Firstly, I must apologize for taking so long to get things posted!! The internet I had at the hotel was terrible and after multiple attempts I was relegated to waiting until I reached my hostel in Chipiona. 

However, here are my adventures, finally available for the world to admire ;-) 

 The center of the city (Sevilla) was maintained as a pretty historic area and if full of shops, it’s very geared towards tourists. It was a toasty day (35C – ha, gotta interpret it just like me) and so the cover was greatly appreciated.

 Some quaint streets in the city center

 Okay, so there’s this big beautiful cathedral in the middle of the city center and while we were there preparations were being made for a wedding. When we sauntered back by later we got to see the bride and groom come out (more pics on that later).

 And of course, what would a historic area be without the possibility of taking a hay powered vehicle among the old buildings. Great except they didn’t clean up after them too well sometimes and you had to watch your step when walking on those beautiful cobblestones :-p

 I wish I had noted the names of the buildings so I could say this is the doorway of“X” … but I didn’t so isn’t this a pretty random doorway? Haha, ah I’ll try to do better on that in the future.

 Nice historic looking building. Like always, I love the architecture. And where would a European building be without a couple vespas in the foreground ;-)

This doorway was quite fantastic. The design is super Moorish with the big arch and all the detail, but interestingly, it’s a church. The statues of the saints on the sides of the doorway show the influence the church felt from the Moorish roots in the region even after the people were conquered.

More awesome Spanish buildings in Sevilla. Ah, I’ve never been much for strolling but something about walking in the historic district just makes me feel like I have nowhere to get to and puts me into what they call the Sevilla stroll (seriously, I heard lots of people refer to the slow pace that the city natives keep as the Sevlla stroll – too funny!).

Went out to this little restaurant in the historic district with some friends I made at the hostel. 

Here’s a picture of the inside of the place 

¡Comida exelente! In Spain sharing is tradition. Everybody orders something that peaks their interest and then everybody shares (so the sizes are pretty little). Yeah, tasty but I seriously NEVER get full!!! Ah, I cannot express how annoying it is to order food with a group, pay my $7, and then have to swing by a little convenience shop and grab some fruit or milk or something to get me through to breakfast :-( this American appetite is killing me!

The main cathedral was stunning, I have several pictures following this one but seriously, they do it absolutely no justice. It’s a massive building that Costco could have fit inside… maybe more than once. 

Pardon the finger

Remember how I mentioned that wedding earlier, well here was the couple in their getaway car. So neat.

Ha! I got the name of this one, la Alcázar. It was a fort near the cathedral (or maybe part of it, I missed that aspect, trust me the thing is huge).

Terribly blury picture but I decided to use it because it shows the entrance to la Alcázar.

Another view of the cathedral.

I wish my iphone took better night pictures but here’s a view of the tiny streets we were walking down. Ah, I keep using this word but it fits, so quaint!

Such an amazing structure! Designed by Santiago Calatrava (I found out for sure that he did design the bridge that I showed earlier). Quite an ornate deal. It's called the Metrolpol parasol. It’s missing something though isn’t it?

Still amazing and still missing something.

There we go!!! A goofy American tourist = complete. ;-p

The hostel I stayed at in Sevilla was pretty incredible. Very nice and here’s a pic from the lobby looking up. Love the hanging plants.

In the same hostel this is the a view from the balcony to the street. Had a nice Bible time out there. I must be starting to look like a native though because I had a native college student holler up at me for directions. The answer, “no idea man, good luck though.”

Another pic from the balcony.

This is a pic of the inside of the hostel dorm. 14 beds, it was interesting. The guy in the foreground is Pierce, an Irish guy here in Spain for go to college for a year. 

Took this shot as I was heading to the hotel. I don’t was it is but it’s quite an exquisite building. 

Heading down to the Sevilla metro. Haha, they’re so proud of their creation that they even decorate it with images of the process. I heard that when they started to construct it they had plans for putting it all over the city but then started to run into a bunch of Roman ruins. They became pretty limited and thus the metro actually isn’t super helpful for getting around. Much better to take a tram.

More pics of the metro.

Ah, arrival at a new hostel in Sevilla. Why did I move? Why, I’m really bummed you asked because that’s a very embarrassing story. I could have sworn (but I wouldn’t have done so because we’re admonished not to ;-) that we were supposed to meet on Sunday at the hotel. Yeah, I showed up and the lady at the desk was like, umm, Monday bro and if you want to stay the night it’ll be 80 euros. Uhg, found a hostel real fast that had room and boogied over there. This picture makes it look a little run down but it was actually the nicest that I’ve stayed in. The lobby and the rest is beautiful. I have more pics after the following of my jaunt around Sevilla.

