Day 80: Exploring Sevilla and Meeting Carlos y Julia

 Day 80: Exploring Sevilla, and Meeting Carlos y Julia

Word of the day: ветчина [vetchina] ham

Day 80, the 1st of July! To start off the day we bought half a wheel of Boffard cheese per Alfonso's request. It is ironic because he is lactose intolerant yet still requests cheese from Spain. I guess that as a Spaniard there are some things that are impossible to give up. I do not blame him though because I am a huge cheese lover myself. A true Wisconsin cheesehead at heart.

Now that I have talked probably too long about cheese, I will move on to the more exciting part of our day. Max and I met up with Carlos and Julia, Max's aunt and uncle, to walk around the streets of Sevilla and eat some amazing food. Take a look...

Love locks attached to the bridge. 

(From Left) Carlos, Julia, Max, Me 

Oranges!

The Seville Cathedral. It is the largest Gothic cathedral in the world! It was really neat to see it because at the time I was studying about different historical architectural designs in one of my classes. It was a true hands-on learning experience :)

It's Magic! 

This is known as the royal Alcazar. "Alcazar is a Spanish word, synonym of fortified castle. Actually, it comes from the Arabic word al gasr that means palace or fortress. Many cities in Spain still use Alcazar to name an ancient Muslim palace or royal residence from the time of the Moorish invasion" (http://www.seville-traveller.com/alcazar-seville.html). It is interesting to see the Arab influence in Spain. They occupied Spain for about 800 years. They first moved in when they won the battle of Guadalete against the Christians in 711 A.D.

Part of the royal Alcazar  

This is part of the palace.  

Some Roman ruins that they found within the walls. It was blocked off, but Max pulled himself up and snapped a few pictures. It is pretty neat to see!

Jamón Serrano (See picture caption below)

That there is probably one of my favorite foods: Jamón Serrano
It is so amazingly delicious and cannot be described because a simple description would not do it justice. So, although it costs a pretty penny to buy a leg of Jamón Serrano (from Spain of course), it is worth every penny. :) Trust me. If you cannot travel to Spain, try to get the best quality you can because there is honestly nothing like it.

After finishing a few tapas and feeling satisfied, well not completely (you are never satisfied with the amount of Jamón you are given haha), we continued our walk in search for more delicious food.

Calle de la muerte= Street of death!

This place was called Casa Blanca, or White House. We stopped here to eat some more and chat. This is what we ate...(some fried anchovies, olives...etc.)

The fried anchovies were amazing as well. I tried so many different types of food, it was quite the experience. I loved every minute of it. 

 After finishing our food, we walked with Carlos and Julia back towards their apartment. We eventually went our separate ways and Max and I continued to explore.

La Giralda: A place where Muslims prayed when they occupied Spain. The tower was later added to and converted into a bell tower. The Spanish have maintained a lot of the Arabic architecture throughout Spain and have added more to it over the years in order to modernize it a little bit. 

This is a hotel called Alfonso XII that was designed by Eugenio's (Alfonso's brother-in-law) grandfather. It was built for the world expo in 1929. Max says that it is probably one of the nicest hotels Seville. 

Our first day back in Seville went by quickly, but it was filled with good food and good company. I can easily say that I love Spain and would live there in a heartbeat.