Getting Lost in the Rhythm of Espana

After consistently being on the move, Mitch & I decided to take it easy Thursday & Friday and tour Sevilla while also taking lots of time outs for our bodies. We were not sure if it was the food making us a little sick or just the heat but we definitely needed a day of relaxation! Everyday has reached at least 100 degrees! It did not hurt our feelings to take naps and sit under the shade as often as possible :)




We stayed right near the main Cathedral which is, according to a book we found, the third largest in the world. A lot of our sightseeing consisted of visiting the local churches, art galleries & parks. One of the best decisions we made was to see a flamenco show! It was fantastic! Probably one of the best local dance shows I have ever seen :) Also, drinking sangra & trying local tapas are always a must when in Spain, especially Seville. The local shops are great to ¨window shop¨ and yes, I am becoming an awesome window shopper! (it´s not that easy to shop when you are carrying it all on your back!)

Saturday was a designated daytrip for Granada! We took a train to the city & figured another hop-on hop-off bus would be a good way to see as much of the city as possible...and this one had great seats & great audio! Most of the day was spent in Alhambra, a former Sultan´s palace that represents famous Islamic architecture and the fusion of the area with Christianity. The view of Granada from Alhambra was breathtaking because there is a lot of mountainous terrain. The palace and buildings were incredible and there were too many gardens to count! Mitch & I literally took an hour break to read underneath the grapevine canopies and take in the scenery.

Now here is where it becomes even more of an authentic Euro Trip. Obviously, we are always on the move and often battling heat, dehydration & tired muscles. At this point, these things started to affect our decision making (ha!). While our tickets back to Sevilla were originally for after 8 pm, we thought we would jump on an earlier train. We both swear we read the train schedule correct, but a few minutes into the treck back I had a bad feeling; ask my mom, I texted her to make sure the family was alright because I was worried something was wrong! After a solid hour or so, I had a feeling we were not going in the right direction to Sevilla. After asking around the train (in only Spanish) where exactly we were going & talking to a supersweet family, we discovered we were in fact going in the opposite direction! Not only that, but there were no more trains in the night going back to Sevilla!

At this point, we just laughed & the helpful family informed us that the last stop on our train was a city called Almeria and there was a huge city-wide festival going on. With only our little backpack, we decided this would be an interesting (and possibly disasterous) experience. We decided to sit back & enjoy the scenery...and that is what made getting lost worth it! I have never seen such a beautiful landscape. Mitch & I both felt as if we were in a movie...the terrain reminded us of the Grand Canyon area.

When we arrived to the last stop (and booked our 6 am ticket for the next morning!) we realized we were going to miss our train the next day for Madrid as well! Again laughing it off, we decided to dare & find a hotel or hostel in the area. The hotel right across the street actually had a couple of rooms free & was an awesome sight for sore eyes...trust me ;) We quickly ventured out to the fiesta...the biggest carnival I have ever laid eyes on. It was so much fun to mix with the people (thousands of them) and take part in the fiesta...whose origin I will honestly have to research more! Luckily, we slept a lot on the 6 am train ride and were able to still catch a train to Madrid, though we had to pay for our train reservations again. Some people are sympathetic while others definitely are not. Sunday: Packing up our stuff in Sevilla, we endured a much better ride on a high speed train to Madrid.
Which leads us to now! We are in our hostel in Madrid & hanging out with a fun group of people as we speak. We are looking forward to dinner & going out before another day trip to Toledo tomorrow!

Hasta la vista!

-T