We left in a huge hurry. We forgot to do laundry, and I suppose everyone else in my building also forgot to do them. As we finally finished doing our laundry we were running late to get to the airport. We rushed to Termini (the main terminal) and took an express train straight to the airport. We had 1 hour left before the plane left without us. We got to the check-in counter but to our dismay the flight was overbooked and the lady said that we have to catch a flight the next day. We were not okay with that. Not at all. We fought to find any possible way to get on the flight. Finally the lady found a way to get us on the flight, and with fifteen minutes left to get to the plane we rushed through the security line.
The security line was probably the most frustrating. People just did not know how to put their belongings on the conveyer belt. They forgot to take off their jewelry and the metal detector kept on beeping. Most of these people were old farts and they just could not figure it out. So even though we took the "express" lane, it turned out that it wasn't even all that fast because of these senile grandmas. Miya and I decided to cut everyone and we threw our bags in and walked through the beeper. I was held up because I forgot to put my belt/iPhone/wallet in the conveyer belt and so I told Miya to go ahead to the plane and tell them to wait for me. We had 5 minutes left.
I got my belongings, and holding my belt, bag, and my falling pants I booked it to the flight. I looked ridiculous, especially with my ass hanging out and running like a mad man.
However, everything started to settle into place. We had a layover in Madrid, at some McD's and finally arrived at Seville.
Seville was awesome. Let me say that the weather was SO nice. High 70s, low 80s. Rome was still rainy and being a little bitch so it was a nice transition. The culture in Seville is like none other. We arrived during Semana Santa, which is Holy Week. There are over 50 churches, each with one or two specific types of brotherhoods and they would dress up in what seems like KKK outfits and march around the entire city. Behind them would be a float depicting a religious scene from the Bible. Much of it had to do with the final hours of Jesus' life, and of course His resurrection. Behind the processions was usually a marching band. Their job was to keep a steady pace, for the processions (floats) were being moved by men carrying it on their backs. That was the intense part, having to have a huge float on your back and marching around the city. Some processions lasted from 2am to 2:30pm. That is a LONG time. Although people do switch and replace each other, it is still quite a tiring job. Meanwhile, thousands of people gathered to see the processions. Most of them were Spaniards, and to my surprise not many Americans were there. I think they were mostly out getting drunk, like what most Americans do nowadays.
I got to visit my really good friend Val. We grew up together at church. Although she hated me for the longest time, she finally figured out how awesome I was and our friendship grew strong nearing the middle of high school. It was great seeing her and she gave us a wonderful tour of little spots of Seville that Miya and I would have never been able to see or get to.
Miya and I tried to get to a Flamenco show... we went into this really hot and musky room, packed with lots of people. Many were Americans. I really enjoyed the Flamenco show, it was very flashy and mesmerizing, but Miya said that it wasn't very good and that there are much better ones that we could have seen. the down side was that many were expensive shows, while this one that we went to was free.
The food in Seville is amazing. Because they are quite near the ocean, and a really big river (forgot its name) actually supports some sort of marine life and thus their seafood was great (unlike the Tiber river back in Rome, which is home to shit and trash). One of my favorite dishes was called the Paella-- risotto (rice) with a blend of different types of seafood. Mmmm yum.
We left Seville indenting to come back again. We have 3 more things we have to do in Seville.
1. Go up the bell tower. We were so pressed on time and the line to get in the Cathedral was always too long that usually a procession near us caught our attention. We still need to go up the bell tower so we can see all of Seville.
2. Go to a better Flamenco bar and watch a legit Flamenco dance. I thought the free one was really cool, but if Miya and Val say its not that good, then a paid performance would be even better.
3. Drink Aqua De Seville: An alcoholic beverage that looks really interesting. Translated it means Water of Seville, but obviously it is not water. We wanted to try it out but the only time to get it was at night, and that's usually when Miya and I were too full from tapas, too tired, or out following a procession.
I guess the only downside was that Seville was too expensive for my taste, but because a lot of people from all over were coming to Semana Santa, I don't blame them for raising up the prices. I also suck at spanish, and I ended up speaking Italian to them, even when I couldn't help myself, it just popped out. Weird. I did miss speaking Italian though.
picture 1: Tapa Bar
picture 2: Seafood Paella
picture 3: Us at the Alcazar
picture 4: Hooded creatures
picture 5: A procession
