Ronda y Sevilla

Here in Spain, or at least with IES, Fridays equal no classes. This weekend we used the extended weekend for a group trip to Ronda and Sevilla. After a 2.5 hour bus ride we arrived in Ronda where we were spending the afternoon. Like many towns in Spain, the streets are all cobblestone, with tiny little sidewalks on either side, if there are sidewalks at all. We spent the afternoon walking around learning about the area, taking photos of the gorgeous scenery, seeing the bullring and checking out some Arab baths. By trying to ask the guide why the matadors wear pink stockings/socks, I actually ended up asking why the bulls wore pink socks. As you can imagine, she was a little confused until I realized my mistake and corrected it.

Posing with one of the voluptuous sculptures with Ronda's landscape in the background

We continued on to Seville where we were all quite shocked by the idea of paying for tapas (we're quite spoiled here in Granada), and everything was a bit more expensive in general. We saw a flamenco show that was really fun, but I enjoyed the show I had seen in Granada more. The dancers were less personable with the audience here in Seville than they were at the restaurant in Granada. Many people went out after the show but I was exhausted, and knowing that there was only more walking and sightseeing tomorrow, I returned to the hotel happy to climb into bed and sleep.

The flamenco dancers

On Saturday we had a full day's worth of sightseeing. We first went to the Los Reales Alcázares y Jardines which was gorgeous. The gardens seemed never-ending with walkways the went off in every direction. There was even a maze made out of bushes, which we of course spent more time in than we should have and when we exited the maze no one from our group was there. We found out that the group had left the palace and continued out onto the streets of Seville not even knowing we weren't there. About 15-20 minutes later, we found the exit in time to find out that we had about an hour of free time for lunch. It was great we didn't miss anything, but a head count would have been nice, but all was well so life went on.

Hiding in the maze

We then saw the cathedral, which was huge, being the third largest in Europe (thanks Celia for that info!). We climbed to the top of the tower of the cathedral and were able to get some great views.

Partway up to the top of the Cathedral

Returning to the hotel we had some free time which was filled with a game of Egyptian Rat Screw and a slice of mediocre cheesecake. We then had the choice of going to an art museum or for a bike ride. Unable to imagine more sightseeing/education I chose the bike ride.

Seville has a bikeshare program kind of like the carshares that are starting to catch on in some cities. All over the city there are stations where, for a small fee, you can take a bike, ride it for however long you want and return it to any station where there is an open spot for the bike. What a cool idea! Since we had a large group, and we had to use our credit cards in the finicky machine one by one, we broke into two groups and went to 2 different locations to rent the bikes. It took a little time to get everyone bikes but once we all had one it was so nice to cycle around the city. Seville is definitely a bike-friendly place with lots of bike paths. We went to a park and explored a bit on the bikes, seeing an ENORMOUS building which to our dismay is empty and just kind of taking up space. It was built in 1992 for the World's Fair that took place in Seville and ever since has just been sitting empty. We got back just in time to get on the bus and head home. I fell asleep pretty quickly and woke up the next day to a nice pile of homework, quickly declared a Sweatpants Sunday, and got to work.