Sevilla & La Tomatina

I had planned to go to Salamanca from Rota to couchsurf with some students there, but stopped in Sevilla for a night. I didn't finish getting checked into my hostel until about 4:30pm and set out on a whirlwind tour of the city for three or four hours. I went to the Palace of Alcazar, which dates back to the year 913. Hmmm... I wish I had grown up on a farm so I could estimate the acreage of the garden, but it was huge! These pictures only show a fraction.




My favorite thing in Sevilla was the Plaza de Espana. Even though it was under construction, I was still able to enjoy the tile mosaics. There is a tiled alcove representing each of the provinces of Spain. (If I had to guess, I'd say there are about 40.)



My hostel is Sevilla is part of the same group that my Greek hostel is in: "World Famous Hostels". After exploring the city, I went back to the hostel for Paella night. It was really good and now the only other major thing I need to find is authentic gazpahcho! I saw it in the store today, but I want to hold out for the real deal. I had an 11:30 train to Madrid the next morning, so I woke up and was the first one at the cathedral. It is the world's largest gothic cathedral and contains the tomb of Christopher Columbus. It also has a tower that you can go up and see the city from. I had the platform to myself because I was so early.




Some of the people I was hanging out with at the hostel mentioned that they were going to La Tomatina, the tomato fight in Buñol. I had completely forgotten about it! So I changed my plans and went from Sevilla to Madrid to Valencia. When I got there, it quickly became clear that there would be nowhere to stay. I knew people partied the whole night before the festival in Buñol, so I just headed there and met some people along the way. The outdoor clubs, etc the night before were fun, but I was really tired the next day. The actually fight doesn't start until after they blow a horn at 11 and squeeze five (European-sized) semi trucks into already jam-packed streets. I am glad I was able to experience and I can say I did it, but between being sleep-deprived, dehydrated, and not having goggles to protect my eyes, I ended up not enjoying it all that much. I kind of got stuck in the middle of the crowd and people are literally compressing from all sides for hours... to the point that it was hard to breathe.





I was so tired that I decided I didn't want to move around too much more and just wanted to go to Barcelona to see my friend Ashley from undergrad. So, long story short, I am here and it feels fantastic to have clean clothes and not have to lock my bag. Plus, I definitely took a "Hollywood shower" this morning... it was like 20 minutes. I finally feel clean after a few too many days of dirty clothes and sparse showers!