starts out normal enough: get up, get ready, eat breakfast. Then a little later, it's lunchtime. At about 2:00 or 3:00pm. This is the biggest meal of the day, sometimes the only real meal of the day. After lunch, its nap-time: from about 3:00-5:00 or 6:00, the city shuts down for the "siesta." They really believe in this here. Go home, rest, take a nap, whatever, just don't try to go to a store and buy anything-unless its a Chino store. After siesta, the day is yours until about 8:00 or 9:00pm. Then its dinner time, if you're into that kind of thing. Not all Spaniards eat dinner (which makes sense, since lunch is colossal and its really too late to eat by the time the siesta is done), but if you do it will be a relatively light meal, followed by fruit as dessert. Fruit is always dessert. Now, you can relax until bedtime (around midnight), or......

NIGHTLIFE
Spaniards sure know how to party. Even the kids (we're talking toddlers, here) stay out until 1:00am or so in the summer. This is just if they're hanging out in the neighborhood square or a playground. For the older "kids," if you want to go out, don't even think about leaving your house until, at the very earliest, 11pm. At 11:00, you might meet some friends at a bar for a cerveza, or: BOTELLÓN. This is the Spanish version of pre-gaming, and is usually done either at the Torre del Oro (the tower by the river, where every single American tourist goes to botellón, plus a good number of Spaniards), or at Plaza San Salvador (always suuuper-packed at night), or some other place where everyone can just hang out and drink cheaply. Any of these places will be completely full of young people drinking and socializing. Then, at 1:00 or 2:00am, you might head to a discoteca. Don't be scared by that word-it doesn't mean disco-dancing, but a club where you can dance and drink until dawn. Literally. You might head home at about 3:00am, if you're a sissy (like me...), or you might stay out until 5:00 or 6:00am. If you're really hardcore (which is not me, I never even went to a discoteca), you'll stay out until about 7am, grab some (drunken) breakfast and then head home to sleep it off. Wake up at some point the next day and repeat. I am definitely a lightweight when it comes to nightlife, but even I usually didn't get home til 3:00am or so on the few occasions when I did go out (usually to a bar or three with some friends).




Okay, I think that's enough for now :) Next up, what to see and do in Sevilla :)

Carmona, Carmela and Culture Shock

This past weekend was another busy one. There are a lot of little towns close by that I want to visit (but not enough time to visit them all). So when there is a free day or two, I like to go see them! I couldn't get anyone to go with me this weekend to see Carmona, so I had decided to go by myself on Friday. Although fortunately Sofie decided to join me. I don't mind traveling alone, but its much more fun with other people!

Carmona is a little town that I had heard was pretty, so I wanted to see it for myself. We planned to leave around 11am and catch the bus to Carmona (a quick 30-40 minute bus ride). We headed to the bus station, figured out where to buy tickets (on the bus), and waited. When we realized that all we had between us was 50 euro bills, we decided we needed change. Soooo we bought some chocolate. The guy we bought it from wasn't too happy that we paid with a 50, but...he still gave us change! With change for the bus (and chocolate to nibble on!), we sat and waited for the bus. We didn't have to wait long, and we hopped on and headed to our destination.



We weren't really sure what all was in Carmona, or where to get off the bus. So we picked a stop (where it seemed like most people were exiting the bus) and hopped off. My guidebook said that there was a Roman amphitheater and Necropolis in Carmona. So our first goal was to find these places. We walked around in circles for a bit before realizing that we had passed the amphitheater (it didn't look like much) and the Necropolis was on the other side of the road from it. We went to the Necropolis (which was under renovation of course, although a few spots were still open) and walked around. There were lots of people buried here (or their ashes were stored here) a long time ago. Now you can walk around in or peer into the areas where the bodies/ashes were kept. Pretty interesting.



