Nov 2005

17.10.05

Arrived in Cadiz like 3 in the afternoon. The first thing I noticed was the heat! Geez, if I thought Seville was cooking, Càdiz was boiling baby! It was at least 32 degrees, sunny and humid! I was taking my chances by not booking my accommodation ahead of time and I must have still been in Lady Luck’s good grace as I managed to secure a 4 mixed dorm accommodation for the night. After checking in, I was further elated to discover that I had the whole room to myself! What did I do first thing after dropping off that turtle shell? No points for guessing, that’s right, checking out that beach!!

This is going to sound shocking, rather than just walking on the beach like most tourists, this sports bunny had to go and overdo things hadn’t she. I'm sticking to the excuse that I needed to stretch my legs after the bus ride, hence the jog. As it was considered to be “cold” autumn season, there was hardly anyone on the beach except for me, a few seagulls and a few broad shouldered hunky surf babes. Of course as I was running past them, I did my best Baywatch impression, running and tossing my hair etc. It had the desired effect on the boys until, also living up to my famous reputation, I stepped on some soft sand and stumbled rather ungracefully and disgracefully, didn't fall though..but perhaps I should have, then I could have buried my head in the sand in shame! *grumble* The sands were not like white powder, but nevertheless, a welcome change to the city scene of Seville.

That night, I met up with some of the others staying at the hostel. The bunch of them were playing a card game called “dumbass” and they invited me to join in, (was I really that obvious?!) We had lots of fun that night since most of them already started drinking since 2pm. Everyone had problems with names, so soon, any attempts at recalling names were abandoned and instead, we dubbed each other by our countries of origin and so I was “Kiwi”, and there were “Aussie”, “Iowa”, “Cath” and “Kim”, “Miss Ireland” and “Guiness” (couple of really mad Irish ppl!) It’s quite rare I think when you have such a big group of people, each with their own distinctive personalities, coming from different countries and yet all able to become best of friends in one single night..really rewarding to feel like you are meeting old friends, rather than new. The night of merry making was not without its ill effect though, resulting in the birth of a hairless panda bear (black ring around the eyes) the next morning.

18.10.05

So this hairless panda bear trotted off to see Cadiz through half closed eyes, which of course looked completely shut for those not specially trained in detecting Chinese half closed eyes. Being more famous for its summer fiestas and beach paradise retreat, it came as no surprise for me that there would only be two places of special interest in the town itself, the local Cathedral and the Plaza de la Mina and Plaza Espana. The cathedral, built after the Christian’s reconquest of Spain in the 14th century, its special features include having a dome clad with gilded tiles and its majestic interior adorned with marble and coloured jaspers. Also climbed up the tower (surprise, surprise) and took great pictures of the city.

Plaza de la Mina and Plaza Espana are located side by side near the town’s port. Plaza Espana has the Monument of the Parliament, erected in early 19th century to commemorate Cadiz being the cradle of Spain’s liberal movement, first established here in 1812. Plaza de la Mina is a beautiful small garden, with hundreds of years old ficus trees providing much welcomed shade from the sun and this plaza is also home to Cadiz prodigal son, the famous composer, Manuel de Falla, and his tomb could be found in the crypt of the Cathedral. Believe it or not, only after such short tour of the city, I was already drenched in perspiration, so rushed back to the hostel for a quick shower, grabbed my turtle shell and off to the next destination, Granada!

The Cathedral, nestled in the heart of this sleepy town, surrounded by lazily swaying palm trees...ahhh paradise.

View of the Mediterranean from the top of the Cathedral.

View of the coast hugging town from the top.

The monument at Plaza de la Mina.

AO Rating of Càdiz: Although I only stayed one night, I saw what I wanted and it’s one of those sleepy costal towns where if all you want to do is catch some waves, chill read a book and collect the Miss Dumbass title (oh wait, that was just me), then Càdiz will be your ideal getaway!

19.10.05

I arrived late the night before from Càdiz and so nothing much to report except that I checked in safely into the hostel. It was interesting (and scary to a degree) to walk around trying to find your hostel and realised that it was on a very dark dingy looking street. As you knocked on the bare wooden door, wondering whether it would collapse with each knock, you would also ponder as to what kind of rat hole have you got yourself into this time booking an accommodation such as this. Then when the door’s opened, you would be blown away by the modernly designed courtyard welcoming you into this establishment. You would be further astonished by the cleanliness and the freshly painted interior of the hostel. Yes ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Spain. I’m however going to contradict myself now by saying this. By this stage also, I had come to realise that Spanish people take a lot of pride in their image, i.e it is important for them to present their best to the others, at least on the surface anyway. As such, everything must always look good externally. Fresh paint, bright colours on the buildings, on people, bold coloured and expensive clothing, perfect make up and leather shoes with shiny belt buckles.

