Tomorrow is my last day in Sevilla, and at 8pm I will get on a bus with the rest of the people in my program and make the overnight journey to the airport in Madrid (we should arrive around 3am, including stops). My flight is at 10:45am, so I will have a lot of time to kill in the airport. I am excited to go home, but devastated to leave. It is incredibly bittersweet.
I’m not one much for poetry, but once in a while I come across something that really speaks to me. I found this poem at random, while doing research for my ‘Physical Geography and Environment of Spain’ class final PowerPoint presentation.
It is by Antonio Machado (1875-1939) who spent his childhood in Sevilla, and moved to Madrid in 1883.
El sueño bajo el sol que aturde y ciega,
tórrido sueño en la hora de arrebol;
el río luminoso el aire surca;
esplende la montaña
la tarde es polvo y sol.
El sibilante caracol del viento
ronco dormita en el remoto alcor;
emerge el sueño ingrave en la palmera,
luego se enciende en el naranjo en flor.
La estúpida cigüeña
su garabato escribe en el sopor
del molino parado; el toro abate
sobre la hierba la testuz feroz.
La verde, quieta espuma del ramaje
efunde sobre el blanco paredón,
lejano, inerte, del jardín sombrío,
dormido bajo el cielo fanfarrón.
Lejos, enfrente de la tarde roja,
refulge el ventanal del torreón.
English translation:
Sleep under the sun that stuns and blind
sleep hot flush time;
the luminous river cuts through the air;
the mountain shines
afternoon is dust and sun.
The whistling wind spiral
hoarse alcor slumbers in the remote;
sleep emerges weightless in the palm,
then turns on the orange blossoms.
The stupid stork
Scribble writes in his slumber
the mill stopped, the dead bull
forehead on the grass fierce.
The green foam foliage still
fused on the white wall,
far, inert, dark garden,
slept under the sky bully.
Far in front of the evening red
the window of the tower shines.
Some of the images referred to in this poem are the scorching yet welcome sun, afternoons walking through the dusty pathways of the park, the orange blossoms, the slain bull who falls defeated but never weak, and what I interpret to be a reference to La Giralda tower in the last two lines of the poem, which you can see gleaming magnificently from anywhere in the city.
The elements of this poem describes Sevilla in such a beautiful way. I am so happy to have found this, maybe it will make leaving a little bit easier.
the jamón has been sliced!!! As you can see from the tag it is jamón serrano which is totally different from jamón ibérico. The difference lies in the way the jamón is cured, jamón serrano takes a bit longer! The difference is also in the type of pig.
Cuca covers the sliced part with pieces of fat sliced from the leg so that it doesn’t dry out. I will miss the Spanish jamón very much, it is so good as a tapa or in bocadillos!
There is a leg of jamon in Cuca’s kitchen!
Seems gruesome, but you don’t understand how delicious the ham slices are, straight off the leg. Oh my little tapitas de jamon, I’m gonna miss you!
A big touch of holiday spirit in Sevilla
Tonight in Sevilla, the city centro was alighted with tons of festive Christmas lights for the first time this season. I had never seen the city so busy, or quite so beautiful. To me, it felt like the first night that there was actual wintery weather—fitting seeing as it is December 2nd. There was a severe chill in the air, everyone around was bundled up in some sort of jacket and scarf which was so unusual to see after months of dressing for Sevilla’s warm weather.
To clarify, Sevilla is always a busy city, bustling with families, couples and university students roaming the streets—no different from any other city, but tonight especially so. Everyone was out and about to see the lighting of the holiday display, probably on their way to share tapas and a drink, or on their way home from the shops where the Christmas sales have already started! There was a drum band of about thirty men and women playing on the corner of a very busy area, right near Plaza Nueva and a huge crowd was gathering to watch and listen to them—rightly so, for they were incredibly good.
Sevilla, aunque me voy a los Estados Unidos en solo dos semanas, “no me ha dejado” nunca. (“No me ha dejado” is the motto and talisman of Sevilla (NO8DO), meaning She [Sevilla] has not left me)
GRANADA
The second stop on our weekend trip was to the old city of Granada and home to La Alhambra which is an ancient palace and fortress built during the 14th century. We reached Granada around 6PM and checked into our accomodations, a beautiful hotel called Hotel Melia.
