So now that our program has been in Sevilla for 1 month, but what feels like 3 or 4, I feel fairly comfortable walking around the city and seeing the sights, especially in our neck of the woods. As I mentioned in an earlier post, this city is huge, and a lot of it has remained unexplored by us, considering we all live basically in more or less of a line across the southern edge of the city. Luckily for us, a lot of the things to see are within this line. Today, Meagan and I took a walk, or in Spanish, dimos un paseo, on which we visited several of these places. For a map, look here. Our route:
A) Calle Mateos Gago, or rather, El Barrio de Santa Cruz en general. Mateos Gago is just the main street in Santa Cruz. At this point, I was by myself and just wandering. El Barrio de Santa Cruz, in case I haven't expounded before, is a tight, densely consolidated community (it's called the Jewish Quarter), full of pedestrian streets, little plazas, and restaurants and family-owned tourist shops. It's quite a fascinating place, and good to get lost in too. But today I made it all the way through one side and out the other! I was so impressed with myself.
B) La Plaza de Cuba, en Los Remedios, on the other side of the river. Once you cross the Bridge of San Telmo, you arrive at the Plaza de Cuba, a nice little roundabout that connects the neighborhoods of Triana, Los Remedios, and those on the other side (my side) of the river. I met Meagan on her street and then we walked together to our next destination:
C) The Bridge of Triana and the surrounding parks on the edge of the river, such as Los Jardines de Chapina. It's a nice place to sit and relax on the riverside, even if it is quite littered. On Sundays, though, evidently it is the place to be. We got there and it was so crowded! But it was still very nice.
D) Next place to go was to La Avenida de la Constitución, the main avenue that leads to El Centro, or downtown Sevilla. On this avenue, we got ice cream from a really big bakery/restaurant, and then went and sat on the steps of La Catedral to eat it. And let me tell you -- the ice cream/gelato/whatever it's called here is so good and so rich. I think I've been spoiled. American ice cream will never measure up (maybe).
E) Afterwards, we went and sat in La Puerta de Jerez, another plaza-type place with a very large fountain in the center. It's a nice place to sit when there aren't a lot of people -- and again, there were a lot of people today, probably because everything is closed on Sunday except for tapas bars and coffee shops, which are also usually full. So after we sat for a few minutes, we decided to continue our walk.
F) La Plaza de América, a magnificent open expanse at one end of El Parque de María Luisa. It's made up of several things: El Museo de Artes y Costumbres Populares (Museum of Popular Arts & Customs, which we are pretty sure is full of artifacts relating to the Moors or something like it -- we don't really know), El Museo Arqueológico (Archaeological Museum, which we haven't been too either), a fountain, and several areas where families can take their children to run around, be merry, and buy lots of sweets and balloons of cartoon characters, including SpongeBob and Dora the Explorer. It's a really cool place, and it makes me smile every time I'm there.
G) At this point today, Meagan had to depart. We were fairly close to the bridge which leads back across to where she lives, so we parted and I walked home through El Parque de María Luisa. The park is divided into two halves by La Avenida de Rodríguez Caso, a very wide avenue that I'm not sure cars are allowed on. Anyway, it's a very big park and this avenue is just one part of it. The convenient part of this street, though, is that it leads directly to...
H) La Plaza de España, which is one of my favorite locations. I'm sure I've talked about this before, but in case I haven't, La Plaza de España was built in 1929 (or rather, built for the year 1929) for a huge cultural Expo that was supposed to take place but didn't due to many things, namely The Great Depression. Anyway, they decided to keep it around, and now it is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Sevilla. I also like the fact that every time I'm over in that direction, I get to cross through it in order to get home. (I am so lucky.)
I) Alas, then it was time to go home. Home isn't too far from there, and I do enjoy the walk.
All in all, a successful day! That's what Sundays are for, right? Worship and rest. I haven't been able to go to any church services here yet; I need to ask my señora about Lutheran churches in the city. Although, I think it would be really cool to attend a mass in La Catedral, don't you think? Even though my señora says that their masses are too boring for her.
Classes start tomorrow (or at least, a couple of them): one university class and another class at the hybrid school. Let's hope it's not too difficult!
Nick
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