Granada is probably famous for lots of things but once again, I was only spending two nights there and my main interest in visiting Granada would have to experience viewing Spain’s most famous Moorish fortress, the Alhambra! (All-harm-bra). If not the grandest, it was certainly the largest of them all. Not only was it the royal Palace to the Nasrid Sultans during the 13th century, it was also an Alcazaba (military stronghold), Medina (inner city) and the Generalife (royal agricultural estate), all rolled into one. In terms of actual size area, it was larger than the Versailles in France and my 6 hours walk and over 100 photos would be proof of what was required to truly appreciate this historical grandeur! It was such a popular tourist attraction that the authorities have to limit the number of visitors per day to 6,000. This meant that people are often advised to book their tickets at least 2 days in advance to be able to frequent this historical site. Ironically, I took my chance and simply walked up to the fortress half expecting to be turned away but to my delight, I was able to get in without being trapped in one of the many horror 8 hour queue stories you hear about with places such as this. Let me give you a brief guided tour with some of the pictures I have taken. Exhausted after my titanic excursion for the day, I spent a quiet evening relaxing at the Britz Hostel after another night of delicious tapas and checking of emails.

View of the Alhambra walls in the midst of green hills.

What was left of the castle's residential housing plan.

View of the Cathedral from one of the towers in Alhambra.

Alhambra's famous monument of the 5 dogs and the Moorish styled castle roofs. You'll have to wait until I get home for the rest of the stupendous photos!

20.10.05

Goodness me, today marked exactly one month since I have departed the shores of New Zealand to explore the treasures of Europe, past and present. Time indeed flew when one was having fun! As I had a long bus ride ahead of me to Madrid, the little time in the morning I had, I spent exploring the city’s Cathedral. Shamefully its history and information I omit due to the rush (ok,ok so I lost the pamphlet on the church, can’t hide anything from you guys!). But hopefully a case of picture speaks louder than words…

Ok, since you've already seen the outside of the church, here's the inside. This is a very elaboratedly gilded pew located at the main altar.

AO Rating: If there is anything you can’t miss when visiting Granada, certainly that would be the Alhambra, Indeed the fortress is so impressive it would cause all sorts of harm to not only your bras, but guarantee to get your knickers into a knot!

16.11.05

I was waiting at the Carmona central bus stop (not station, it’s a village remember?) waiting for the bus that would take me to Seville, which of course was my original first port of call in Spain. However, after being accidentally distracted by Carmona for 2 days, which then left me with only staying one night in Seville, which meant making the most of today.

So I arrived nice and early at the bust stop, around 9:30am but unfortunately, after waiting for almost an hour, the familiar city to village bus was still out of sight. As I was fighting my nagging worry that perhaps the bus driver decided on an early siesta, a lady arrived at the bus stop. She started talking to me in Spanish only of course to get blank and confused looks from me which did not in whatsoever way act as a deterrent to her enthusiastic and constant flow of chatters. Not long after she arrived, an older man, white hair, white beard and sunglasses ala Chips tv movie style appeared out of nowhere and began asking the lady something. She nodded fervently before turning to look enquiringly at me. I continue to perfect my blank confused looks at the two and eventually with lots of gesticulations and broken English from the man, I gathered he was offering to drive me and the lady to Seville for some money. Yes, like you, at this point, my spider sense was tingling all over with huge sirens ringing in my head..quick, say no my head commanded! Instead, I asked how much it would cost, the reply was same as what I would pay on the bus. In my defence, I want to say I did debate within myself for at least a full minute (ok, ok, 30 seconds..but ..that’s my final offer!) whether to accept his offer. On one hand, I reasoned that this lady and the guy could be scheming together in some secret Asian kidnapping syndicate, planning to sell me to the highest bidder in the black market. On the other hand, I was desperate to get to Seville to start my sightseeing, it was getting late and my faith in the public transportation in this part of Spain already diminished to an all time low..what was I to do?!

In the end, seeing another couple with a child nearby also waiting for us to join them made the decision for me. Nodding to the old guy, I put my bag in his ‘taxi’ (one of those 7 ppl movers) and soon to my relief, we sped off to Seville. My taking this high risk paid off as we got into Seville only 15 minutes later than when my originally intended bus was suppose to arrive. As you can see so far, things as I have planned could suddenly change at a drop of a hat, often requiring me to make a new plan or decision to accommodate the new circumstances of my travel and I must confess to be privately pleased about how I have been able to take these sudden changes of directions in my strides and managing to ‘go with the flow’, which I can assure you, is no small feat for control freak like me...SING IT..”donja wish your friends are tanned like me….donja wish your friends are freaks like me….donja…….dum da dum dad um…donja…” Sorry, I digress..

It took a bit of adjusting to getting back into the thick of a city scene after serenely strolling at a casually pace in Carmona. The first interesting sight that greeted me was when I was crossing the pedestrian crossing at a busy intersection in town. They have the usual ‘green man’ walking sign flashing when you’re suppose to cross..but in Seville, the greenman was also the action man, due to the timer placed on how long you have remaining before the man turns red. 15 seconds before the redman appeared, you see the green man starting to walk faster and by 10 seconds to go, he was slowly running but during the last 5 seconds countdown, you see Mr. Greenie doing a full sprint! Very entertaining..