After a short rest to refresh, I went out with three of my friends to get some drinks and experience the free tapas that Granada is well-known for. At any restaurant if you order a drink (other than water) they will bring you a serving of tapas, gratis, to enjoy with your drink. The more drinks you order, the better the tapa is each time. We went into a bar/restauraunt called Taberna Nueva (located in Granada’s Plaza Nueva) and ordered sangría all around. The waiter delivered us a bowl of olives, and a plate of charcuterie meats with jamón ibérico, and two kinds of chorizo and some pieces of baguette. With our second round of drinks, he brought slices of baguettes topped with mini Spanish tortillas (also known as omelettes) filled with ham and cheese). We also ordered some tapas on the side of the gratis ones, enjoying some manchego and goat cheeses, and some jamón y pollo croquetas (ham and chicken croquettes). Then it was time to meet up with the ISA group and go see a flamenco show!
We trekked up a hill in the gypsy quarter to a little restaurant called Los Tarantos, which had two rooms—one was the restaurant and bar and one was a cave painted in white and decorated with old photographs and copper cookware. This is where we watched the flamenco show—there were about 6 dancers in total over the course of the show, two singers and two guitarists. Some of the dancers were better than others, although they were all very good. The only thing I did not like about it was that they simply did not look happy to be there. Although flamenco is a very serious art, their looks weren’t those of concentration instead almost boredom and irritation that they had to put on a show for us. Additionally one of the ladies got very mad that some people were video recording snippets of the dancing, even though we had never been told we were not allowed to. After the show we went further up the hill to a viewpoint also in the gypsy quarter (Albaycin) called Mirador de San Nicolás. There we had a beautiful view of La Alhambra, lit up because it was late in the night.
The next day we arose early, had breakfast in the hotel and went to get on our bus to be taken up the hill to La Alhambra. The literal translation of La Alhambra means “the red fortress,” an indication of the tierra rojo (red clay or land) surrounding it. With our tour guide, we were able to view the winter palace or the Palacio Nazaries (Palace of the Nasrids). Within it we saw the Sala de Embajadores or the Hall of the Ambassadors, where Columbus received permission from Isabel and Ferdinand to explore the New World. We also viewed the Sala de los Abencerrajes or the Hall of the Abencerrages where you can see a fantastic dome made of stucco stalactcites or honeycombs. The last stop in the Palacio Nazaries was viewing Washington Irving’s chambers, the room in which he stayed when he stayed at La Alhambra in 1829, and where he wrote Tales of the Alhambra.
Then we toured the Palacio Generalife/Gineralife or “the Garden of the Architect,” which was the summer palace of the Nasrid Kings in Granada. Walking through the gardens we passed the Patio de la Acequia (Watergarden courtyard) that had beautiful fountains and flowers spilling over the walls and planted on either side of the fountain pool. From the Generalife we had some beautiful views of the rest of the Alhambra and also of the city of Granada. It was an incredibly peaceful place to be, with cool climate and lots of sun.
After the tour was over, we walked as a group down the hill which was a pretty steep downhill decline but it was through a paved path in the forest so it wasn’t too hot. For lunch, I had kebab with a friend (Granada is known for kebabs as well) and it was absolutely delicious and a nice change from the Spanish food I am used to eating. Then we shopped around in the souvenir stores were I picked up a few gifts and things for myself. Then, on the way back to the bus stop to leave we stopped in at a pastry shop called El Rey Fernando where I had a pastel especial (special cake) that had a thin spongecake base, with some sort of chocolate hazelnut mousse whipping on top, topped by a thin wafer of solid chocolate and nuts. IT WAS DELICIOUS. All in all, it was a fantastic trip and weekend, although I do wish we had more time to spend in Granada. I would definitely like to return there some day!
CORDOBA
Here are a few photos from Córdoba, the first stop on my weekend trip! It was a beautiful clear day, and the weather was slightly chillier than it is in Sevilla but I didn’t mind—it felt more appropriate for being the day after Thanksgiving! It was about a 2-2.5 hour bus ride from Sevilla.
Córdoba is a very old city in Al-Andalus (Arabic for the Iberian Peninsula). We visited the Mezquita-Catedral de Córdoba, which was originally a pagan temple. Then it was built upon and used by the Visigoths as a Christian church, thereafter it was divided between the Christians and Muslims. Then the Moors converted part of it into a mosque, building 856 columns that line and row the interior space, using architectural pieces left behind by the Romans. There is also an ampitheatre called the Mérida. After the Spanish Reconquista the mosque was essentially converted back into a Catholic structure when a cathedral was built in the center of the mosque. This was probably my favorite cathedral that I’ve seen in Spain, because the pillars are so awesome and the history of the structure is so broad.
After the Cathedral we walked around the town a little bit, through the old Jewish quarter and down Calleja de las Flores, a touristy street with many tapas restaurants, souvenir shops, and many flower pots hanging from the walls. The shops had a beautiful assortment of hand-painted ceramics! I went for lunch with some friends at a restaurant called Los Patios (it was also a hotel) and afterwards we shopped a little bit and then went to sit on the outer walls of the cathedral-mosque to enjoy the weather and wait for our group to leave.
