Sevilla
Plaza de España
Two blog posts in one day! I’m on a roll! Actually, more like I’m trying to catch up on things I’ve been putting off. I’m leaving for Glasgow, Scotland first thing tomorrow morning and I’ve been too busy lately to update my blog.
My birthday wasn’t the only fun thing that happened last week. On Friday my program had a day trip to Sevilla, about 3 hours away from Granada by bus. We left Granada at the crack of dawn, the only bad thing about the trip (well, that and the traffic we were stuck in on the ride back). I wasn’t too hopeful about the weather because it was raining in Granada when we left, but by the time we got to Sevilla it was sunny and warm.
Overall it was a perfect day. We went to the Plaza de America, Plaza de España (where scenes from one of the Star Wars movies was filmed), and the cathedral. The cathedral was incredible. It was actually built on the site of a former mosque so you can see the Arab architecture, particularly in the tower. I walked all the way up the tower and was out of breath by the time I got to the top.
We had a really good meal at a nice restaurant: fried calamari, salad, paella, and flan. And of course, vino. I don’t know if it was the wine, the sun, or a combination of both, but everyone was in a really good mood after lunch. We went to the Alcazar, a palace with Arab-inspired architecture (called Mudejar) that the royal family still stays in. It was a lot like the Alhambra with its gardens, fountains, and spacious rooms. I could easily live there year-round.
By the time we left the Alcazar it was almost time to get back on the bus to go home. Fortunately, we had time to relax at Starbucks, which I know was a highlight of the day for most of us. 
I won’t even talk about the bus ride back: let me just say that it was completely frustrating to sit in bumper-to-bumper traffic because of water that had flooded the road. What happened to Andalucia having a desert-like climate? Anyway, that was probably the only bump in the road (so to speak) of the day. I would definitely go back to Sevilla again.
I’ll be in Glasgow until Sunday afternoon… I’ll be writing about it and posting pictures when I get back!