I managed (this time) to book myself into a hostel gobsmackingly right in the centre of the city. A simple single room with a view of the busy street below. Interesting that even though the hostel was advertised in English and as an international hostel, none of the hostel staff speak any English, so once again, back to the good ol pointing, grunting and various facial expressions…I found muscles on my face I didn’t even know I could make twitch…ooooh, new party trick awaits you upon my return. Once the turtle shell had been dislodged, I was off to see my first Moorish influenced gothic church in Spain, the Catedral de Sevilla.

The Catedral was built by the Christians upon their reclaiming of Spain from the Moors in the 15th century and the old mosque was demolished and this church built. While politically defeated, the Moorish architectural influence remained potent as you can see from the pictures below. This cathedral definitely received my wow vote not only for its unique building style, but also for the granting of access to the top of its the skyscraping tower.

The insides of the church was equally impressive with the predominantly gothic style architecture and extensive use of gold gilding, high quality marbles and smooth and finely designed sculptures. To illustrate the gigantic size of this church, get this..there were at least 22 chapels not including the main altar and each of this chapel was at least a size of an average living room with high ceiling!

The piece de resistance of course was the long 428 step climb to the top of the tower, aka the 360 degree lookout point. Windy and long but certainly worth the effort as the view from the top simply picturesque and panoramic. Word of caution for those prone to stair-sickness. We advise you take caution (as well as a plastic bag) when ascending and descending.

The Cathedral de Sevilla and the magnificent Tower. Note the Moorish influence in its architecture.

View of the church from the tower's lookout point.

Enjoy the view of the city, just don't ask me to name that building with the beautiful dome.

Err, forgot to rotate this, so please rotate your head instead. This is one of the gilded altars in the church.

To date, I have met tens of Australians and only one Kiwi and while I was reflecting how there were fewer Kiwis travelling than I expected, I suddenly heard my name called which of course took me by surprise. I turned around and was even more flabbergasted to discover that it was Natalie and Ian, two friends I met 10 years ago in Christchurch when I first arrived in NZ and had not seen for literally 9 years, when they left Christchurch to go to London to do their Overseas Experience! Talking about a blast from the past! So there we were, 3 kiwis, shouting and screaming, group hugging one another and believe me, we were very very short of performing an impromptu haka! What an unbelievably small world, to meet friends you have lost touch with for the past 9 years, not in NZ but on a tower in Spain! Crazy!!

After spending a good amount of time catching up with my friends, I said my goodbyes to them and the church and head off to the next destination. Next to the Cathedral was the Garden of Murilo which is a big recreation park located at the heart of this city. It was a relaxing afternoon stroll through series of palm and timber trees, strategically planted to create a garden reminiscence of the Moorish Sultan’s palace garden of the 12th century. Soon after, I arrived at another of this city’s well known landmark, the Plaza Espana. I must concede my ignorance as to information regarding this beautiful square as I arrived there late in the evening where everything was shut and I was leaving the next morning, so I did not have much of a chance to find out what it was, but as you can see from the pictures taken, it is truly an impressive Moorish architecture with detailed and well selected use of ceramic tiles for the exterior of the walls of the building. Truly amazing.

Garden of Murilo with its colourful ceramic tiled seats

Tada!! Plaza de Espana!

On the bridge at the front of the main building.

One of the building's Moorish design towers, simply stunning!

During my stay in Seville, I met Robert Kaesmacher, a German psychologist based in Almeria (another southern coastal town of Spain) who was also on holiday in Seville. His surname meant Cheesemaker, while he may or may not have inherited his ancestor’s trade, he definitely was a charming man and with his help in Spanish, I manage to learn a lot more about the city and how ask for important things in Spain, like “Donde Asseo?” and “Uno café con leche perfavor!”, respectively “where’s the toilet” and “a cup of coffee (with milk) please!” Also helpful to learn is the phrase “Luciento!” which is sorry and believe me, it gets you out of every imaginable miscommunication problem with the locals!

Robert took me to a typical café the next morning to sample a typical Spanish breakfast which incidentally, he explained, are not big breakfast eaters. So often it’s a steaming cup of coffee with either sweet pastries like chocolate croissants or a plain bun or a bun with cheese and ham for the Latinos and Latinas with bigger appetites. Then we said goodbyes and I hopped on the bus to experience my first coastal Spanish town, Càdiz!

AO Rating of Seville: A pity I only had one night in Seville but certainly impressed with what I saw of this capital of Andulusia. Best thing, the hot humid weather (in late autumn!). Worst thing: Perhaps lack of tourist friendly signs and descriptions on monuments, places and things. Hasta pronto! (See you soon!)