After leaving the Necropolis, we headed to the historic city center. First, you enter through the ancient city gate in the city wall. Pretty cool. Usually these old walls are crumbling down and aren't really at the entrance to the city anymore. But this one is actually where you enter the city and is in pretty good shape. We mostly just wandered around a bit trying to figure out what there was to see. We ended up sitting in one of the town squares and eating my bocadillo (this time I got a tortilla bocadillo-soooo good), while watching a group of older ladies having a picnic there. So cute! After the snack, we wandered around some more. We basically got to the end of town, and went through another city gate. What a view! Lots of fields and open spaces. Quite beautiful. Then Sofie spotted some goats. Sofie loves goats. She couldn't handle just seeing them from a distance, so we walked over to them. On the way, a happy little puppy found us. He came running like a madman towards us, so excited to see us. He was jumping and biting and running in circles (hopefully he didn't have rabies...). After he ran away, we had arrived at the goats. Where we discovered that there were hundreds of them. Apparently we had stumbled upon a dairy goat farm. There was one lone little goat that was talking to us and following us. He didn't want us to leave :( But we had more adventuring to do.




We got back into the city center and went to the "market" area. This is a town square that is lined on all sides by storefronts (for food, etc.). Only a few of them were actually open. But the one we sat down at was amazing. We had walked by it earlier in the day and checked out all the food she had, telling the woman that we would be back later to eat. So when we returned and started looking at the food again, she asked us if we wanted to try __________ (I don't remember what it was called....or if I ever understood what she said). Said it was what everyone was eating that day. So we said sure! We sat down and she brought us a big ole bowl of soup. Calamari, potatoes, peas, carrots. YUM. She asked if we wanted anything to drink and we said we'd like some tea (she had dozens of Moroccan-style teapots). She asked, "Mint?" Again, sure!



Now, there weren't too many people around. There were basically two restaurant/bars open. There were two couples at Carmela's bar, and a group of people at the other one, in the corner of the square. While we were sitting down enjoying our soup and tea, the people at the other bar broke out into some flamenco singing. Amazing. We were eating some good food, sipping some incredible tea, enjoying the views and the ambiance of the town, and hearing flamenco. Best. day. ever. We didn't want to leave. So we had another pot of tea. And some dessert. She asked if we wanted anything else and we said that we wanted something sweet. She said she knew just the thing. And brought us something with neon green goop on it. Panna cotta with mint, apparently. It wasn't the best thing I'd ever eaten....but I ate it. We ate it all. And finished the second pot of tea. And realized we had to leave. We really didn't want to go.










Sofie and I have been lamenting over the fact that Sevilla just wasn't quite what we expected. We loved the small-town feel of this tranquil, quiet city. Where there aren't tourists (us) at every turn. Where town people converge in the little squares and nooks and crannies of the pueblo. Well we found it. Just not in Sevilla....

Don't get me wrong, I love Sevilla. It's just...bigger...or something, than I expected. I was expecting the Piazzas and music and markets and ambiance of Florence. Stupidly, don't know why I expected Sevilla to be the same as a city in Italy. And there are similarities. I just still haven't found "my" areas, where I like to go hang out and walk to. I still get lost all the time. And am getting tired of always having to speak Spanish (so I don't speak Spanish as much as I should). This is my version of culture shock I guess, just some tiny frustrations. But I have discovered the peaceful pueblos a quick bus ride away, am meeting awesome Spanish people to hang out with, am seeing a whole lot of this beautiful country (a lot of it on CIEE's dime, as they have all kinds of trips for us) and am improving my Spanish day by day (even though its not as quick of a process as I would like).

Now, if I could just find a good comfy pair of shoes so I don't want to cry every time I have to walk. Then maybe I could discover the parts of Sevilla that I've been searching for!

(más fotos aquí)

Greetings, ciao and hola!

I can't believe my trip to Spain is only a little over two months away! It's crazy to think that a year ago, I was living with my parents and working full-time at a job that really made me miserable, with little to no social life to speak of. I am loving my life right now! Its such a change from what it was, but a great change. I am actually enjoying my classes, love my little part-time job, have met some awesome people and am just having fun! And on top of that all, I get to go spend four months in SPAIN! I still have a lot to do before the trip, and am praying endlessly that I get some sort of scholarship to help pay for the program in Spain. But I am so excited! No, life is not perfect. But it's much closer to perfection right now than it has been in a long time :)