Sevilla, 3 cups of Starbucks

Thanksgiving weekend I went on another trip with my program, this time to Sevilla. It was a longer trip; we stayed 2 nights instead of only one like usual, and it was completely worth it! Sevilla is a very charming city, very authentically “Spanish”. Upon arrival I felt like I had entered into a different Spain than the one I was living in in Granada—one more modern but more traditional at the same time. How do I explain that? Well, one day I walked by a group of people carrying around a float practicing for the Christmas parade and the next day I counted a total of 4 Starbucks on a short bike-ride through the city.

Sevilla is the capital of Andalucía (southern Spain) and a city of great historical importance. The great, wide river Guadalquivir balanced out the narrowness of the winding streets which the city was built around. It was a nice change from Granada’s river, which is dried up most of the year! The architecture of all different decades, with styles from the Renaissance to Mudejar (English?), gives the city a romantic, dream-like atmosphere. It was like a dream just to be there, completely magical and beautiful full of history and life. (I would have to say, it has a better night-life than Granada!)

The first night we were there we didn't have time to do much but walk around the city and explore for a bit. However, once we found out there was a Starbucks in Sevilla, we couldn't resist the lure of that familiar smell even one night. I went there with a few friends as soon as we could manage to make it there, and we were satisfied with a fulfilling cup of our favorite American coffee drinks. :-)

excited about Starbucks!

Our first full day was filled with tours until mid-afternoon. What’s a weekend trip with ISA without at least 3 tours, right? They were really enjoyable, although very long. We toured the Cathedral (the 3rd largest in the world, and where Christopher Columbus is buried), the Alcázar (palace-fortress) and the Jewish quarter. We learned so much, but I probably don’t remember even half of it!

After the tours I went to an authentic Cuban restaurant with Angela and Jenna from my program. We were so excited since there are no ethnic restaurants of this type in Granada. And we were not disappointed one bit. The restaurant was full with people waiting to get in the whole time we were there, and we were the only Americans probably in the entire area around the restaurant. All of us ordered several different dishes for us all to share…bread with goat’s cheese and marmalade, fried yucca, fried plantains, and chicken masala (with cous cous). All of it was amazing and we left very full.

After lunch we took a stroll around the city, walked through the market full of hand-made nativity scenes (huge in Spain), did some shopping (H&M!) and then stopped at Starbucks! I know we’re in Spain and we should try to stay away from American things, take advantage of what Spain has to offer while we can…but nothing hits the spot in quite the same way as a good cup of Starbucks coffee. This one was, unfortunately, not as charming as the one I found in Barcelona. It seemed almost like it was out of place there, even though it was full of people. It was good, anyway.

That night we went to a free flamenco show in a hidden but packed bar in the heart of Sevilla. The bar was crowded with Spaniards and tourists alike; but in spite of the tourists, it felt authentically Spanish, which made the show more enjoyable.

We were at the show pretty late, but the next morning Jenna and I got up early to take a bike ride around the city on Sevilla's wonderful rent-a-bikes. We rented bikes from a kiosk stand and then were able to unlock one of our choice from the posts nearby. It took us about a half an hour just to find a ride-able bike! But after trying out several with the chain hanging half-way off, or with a flat tire, or with a broken tire, we were finally successful! We rode along the river until we got to the edge of town, turned around and went the other way up the river and then around through the city. This was one of my favorite things we did while in Sevilla--a nice way to relax while exploring the city at the same time. I wished I could have had more time there!

Jenna and I stopped at the skate park to take some pictures

on our bike ride.

Throughout the rest of the day we went on some more tours which aren't worth mentioning, until we made our final stop at a very unique Spanish restaurant, 100 motaditos. Motaditos are small sandwhiches with a variety of practially any type of Spanish food you could ever want (chorizo, ham, cheese, tortilla, tuna...). They even serve desert motaditos, small bread rolls with pieces of chocolate! We called it the "Spanish s'more" and it was almost just as good as an American s'more (but a baguette just isn't the same as a graham cracker!). It was a typical Spanish place, first of all, because there are no lines to order. Everyone crowds around the counter and kind of buts their way up to the front to put their order in in no particular order. (I've mastered the art of this Spanish system without lines.) Secondly, there are few tables in the restaurant, so most people are standing around eating, with their plates on a small counter on the wall. This seemed so very strange at first, but it's become something I'm used to now, and rather like.

Inside cien motaditos, the people crowded around the counter.

We ended our trip to Sevilla the same way we started it--with a trip to Starbucks! That made it our 3rd trip, and it was just as satisfying as the others. We're proud to be Americans...