Saturday, June 27, 2009

Me Encanta Espana - Cadiz, Sevilla, Cordoba, y Granada (part 1)

I LOVE SPAIN!!!! 
I can't possibly recount everything that I did the past few days but I will try my hardest and might make this into multiple blog entries as things come to mind.
So we started out docking the ship in Cadiz, Spain.  That day we woke up and walked around Cadiz until about 6pm.  We walked through town, went into a Cathedral that had this cool echo-y part underground, and walked along this beach and out this path to some tower thing that was locked.  Ok I just realized how very specific that sounds but we need to keep in mind that I have gotten the equivalent of one night's sleep in the past 4 days.  Also, we went to sooooooooo many places that it was really hard to keep track.  I took pictures and videos of everything though and while I can't post them now (they are too much data for the free email), I will attempt to put them all online when I get home.  So what I didn't realize was how hard it is to adjust to Spain's eating habits.  They do a lot of tapas (like a snack) and eat lunch and dinner way later than we do.  So we tried to eat lunch at like 1.  We walked all over trying to find somewhere to eat (there was this protest going on where they were just blowing horns and whistles so we needed to eat somewhere away from that).  When we finally found a place and they told us to sit in this other area which we're pretty sure turned out to be another restaurant (the seating was all outside so it was hard to tell).  Then we sat there for like 30 min waiting for someone to come over and we finally got drinks.  We found a menu and after and hour found out that we can't order from that menu because it was only tapas time not lunch time.  So we tried to order tapas but whenever we would say something to the waiter (in English or Spanish) he would say "si" and run away.  So Alex finally got food but there wasn't much that looked good and we couldn't figure out how to order so Melanie and I got hungry and bought ice cream from the stand next to us.  Then we paid (they tried to charge us for extra stuff) and went somewhere else (during the over 2 hrs we sat there an SAS teacher and his family walked by, ate lunch, and came back so they told us where to go).  This other place was really good and the lady was really nice.  She was spoke some English and we spoke some Spanish and it was very relaxing.  We got the menu del dia (menu of the day) and sangria and just sat in the middle of the town.  Then we walked around a little more and got some souvenirs.
That night we went to the flamenco and bull fight.  This was a bloodless bull fight because it was a baby bull in training.  IT WAS SOOOOO CUTE.  Ok everyone really needs to watch this video when I post it when I get home because it is so funny.  The bull walks in and heads straight to the other exit and stands in front of the door waiting.  Then the guy basically chases the bull around the ring.  Eventually the bull attempts to go through the curtain thing but almost every time it would get halfway under and then stop.  I'm laughing just remembering it because it was so funny.  You just half to see it - it was so cute.  We also had some flamenco dancing with horses (they danced - it was cool) before that.  Then we went and had tapas and sangria (non alcoholic but this one table didn't realize that and they were taking other people's drinks so they could have more and more) and saw more flamenco dancing.  Then there was a break and then we all did some dancing (including the Macarena).
Ok, so I am going to unpack and get some work done and sleep.  We only have 3 days until Italy so there is a lot of work to get done.  I have 3 more days to talk about from Spain but there is so much information that I need a break :).  So later I will update about our Sevilla, Cordoba, and Granada trip.  But you should know that Spain is amazing and beautiful and everyone is so nice.
From Spain!!!!, Sharon

1 comment:

  1. yay shazy went to spain! did you use your spanish and make ms nelson proud?

    also when in italy look out for my fam, they're in naples and sicily
    -lauren

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