Day 54, A One-way Ticket to Sevilla, ¡por favor!

I’m on the train to Sevilla as I write this, and I love that it is a day train that I don’t have to sleep in and that it’s only a few hours between Granada and Sevilla.  We arrived at the train station in Granada much easier than we did at our hostel our first day there, and then it was time to wait.  One of my friends from the BYU Paris Study Abroad group pointed out the irony of the Parisians hurrying about with their busy lives, only to then pause and stop everything on the metro until they reached their stop, at which point they recommenced their hurrying and scurrying.  Well, I have certainly had my share of waiting and hurrying and waiting some more, whether in metro stations, airports, train stations, or bus stations.  And you’d think that I’d make good use of my time by reading or contemplating life.  But I usually just sit and wait, thinking of the next step required to proceed with my journey or observing my surroundings, watching people, the like…   I even brought Celestina with me, and have I finished it yet?  Nope; I’ve barely cracked it open.  However, I have used the time today to write what would’ve been last night’s blog post (the internet went kaput on me), I’ve used my Spanish and English to help a couple of Italian women who couldn’t communicate well with the Spanish monolingual ticket-checker, and I’ve enjoyed the scenery.  Actually, part of why I love road trips so much is that I can just sit and watch the landscape as it goes by and changes along the way. 

Further enhancing this train ride was the help I had putting my luggage up.  I first had to ask an American man to help with my fatty bag and he unenthusiastically but willingly agreed.  And then, later, when my backpack was cramping up the space for his and my legs and I decided to put it up also, I asked to get by this Spanish businessman who’d just mounted the train.  His response?  “¿Quieres que la suba?” (Do you want me to put it up?)  So freely and willingly offered.  Actually, I didn’t even really have the option to say no before he took it from my hands and deftly put it in place next to my fatty bag.  Schnikes, these people are wonderful!

***

Okay, so I did end up reading some of La Celestina.  And the American guy was nicer than I made him out to be.  He freely offered to help get my bag back down when we arrived at our destination in Sevilla.  And then, Ashlee and I had no sooner exited the train station than a woman approached us to ask if we were looking for a bus. Amazing!

Making it to our hostel was a story in and of itself, but it is one I won't bother describing here.  The important part is that, despite the 100 degree blistering sun, we made it safely.  We wandered a bit to find food and I tried something that the restaurant translated to "meat rolls."  Pretty tasty, and it came with some Spanish tortilla (an omelet).  Of course, we had to follow it up with gelato, but gelato and kebabs apparently do not abound here as they do in Granada, so we ended up looping around and walking by the Guadalquivir before sating our palates with delicious gelato.  I can now recommend leche merengada (milk with cinnamon) and turrón (toffee) to you.  Check out the monument that was right behind us:

Thirsty, we returned to the hostel, where Ashlee ended up doing randomness while I took an unplanned siesta.  We then went back out for an hour and, just when we thought to head back to the hostel, we spotted a sign advertising a free flamenco show.  Tonight!  Shoot, why not?  We found the location, wandered until starting time, and then realized we hadn't taken one thing into account: Latino time.  Yeah, the show that was supposed to start at 10pm started at 10:54pm.  And it was free to watch, yes, but we had to contribute to the establishment hosting the show.  Three euros for a peach drink.  And lots of waiting.  But at least now we can say we were out on a Friday night in Sevilla and watched a flamenco show.  I even took a pic and a few vids.  Maybe you'll see them one day.

Okay, here's one.  Sorry for the poor quality; it was the best I could do with where I was and with little lighting.  But you can kind of see her dancing and you can hear the singer and the guitar!

Sevilla is bigger and hotter than Granada, without so many accommodating benches and drinking fountains.  But it seems bright and bike riding-friendly.  And a horse and buggy route goes right under my window here at the hostel.  And we are located near a cathedral and other famous stuff.  We'll see how I feel about Sevilla on the whole on Sunday or Monday when I'll have spent more time here.