The weekend we paid €18 for churros and chocolate!

This weekend I went on my last trip whilst I am here in Spain and spent a few days in Seville with Erin during the last weekend of the main festival there- Feria de Abril.  We stayed in a hostel right near the Cathedral which was really nice, comfortable rooms and nice staff which is always good!  After 3 and a bit hours on a bus I was finally in Seville and met up with Erin when she arrived from Barcelona.  Not really knowing where we were going but heading roughly in the direction of the cathedral we set off, typically we had gone the wrong way only to have to turn round and go back the way we had just came!  We did however eventually reach the hostel and drop off our bags in time for a wander round the city.  In the evening we went to a Flamenco show at the Flamenco Museum which was really good, and well worth the €14 euros we paid for it as there were 2 dancers, a guitarist and a singer, I wasn't sure what I was going to think of it but it was really enjoyable.  After that we, in true Spanish style, went and had paella for dinner in a bar close to the hostel.

On Saturday we woke up to the sound of the rain, brilliant timing for the rain to arrive in Seville the weekend we were there, but as there was nothing we could do about it we just got on with it.  First up we went to the Alcazar, it is an old palace and parts of it are actually still in use, if you paid a bit more you could get a guided tour of these parts, but we had so much we wanted to fit into our day we didn't really have time to do that.  At times it really reminded me of the Alhambra here in Granada, but it was significantly cheaper to get in (€8.50 normally but €2 as students!) After this we went to the Cathedral, with another brilliant student discount, down from €8 to €3!  We were very impressed to have paid to do 2 things for the same amount as the full price entry to just one!  Once we'd seen the Cathedral we headed to the Bull Ring and booked ourselves in on a guided tour and museum visit (of course, student rate applied again meaning that for the 3 things we visited that day we paid under €10 in entry fees- brilliant!) After all of this it was just coming up to 2.30 and we were pretty hungry so stopped for lunch.  The starter was artichokes and ham, which I think would've been really nice, if it hadn't been soaked in so much olive all that it actually tasted like eating a plate of olives (which I really don't like....)  bit the fish we had afterwards more than made up for it.

A trip to Seville this weekend would not have been complete without a visit to the site of the Feria.  We really didn't know what we were expecting when we headed over the river to the site, luckily by now the rain had stopped and the sun was doing its best to shine through, giving us great weather for a wander around.  The feria site is full of tents called casetas that the people of Seville and the surrounding areas hire out for private parties for their friends and family.  There are also some public tents but not very many.  The feria is the opportunity for the locals to show off quite how much money they have with the size and decoration of their tent but most importantly by the clothes they are wearing.  Most people are dressed in traditional Andalcian style, with the woman in full flamenco dresses and the men with the old suits and hats.  There are also loads and loads of horses at the feria, some pulling carriages and some being ridden, clearly being used as an opportunity for people to show themselves and their families off to everyone else that is there.  Once we'd finished wandering round we decided to stop for chocolate and churros (these were actually called bunuelos, their bigger and doughier, but it's the same concept).  We sat down, got served very promptly and then once we had the food in front of us the waiter said "€18 euros por favor" we had no choice but to pay it but we couldn't believe our ears!  €18 for a bit of dough, sugar and hot chocolate!!!!  We couldn't even finish them all, we made a valiant attempt, we really did, but we were beaten and couldn't eat any more.  Once we'd got over that shock we started to head back to the hostel, via a trusty chino shop to purchase some shoes for €4 euros which are the most comfortable things I have worn in my life as my feet were slowly dying from the blisters my usually very comfortable sandles were giving me.  In the evening we practically had to swim to go out for some food and a drink, it had been hailing previously and was pouring with rain - when you're both wearing canvas-y shoes this is not a good thing!  That said we did have a nice selection of tapas at a bar a little off of the beaten tourist route.  When we got back to the hostel we spent quite some time drying out the shoes with a hairdryer before eventually going to bed- after everything we'd fitted into the day we were exhausted!

This morning we had time to waste as we had to be out of the hostel but my bus wasn't until 2.30 so we decided to pop into an exhibition at a building called the Archivo General de Indias where there are lots of maps and other things from the discovery of the Americas.  Seeing as it was fairly early in the morning and we'd not had the best nights sleep we didn't really make the most of this exhibition and ended up skim reading and looking at the maps and pictures because it was very in depth that our brains just weren't ready for it quite yet!  Other than that we spent our time wandering around, in and out of little tourist shops, drinking coffee and eating lunch before it was time to head off again!  We did happen to come across a little street market that was selling lots of old coins, stamps and other things including old postcards, they were all written and had been sent to people at one time or another, some of them were really interesting as they had Viva Franco! and Viva Espana! Stamped across them.  We could've looked through them for ages.


Now I'm back in Granada I am very glad that this is a puente weekend, because Tuesday is the 1st of May and therefore a festival day across Spain we also get Monday off as well because, lets face it, what is the point in going into work just for one day? Got to love Spain for that!  Hopefully I'll get some work done over the next couple of days, I certainly will if the weather stays as rubbish as it currently is because I won't want to be stepping outside!


This time next week my Mum, Dad and Nana should've landed in Malaga and be arriving in Granada!  I can't wait to see them, they are staying for a week over my Mums birthday and mine too.  I have classes on 4 of the days but only in the mornings so I should be able to spend plenty of time with them.  The scary thing is quite how fast the time has flown, once they leave I have just 2 weeks left of classes, including a visit from a friend from Lancaster and then 4 weeks of exams before it is all over a done with!