Lovely shot of the river from a bridge.

Haha, love the Spanish advertising. This says, “Hearing aides, there’s lots to hear”.

A bunch of pictures of Metropol parasol in the daylight.

It was weird how right next to this amazing structure was this thoroughly dilapidated building. The rest was pretty developed but this guy seemed pretty out of place. Nasty thing it was. 

Hahahaha, okay, this picture means nothing in of itself, but the friend that I was with walked up to the railing and both looked at each other and question the other concerning the scent of fireworks. And then we saw this group of boys putting firecrackers into a two liter bottle. To their right you can see a grating in the street and a moment before this picture was taken they dropped a cracker down there which went off with a dull thud. They all laughed, stood up and high-fived each other. Ah, brought back sweet memories of my childhood J

Love the streets here. Although this is one of the rare ones that isn’t cobblestone.

I finally had to get a picture of where people park their cars here. This picture doesn’t really do it justice but the “garages” were like little garden courtyards. Very elegant and quite a departure from what we think of in America as a place to park you car. 

Another awesome shot of the river from the bridge. In the distance you can see that leaning bridge designed by Calatrava. Ah, una hermosa ciudad con una puente fantástica.

As my newly acquired friend and I were walking back to the hostel we passed the building of the company that supplies Sevilla with electricity. Look at the walls of this place. Fancy!

Here’s another pic of the building. Kind of random to blog about I guess but seriously, it’s an electrical company that looks like a museum from the outside.

A very sweet skyscraper under construction.

Hahaha, okay, whoever named this car needs to be fired :-D. Maybe he could get on with Ford or something and continue to create such intellectually stimulating car names as the focus lol.

A pic from the river bank. Such a gorgeous place.

So this is a pic from the back my hostel’s lobby facing the front door. Aren’t these nice digs? I tell ya, I expected hostels to be a touch on the sketchy side but was pleasantly surprised, constantly.

Again, the hostel had an open atrium and this is a shot looking up.

This hostel also had a hot-tub on the roof and I promptly took it upon myself to test the water quality. They passed with flying colors ;-).

More pictures of the rooftop.

Yeeees! This boy isn’t going hungry again tonight. Again, it is so difficult to get full on the Spanish portions, so when I was walking back with my friend from touring the city I stopped by a “Chino store” (like a little 7-eleven, but they’re always run by Chinese and hence the name) and picked up some comida. Ah, fried rice and eggs with calamari, sooo good and filling!

Ah, this should have been posted earlier but this is a shot towards the atrium from the front door in the hostel.

Finally time to go to the hotel! This shot really doesn’t show much but I took it while sitting on the marble porch in front of the hotel. Really a nice place (four stars actually).

The lobby with another new found friend checking in. Named Max and from the East coast, he’s studied in Sevilla before so after we both showered he showed me some pretty sweet tapa bars (really just restaurants that serve painfully tiny but incredibly tasty plates of food). Hahaha, we went to one place and got two tapas between us and after we were done I was like, “yeah, I’m still pretty hungry. What say you to going to another place and ordering two more.” So we did just that… hunger still wasn’t slated to his disbelief. He kept asking, “you’re really still hungry? Man, I’ve never met anybody who eats as much food as you.” “It’s kind of a curse and a blessing at the same time,” I responded. 

The digs!!!

Okay, so when I got into the room none of the light switches worked. I was totally baffled and asked Max what was the deal before he hit the shower and he told me about this little box next to the door. They only give you one key and to turn on the lights you have to insert it as shown. I put my key in and BOOM, the room came alive! I think it’s an energy conservation thing, so that when you leave the room there’s no way to leave the lights on. That’s my theory anyway. 

A fancy schmancy bathroom.

My view from the room.

 Haha, okay, so that’s a tapa on the table behind me. Max is to the left of the picture but he bowed out of the pic claiming he’s not very photogenic, which is just a nice way of saying that he’s super vain ;-) Aw, we’ll give him a little credit because he’s a professional photographer and thus knows what good pics should look like. Fun guy to walk Sevilla with though.

Mostly eaten tapas.

Cured ham is huge here in Sevilla and you can see hanging pork legs in many of the shops.

The inside of the tram. So nice to get out of the heat.

So it’s about two in the afternoon and this cell phone shop and the one next to it are closed. Do you know what for? Siesta of course. All the commercial shops around the city close from 2-4 for siesta. Try getting that passed in America!!!

Bwahahahaha, sorry to end this posting on a crude note but I about died when I went into the bathroom and saw how efficient these Spanish are. Haha, I mean are you just going to sit there, why not talk on the phone :-DDD?