I visited Paris for the second time in my life this weekend and stayed with la famille Raymond- Nathalie and Roger and their daughters Blandine and Marjorie. They so graciously welcomed us to their home and allowed us to spend a perfect weekend in beautiful Paris!
We had an early flight out of Sevilla, departing around 7am so we woke up around 5am and had called the night before for a taxi to collect us. We already printed our boarding passes and had no luggage to check, so we went straight to security. Unfortunately, they confiscated my pocket knife—I had completely forgotten it was in my purse! We boarded the plane and took off right on time with a “Vamonos!” (Let’s go!) from the pilot just before leaving the ground. Announcements on the plane were made in Spanish, French and English; however the stewardess’ English was nearly unintelligible, so I made do with interpreting her Spanish!
Upon arriving in Paris, we could see that it was a very foggy day! In fact, as I was looking out the window and wondering how we could even land in such view-obstructing weather, we touched down on the ground! From the subsequent murmurs of other passengers on the plane, I think everyone had the same thoughts as I had, but at least we had landed safely! Nathalie and Blandine met us at the airport, and we drove back to their home in Chatillon in Blandine’s cool car, a new ivory-colored with green and red stripes, Fiat! It is small but very comfortable and adorable. I love it! We were greeted at home by Roger and Marjorie, and after a delicious breakfast of croissants (so buttery, so soft, so flaky!), tea and jam, we set off to the metro to visit Cimetière du Père-Lachaise.
Although the weather was overcast, I think it was the perfect setting to visit the cemetary! We studied the map at the entrance for some time to locate the grave sites of specific people—the cemetary is 109 acres large, and so it is absolutely necessary to know where you want to go or you could wander forever trying to find specific sites. We visited the gravesides of J.A.D. Ingres, Alfred Chopin, Jim Morrison, Pierre Bourdieu (a French sociologist), Moliere and La Fontaine. It is a beautiful place to visit, with winding pathways and many memorials both very old, and some new.
We returned to home to Chatillon for lunch, and what an interesting and delicious meal it was! For an appetizer we had foie-gras made by the house chef, Roger! I have never tasted it before, and I LOVE it! Then, the Raymonds have a machine called a Raclette, which is a heated pan with holders for trays where you place slices of cheese to melt. After your cheese is melted you remove your tray from the heater and pour the cheese out—we had potatoes and charcuterie with the cheese—it was divine! I am a cheese lover so this was a fantastic meal for me!!! After lunch, we visited Cathédrale Notre Dame. The last time I visited the cathedral it was during the day, so it was lovely to see it lit up at night. There was a service going on while we viewed the interior. Later in the evening, my roommate and travel companion, Rachel, and I went out to dinner and to a dance bar with Blandine and her friends Sonia and Margot. We went to the area called Saint-Michel which is right near Notre Dame, and to the Latin corner to a bar called Georges Bar. It was a wonderful day.
Saturday was our busiest day. We awoke around 8:30 to shower and have breakfast before departing the house. I was also able to play with the Raymond’s cat, Mogoli—he is very sweet and furry, and Nathalie showed me a trick that he does: if she asks him for a kiss, he will rise up on his hind legs and kiss and nuzzle her! So cute!! We left the house with Nath, Blandine and Marjorie, and took the metro into downtown Paris. Our first stop was Eglise de La Madeleine, from where you can see La Concorde. La Madeleine was originally a temple built by Napoleon as a memorial to his soldiers, but Louis the XVIII turned it into a church.
Afterwards, we went to Printemps on Boulevard Haussman to purchase some macarons from Laduree (a patisserie within the department store). The department store was decorated beautifully for the holidays with many glittering lights, and the window displays were very elaborate! Nathalie told me that each year they are designed and decorated for the holidays and for all the children to see! Then we went to Galeries Lafayettes, another department store to get some macarons from Pierre Herme, in order to compare the different types. The macarons are arranged so beautifully and look absolutely irresistible! I feel so lucky to have been able to sample them! Afterwards, we proceeded to view the exterior of Academie Nationale de Musique or the Opera House—it is a magnificent building decorated with the busts of many famous composers and musicians.
