El viaje comienza: Sevilla and Ronda

This past weekend, I went on a field trip to Sevilla and Ronda. We had to be at the bus stop at 7:45 am, which is exactly where I wanted to be on Friday morning. Needless to say the bus was 45 minutes late :) Then we drove to Sevilla. We spent the day touring the cathedral and an Arabic palace. Pictures below. Then I took a nice 20 minute hot shower (definitely the best part of the entire trip!!!). Megan, Alex, and I then went to a cafe nearby and people watched. It is definitely a different culture. There are children all over the place and they stay out fairly late. Most of the kids were playing in street, while the parents enjoyed their dinner. Parents here seem to be much calmer and less concerned about safety. At 10 we went to a Flamenco show, which was absolutely amazing. At first I couldn't see the dancers' feet and the top half of their bodies didn't even seem to be moving, but I could hear their feet. However, when I stood up, I could see how quickly they were moving. Flamenco is similar to tap dancing paired with interpretive dancing. They also have one person who played an instrument that resembled a guitar and a person who sang/chanted. Then the next morning we got up and of course I took another long, wonderful shower! We then boarded the buses and headed to Ronda. It was the most beautiful place I have ever seen. The town is on top of a cliff and overlooks mountains and lush green fields. The town is separated by a narrow, but very deep valley. Therefore during Roman time, they built a bridge to connect the city. We spent some time exploring Ronda and the views from the entire city are absolutely breath-taking. I just kept thinking that it was so gorgeous that it was almost unreal. Then we went to a bull fighting stadium and learned a little about the spectacle (it is not considered a sport by the Spanish, but rather an event similar to going to the theater). Afterwards we walked down to the Arab baths. The created a system where a horse would walk in a circle and pull water up from the river. Then the water would stream down into the baths. They had a fire going to heat the water up and then had three different baths. The first was a hot bath (hot tub), the second was a steam room where people would receive massages or just sit in the steam, and then the third was a cold bath. It was interesting to see how advanced they were so long ago. Afterwards we headed back to Granada. On Saturday night I went out with a few friends (including a few Spaniards) and we went to a salsa bar. I did learn how to salsa!!! I am absolutely terrible, but it was a lot of fun.

Hasta Luego