Where Is Joey Today?

Buenos Dias de Sevilla.

The streak is alive. From Marbella to Malaga...I missed the bus despite being there 15 minutes early. I was talking to a new student at Enforex (she left some CDs in a rental car in Malaga) and was at the bus station. I looked at my watch and saw I had two minutes before it departed so I said bye, and went outside. A woman told me it left 3 minutes earlier. My watch is a minute or two fast, the cell phone, her cell phone and the bus station all said the same thing.

Oh well, I took the non direct bus which gave me an opportunity to practice Spanish with the woman that told me I was out of luck and believe it or not the driver. They are all surprised that Spain is more expensive the states (well, Tampa)

So I got to the train station to go to Sevilla (I naturally arrived a little late and had to take the next train). There I met a boy from Liberia. I really am a selfinvolved idiot. I was feeling slightly paranoid (only slightly) and a little uneasy about my trip. This kid arrived in Spain around the same I did...that is the only thing that was the same. His mother, father, and sister died in the Liberian civil war. He has a friend in Madrid and no money to get on the train. They do not check your ticket, so it is possible to jump on and not pay if you can hide from the train staff. There was a security guard with him so I was reluctant to give him money to buy a ticket because I was not sure if he would get it taken from him so I helped him translate and gave him chocolate and a couple of Euros. Really puts things in perspective.

On the train I met an Irish guy and we talked about different places in Spain. He told me he liked Barcelona but on the first day he got his pocket picked from the front pocket...and lost €600 (roughly $750). The train ride was nice and we unexpectedly went through a canyon which may have been Ronda (not sure).

Sevilla is an amazing city. It is like Granada in terms of history but it is more spread out. In fact, they are building a metro (I think they might be doing the same in Granada), to illeviate the traffic problem.

My first day I checked in with the Youth Hostel of Seville (Albergue Juvenil de Sevilla) which is a lot like a hospital in appearance but it is well run. There is a picture of my room on the right. I ended up on the top bunk which is not good for people under you because I shake it when ever I get up.

So Sunday I headed for the Alcazar and got distracted by the Plaza de España. It was built for the 1929 IberoAmerican fair and I think for a future world fair that never happened. In any event, I enjoyed visiting the plaza both at night and during the day. To me it looked just like Naboo from Episode II of Star Wars. I even took this picture of a bridge that reminded me of the one they crossed to arrive into town. Turns out there is a reason why it looked familiar, this was the shooting location. I think I may have to go back to get a few shots exactly as they were in Episode II (of course, exact, is a relative thing, the CGI additions is what made me say it was not it at first ). This was an extra cool bonus for me :)

When I arrived (early) there were women with pieces of tree telling me "Toma" to which I said No, and then NOO with an outstretched palm. I am pretty sure they were trying to ripoff tourists because later there was more of a presence by police and they were no where to be found.


The Alcazar was really cool, but after the Alhambra it just couldn´t compete. However, they had some great artwork and huge tapestries that were really impressive. What did blow me away was the Cathedral in Sevilla. Both inside and outside. What is especially cool is that the entrance to the cathedral has art and the like but the ceiling is an impressive 20-30 feet. Then once you get inside you see this.
















And this , the "tomb of Columbus" (this one is probably one of his kids, Columbus is likely to be in the Dominican Republic)



It was a pretty packed day, and I have a few things to see and do (like arrange a Youth Hostel in Genoa or Florence). So I am going to cut this "short" and leave a picture of the outside of the cathedral (I have better ones but my mother insists that I get in the frame and ruin it :-P).

See you all later!

--Joey