Then Blandine and Marjorie left us, and we grabbed a sandwich at bakery Paul for lunch before heading on to visit Musee du Louvre. We were lucky to not have to wait in line for long to get in to the museum, and spent about 3 or so hours once inside. It is such a large museum with so much to see, it was a bit difficult figuring out which was the best method to get around to view everything that we wanted: we saw the Antique Iran collection, 19th century French paintings, 15th and 16th century German collection, Mona Lisa (La Joconde, Da Vinci) , the Wedding Feast at Cana (Veronese), The Winged Victory of Samothrace sculpture, the Venus de Milo, The Dying Slave, Psyche and Cupide and much more!
After the Louvre, Nathalie brought us to see Comédie-Française Theatre, Theatre du Palais Royal (we wanted to look inside but a show was about to start, indicated by an alarm sounding, so we couldn’t), and we walked through the gardens of Palais Royal and viewed the exterior of the Palais. They are all fairly close to the Louvre, and on the way we saw some rollerbladers performing tricks in a plaza, and an impromptu outdoor concert of string musicians!
We returned home to Chatillon to rest and to share dinner with the family. Before dinner, Nathalie was preparing crepes that we would eat later for dessert. She showed me how to make them by pouring a thin layer of batter onto a special crepe pan (it was low and wide), swirl the batter until it is completely covering the pan, and then flip them when they are ready! With some practice, I think I would like to make crepes all the time! For dinner, we had a delicious meal of butternut squash soup, lentils and vegetables, and sausage that had been steamed within the lentils. For dessert, we had macarons and crepes with nutella and marmalade. The macarons were divine, and the flavors were very extensive. I had a praline flavored one, and a creme brûlée flavored one, but there were flavors such as caramel with salt, cassis violet, pistachio, coffee, chocolate, rose petal, and even some that had two flavors within one macaron cookie.
After dinner we went with the family to the Champs-Elysées and to the Arc de Triomphe. The Champs-Elysées was beautifully lit at night, with sparkly pieces hanging from the trees, and French flags on all lamp posts. There were many people out both tourists and French people, though it was a chilly night. We saw the Louis Vuitton headquarter store, and when we were leaving we saw a line snaking around doubly-so of people lined up for the Cabaret. Again, the last time I had seen these sights was during the day, so it was lovely to see the Arc de Triomphe lit up at night.
We saved the best for last. On our last day in Paris, we went to neighborhood of Montmartre (the highest point in the city) to see the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur. C’est magnifique!! The clear blue skies made for a perfect backdrop to the beautiful white domes of the church. Many people were sitting on the steps of the church and the steps of the hill of Montmartre, just viewing the city and even some were taking naps, enjoying the sun. The town of Montmartre is very quaint, and the center square is filled with artists who paint passing tourists and Paris scenery. There are many souvenir shops, I picked up a few postcards to keep, and also little cafés and a museum of Dalí’s work. I loved the town and would like to go back there to explore it more sometime.
Afterwards, we enjoyed a picnic of baguette sandwiches with ham and Camembert cheese, in the gardens of Luxembourg Palace. It was a chilly afternoon but at least the sun was out—I especially liked seeing the chrysanthemums spilling out of their flower pots, in colors orange, yellow and magenta.
Then we proceeded to our last stop of the trip, Le Tour Eiffel (also known as “The Iron Lady”)! Nathalie told me that the open space through the center of the tower that is seen when standing directly beneath it has been commissioned to have a glass floor built across it, so that visitors may walk across from one side of the tower to the other, and be able to look down at the ground way below! We climbed 668 stairs in total, stopping at the first floor and then the second. The views were magnificent!!!!! Thankfully it was a clear day, and we were able to see for miles, everything from the Seine River, to Sacré-Cœur to Les Invalides and Montparnasse. I feel so lucky to have been able spend such an amazing weekend in Paris with such a hospitable family—I really enjoyed my visit and cannot wait to return to Paris again someday soon!
I took around 585 pictures over the weekend. You can view the rest of them on my Facebook album. You do not need to have a Facebook account to see the photos, it is a public link!
Photos at:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2248277681778.2107731.1093260063&type=1&l=ce3bd34217
and
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2249107822531.2107741.1093260063&type=1&l=abefb3a286
After several days of cold and rain, today I woke up to “un día precioso” as Cuca put it, cool crisp weather with blues skies and sunshine. I went with some friends to the Metropol Parasol in the centro of Sevilla at Plaza de la Encarnación. It is the world’s largest wooden structure, and it was designed by Jurgen Mayor H. The site was originally supposed to be built as a parking garage. However, the city decided to make it a museum and tourist spot after finding archaeological findings upon digging— beneath floor of the structure are Roman ruins. The city held a competition to determine what would be the new structure that would help to update and socialize the area more. You can pay to enter the museum and Ruins and then go up to the roof of the parasol where there are great views of the city and a promenade with a restaurant.
