Today I decided to go shopping for shoes. All of the cobblestone on the roads and sidewalks have been hurting my feet, because I'm been wearing dinky sandals. So I decided to go try to find some comfortable, cute shoes. So I got up at 9A today and was out the door by 10A. (Last night I fell asleep at 3A, finally, which is better than 7A the night before. So I guess my sleeping schedule is becoming my normal, no?)
Anyway - so I left the apartment at 10A. When I walked outside, my landlord was actually there, and we had a long conversation about the apartment where I didn't have to say "Qué?" ("What?") once! It was very exciting to actually understand everything that someone said.
I decided to go back to El Corte Ingles to find shoes today, because it's an upscale/pricey place, and I didn't want to skimp on buying shoes, since I want to be comfortable. So I walked back to the same plaza that I was at yesterday, and quickly realized that everything is closed on Sundays. Everything, except for restaurants and some small touristy shops. So I decided to sit down at one of the restaurants there and decide what to do today.
My breakfast at a cervecería
Where I ate breakfast today, it's a cervecería, which means it's a brewery. Also that guy is my server.
When I was sitting at breakfast, I realized that a lot of the people around me were tourists. Some people sitting next to me were even speaking English! I kind of got the idea that on Sunday mornings, the native people here go to church, and I guess that's why I was mostly seeing tourists. And maybe that's also why none of the stores were open (just speculation, I'm sure I'll learn more in my Spanish culture class this semester). So I decided I'd just go for a walk today and buy shoes another day.
So I left the restaurant and headed south. So far, I've only explored the market-y areas of the city, I haven't seen any of the touristy areas. So I decided to head to some of the touristy spots.
I wound up walking for 4 hours. Below is a map of where I walked.
- A: The restaurant where I ate breakfast.
- B: La Plaza de Espana
- C: Prado de San Sebastian (subway (metro), train (tren), and bus (autobús) stations)
- D: The restaurant where I had lunch/drinks.
My route.
I saw a lot of cool stuff! I think I'll just upload pictures/videos to explain everything I saw.
La Plaza San Francisco
I asked a random guy who this statue was of, and he said it was of el Rey San Francisco (rey = king). I'm not sure who that was, but I bet I'll learn about it in my Spanish history course this semester.
Catedral de Santa Maria de la Sede (Seville Cathedral)
I ran into this cathedral kind of on accident today, but it was so cool! I think I'll need to read up on it and go back, because (as you'll see in the video I took) I didn't really know what I was looking at. But it was breathtaking, even so.
La Puerta del Bautismo - The Door of the Baptism. One of the entrances to the cathedral.
Details, above the doorway
Next to the doorway
Inside the cathedral
I asked someone and he said that there's actually a body there. He said it's Ferdinand Columbus, who is Christopher Columbus' second son. Christopher Columbus is also buried in this cathedral, but I wasn't able to see that today. I'll just have to go back :)
^ I attempt to explain the cathedral I was in. I was wrong, it's not actually a mosque now, but it used to be one (see wiki article above). Check it out :)
The outside of the cathedral.
The cathedral was really really cool, but I totally didn't know all of the history behind it and the significance of it (Christopher Columbus is buried there!). I'm really glad that I decided to take Spanish history this semester while I'm here. I think that'll help me to really appreciate the things that I see. I'll inevitably take another (or several more) trips to this cathedral while I'm here, and next time, I'll do more research so I'm better prepared.
Also, fun fact, parts of Star Wars were filmed here.
Details of some of the tiles in the plaza
Me!
Me again!
Random Other Pictures from my Walk (Streets, Gardens, Fountains, etc)
The train (tren).
Train tracks - and people just walk right over them! Quite different from the US.
Cute hostal I found. Who's coming to visit?
I explored some gardens (los jardines) today...
Some of these roads are much larger than the narrow ones near my apartment (mi piso)
Policía!
Details from fountain (above)
Gotta go see this.
One of the few shops open today, had a bunch of touristy stuff, like the t-shirts below.
I want one!
I had lunch at a bar called El Pelicano (literally means "The Pelican")
I decided to have two beers, a glass of wine, una ensalada tropical with lettuce, tomato, carrots, tuna, egg, pinapple, crab, and corn in it. And some random red sauce. I also had calamari, which came with those little yellow things, which I think were some form of potato. Delicious!
Finished it off with una tarta de chocolate (a chocolate cake/pastry). The cake was really good. It had pudding-type stuff, then a graham cracker-ish layer, and then had chocolate on top. I wish I could explain it better, but trust me, it was delicious! Had some tea with that, too.
In general, I had a really excellent day. It wasn't what I had expected (I thought I was going to just go shopping), but I'm glad I did it. It was amazing, every time I turned a corner, I felt like the city shocked me with something new. I was absolutely stunned when I was in la Catedral, and I didn't even know the history and significance behind it! I think that once I get into my classes (which start tomorrow :D), I'll be even more amazed by this city than I already have been.
I really love this city already. I love speaking Spanish, even though it's such a challenge. Today I felt more comfortable with talking to people, like going up to people and asking them to take my picture and asking random people what the significance of something was (like what the statue was in the plaza and what was buried in the cathedral). Today I went to the metro (subway) station to find out how to buy tickets for getting to school tomorrow, and I had to ask a nice (y guapo) security officer how to buy tickets, and even though he was explaining something new to me, I was able to understand everything he said and I feel confident that I'll get to school reasonably smoothly tomorrow. Even though I'm still struggling to speak, I already feel better than I was when I first got here, and I hope I continue to see improvements.
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