Spainy Days

Aaaaand HOLA! Yipes it’s been a while since I’ve written on here. I’ll try not to do that again. Man, I don’t even know where to begin! I guess we’ll go chronologically? I’m going to do this in two parts. These actually take more than a little time to write! The gorgeous weather keeps me from the computer. Not to mention sometimes I have to reference my pictures to remember everything! Alrighty- part one commences now:

Since Barcelona, I’ve had some fun weekends in Spain. I went to the flamenco museum in Sevilla with my program interest group (the four cultures of Andalucia), which was fascinating. If you’re at all interested in the dance/art, this city, or my neighborhood Triana to be specific, is the best place on earth.

One early weekend in March, three friends and I went to Jerez, which literally means “sherry.” We toured the Tio Pepe winery and sampled some sherry- can’t say I’m a huge fan, but it’s alright. We were carted around on a little red train and saw the various steps in wining. They showed us massive barrels of wine that famous people have signed. Mostly Spaniards, but Steven Spielberg and Chelsea Clinton made the cut. There was one really funny thing about the tour that I thought was just odd. The tour guide shushed our group and said, “We have mice.” Um, huh? Apparently it’s a tradition at the Tio Pepe factory to keep a small bowl of wine out for the mice that live there. They have to climb this tiny ladder thing, and apparently only can access enough wine to make them “happy, but not drunk”- her words. I really couldn’t handle this- some of the tourists loved it- walked right up and took pictures. My friend Rozina and I had to step outside so as not to disturb the mice with our laughing. So weird. But a fun experience. We spent the rest of the day wandering Jerez and enjoying some tasty tapas. “Tasty tapas” is kind of redundant, no? Tapas rock. I’m bringing them stateside.

The following weekend, our program offered a daytrip to Cadiz, a coastal town on the Atlantic side, where I had gone for Carnaval in February. We started with tours of the city- a cathedral and some monuments, the usual. We got a break between sights and I had the best pastry I’ve ever had in my life. I’d cartwheel back there for another one of those. Our guide also bought some seafood from a street vendor for us all to try. Apparently it’s pretty much okay in Spain to buy a cup of baby crawfish and eat the dead things raw- just grab a handful! Eyeballs and feelers and all! But hey, don’t knock it ‘til you try it, right? Tasted kind of salty. Then in the early afternoon they let us off for free time the rest of the day. It was perfect timing. Right when we got to the beach to eat lunch, the sun came out! So we got to lay on the sand for a couple of hours and enjoy the sun. Apparently we were on the same beach at which Halle Berry emerges from the water in one of the James Bond movies. Cool? After the beach loveliness, my friends and I made our way to a cool market/festival thing. Good food, good music, cool stuff to buy. Great day.

Other than the fun of the weekdays and school (I don’t have to do much for my classes, I’ll admit, but I did have midterms to study for, so that was something), I prepped for Semana Santa. On March 24, I left for Italy! Next post will be a separate “Italian Special,” so I’m going to jump forward and throw my most recent weekend events into this entry: Matalascanas. Helluvanexperience.

In appreciation of the stunning weather Spain has finally blessed us with, my friends and I decided to go to the beach this weekend. Best. Idea. Ever.

My friends Danielle and Stephanie (who I stayed with in Barcelona and met up with in Florence) came to Sevilla for the weekend. After some lovely sightseeing on Friday (we went to the Alcazares- my favorite place in the city), we decided to join a group heading to Matalascanas, a beach near Huelva, Spain, about an hour away. We woke up and headed to the bus station to take the 11:00, for which all our friends had already bought tickets the day before. There was a very long line when we got there and we knew we wouldn’t make their bus. Somehow we were lucky- no idea. A driver came over and told us to come on to the busses and we could get on. Then we tried to buy tickets on the bus and they said we couldn’t! So we had to go to another bus, buy tickets there, then try to get back on the bus, but it was nearly full. Ahhh long story short (well, not really, sorry), we got just about the last seats on the same bus as our friends! Some people were pissed because we made it leave late, but hey- we all got to the beach!

Matalascanas is beautiful! We found a good sandy spot, slathered on the sunscreen, and enjoyed the day. Our group was about 20 people, and there was always something going on. Frisbee, football, cards, a drink or two, sunbathing, music, swimming. Seriously- what is better than that? After I soaked up enough heat and sun, I decided to make the venture to the water. Freeeezing. But then, not so bad. The surf was fantastic, and a few friends and I braved the waves. Dad, you’d be proud of my bodysurfing skills- I employed them well. Only once did I time the wave badly and got pounded on the bottom, but mostly it was fabulous! So we had a very fun, playful day at the beach, and headed to take the bus back at 7. Or so we thought.

Upon arriving at the bus station, we learned that, in fact, there was no 7:00 bus, and the last one had left at 6:00. Woops. A cab driver tried to offer us a ride back to Sevilla for 100 euro, but a few of us had other ideas. A clever Irish girl and her friends also missed the bus, so she organized another bus to come pick the group up for a fee. A good idea. For them. Five friends and I decided we might like another day at the beach. We said our goodbyes to the group (and I to Danielle and Steph- they had an early plane and plans with our friend that night), and then we set off on an adventure. Wandered the gorgeous town, saw most of the sunset, booked a four-star hotel, bought some groceries for dinner. The makings of a fine night. I haven’t been in a nice hotel in SO long! We all got great, hot showers, filled up on food, wandered down to the beach at night, checked out a local bar, and eventually piled into our beds. Woke up to a continental breakfast and a pretty fine pool/Jacuzzi situation. All this fun for, seriously, 16 euro a person. (And it would have cost us 13 to take the bus back!) We spent the day at the pool and beach and did get to take our bus back to Sevilla at 3. Not taking that group bus = best spontaneous decision ever.

Today I’m recovering from all the beach fun, letting my skin enjoy some shade, and, finally, writing this blog post. Will return with tales of Semana Santa in Italy in a couple of days. I’m anticipating needing something to do when it rains here- and sadly that is on the forecast this week. Ah well, I suppose that’s good. It’ll keep me from ditching class to go to the beach. Hasta pronto!