SPAIN!!!

We are now back on the ship on our way to Namibia and I need to put up my post for what we did when we were in Spain. So, I’m sorry for taking so long, but here it is. We were in Spain from Wednesday Jan 28 until Saturday Jan 31.

 

DAY 1

We docked in Cadiz, Spain at around 8am and a bunch of people and I proceeded to get on a train to Sevilla immediately after we were allowed off the ship. Spain’s train system is very nice and was very easy to use. The train was about 2 hours from Cadiz to Sevilla and only 10 Euros (about $12). When we got to Sevilla we checked into the hostel that one of the girls had booked for us on the ship. Being my first hostel experience, I had no idea what to compare it to, but I was extremely happy with it. The rooms all had two or three bunk beds in them, a bathroom, personal safes (like hotels), several computers with internet, and the people who worked there were all extremely nice and spoke great English. And the best part, it only cost about 13 Euros per person per night. After checking in, we went for a late lunch at around 2pm at a great restaurant near the hostel. We of course had a bunch of tapas, that were all amazing (possibly because it was our first meal not on the ship in 9 days). Having had tapas twice the week before we left for the Bahamas, I had something to compare them to. And without a doubt, everything we ate (patatas bravas, tortilla Espanola, queso manchego, calamares, …) was incomparably better than any tapas I’ve eaten before at home. After lunch I met up with my friend Jess, who is studying abroad in Sevilla, and the other SAS people I was with met up with friends they had also studying in Sevilla. We walked around a bit and went to the Real Alcazar, a humongous palace built in the 14^th century. After touring the palace for over an hour, which seemed to be endless, we sat at a café for some drinks before figuring out what we’d do for dinner. For dinner, at around 9:30ish, me and some girls from SAs went to a small, very local, tapas place recommended to us by our friends studying in Sevilla and had another great meal. After dinner, we went back to our hostel to change to go out. We went to an Irish Pub in the big square around the Cathedral for a little before going to a bar/club kind of place right next to it called Catedral (no “h”). It was very cool and mostly Americans, either studying abroad or on Semester at Sea. I saw two close friends from home as well as a bunch of people from Wisconsin studying in Sevilla. Our night ended relatively early (we got back to the hostel at around 3:45).

 

DAY 2

After waking up at around 10:00 and unsuccessfully trying to find a place to have breakfast (breakfast in Spain is over by 8am), we found a nice coffee shop with croissants and similar things. After sitting for a little, we took a long walk around Sevilla by the river, looking at their series of bridges (one of which was built by the architect of the Eiffel tower). Next to the river is Sevilla’s bullfighting ring, which we had the chance to take a tour of. It is the largest bullfighting ring in Spain and holds over 15,000 people. Next, we ate lunch at a large sandwich-kind of place. In Spain, sandwiches are called montaditos or bocadillos, and come in dozens of varieties and sizes. All the ones we tried were terrific. We had sangria with our lunch, which was also great. After lunch, we toured the Cathedral and La Giralda. The Cathedral, built in the 15^th century, is debated to be between the first and third largest in the world. Christopher Columbus is buried inside of it. It has a Giralda, which, after climbing a series of 34 ramps to the top of it, has an incredible view of all of Sevilla. (I have many pictures). When we finished at the Cathedral, we went back to the hostel and got ready to go to a football match (soccer…).  It was a very big quarter-final match between Sevilla and Valencia. After getting decked out in clearance FC Sevilla gear, we got tickets in the Sevilla “fan section”. In describing the game, let me begin by saying it was an experience unlike any other sporting event I have ever attended. The fans do not stop singing, screaming, and cheering for the entire game. As long as there are players playing on the field, their eyes do not for a second leave the field. Sevilla ended up winning the game 2-1 after scoring a goal with under two minutes left to play in the game. I have never seen fans of a team so happy and energetic after seeing their team win. We swear we saw an old man with tears after they scored the game winning goal. After the game, we had another wine and tapas-filled dinner that lasted a couple hours until about 1am (perfectly normal in Spain). After dinner, we went to another nightclub, this one extremely fancy. It had four floors, each with a different type of music. There were also much more Spanish young people in addition to the American students and Semester at Sea kids. It was a very cool experience and ended at around 4:30ish in the morning. 

 

DAY 3

We woke up at 11:30ish, checked out, had a quick coffee/pastry breakfast/lunch and went to the train station to get on a 2pm train back to Cadiz. Once we go back to Cadiz and dropped our stuff on the ship at around 4:30pm me and a couple guys went to find something to eat. We had churros con chocolate, possibly my favorite thing I had while in Spain. We each had a plate of small, sugared, fried churros accompanied with a cup of the thickest hot chocolate I’ve ever seen. It was delicious. After taking a couple hour siesta back on the ship, we went to dinner at a fairly fancy, primarily seafood, restaurant. We had a series of tapas, including calamares and baby squid, before having the best paella I’ve ever had. After dinner, we found a nice bar to hang out with pretty much the entire ship. It was cool seeing and being with everyone in an environment other than on the ship.

 

DAY 4

On Saturday (our final day in Spain) before having to be back on the ship by 6pm (they are VERY strict about being on the ship on-time, and for the first time in a while, not a single person was late), we walked around Cadiz and had a nice lunch. Cadiz is primarily a port city and is known for having the best seafood in Spain. Thus, like at our dinner before, we had calamares and more paella for lunch. After lunch, we found out that the pier by the ship had a good wifi connection, so a bunch of students brought their computers out to play around online (something that we’re not able to do on the ship without using up our precious minutes). It took me about a half hour to put up the 3 pictures on the blog, so I hope you enjoy them. 

 

I’ll have the post for what we did in Morocco up sometime tomorrow, but we had an absolutely incredible time. We spent the majority of our time in Marrakesh before coming back to Casablanca.