I woke up at 8am feeling as fresh as the proverbial daisy! ^^ I had a really solid sleep 'cause I was drop dead tired the previous evening. My eyes were puffy when I looked in the mirror though? But after a good long hot morning shower (1st part of Rayson's Secret 3-Part Formula to keeping warm in temperate climates - have a hot shower!), all remaining traces of sleepiness and tiredness vanished! Got packed, then met the Hos (the family that we're traveling with) to find breakfast.
We went out around the street corner to grab a bite (2nd part of Rayson's Secret 3-Part Formula to keeping warm in temperate climates - never stay hungry, keep yourself filled!) at a Spanish coffeeshop with a really friendly owner. Got several ham-and-cheese sandwiches and some churros (skinny youtiao-like curvy sticks), and I had some legendary hot chocolate for a drink (3rd part of Rayson's Secret 3-Part Formula to keeping warm in temperate climates - have hot drinks instead of cold ones!). Man it was so thick, you could put your stirrer in and it'd stick straight up like a... a meerkat? LOL!
Walked around a little after that pleasant breakfast, and stopped at one or two small shops en route to Plaza Mayor, where we snapped several photos, including one of a man creating fantastic huge bubbles with an intriguing and creative device of his. I'll put a picture in here once I get back to Singapore and download those pictures into my computer. =D
On the way back to the hotel, stopped by some temporary-looking stalls down a side street and bought some tapas (meat on bread). The strong porky taste of the meat was far too much for me though! Strong tasting beef? Fine. Strong tasting lamb? I'm fine with that too. But strong tasting pork? There I draw the line. And don't even mention strong tasting chicken or fish! *makes face*
At the hotel, I logged on to MSN on my iPad and found Mel online! Found out that she was sick and didn't go for MinOps Worship lg. Get well soon Mel, I'll pray for you from here! =) After checking out at noon, we headed back to the Sol area to do some shopping. I bought another two tees at Jack & Jones. One for around thirteen euros, and two for fifteen. The offer made very little sense to me, but who was I to pass it up? Went to Camper so that Wendy could get her boots then to Desigual, where we spent most of the rest of the time. I nearly got a pair of black or grey corduroy pants (apparently "slim" and not "skinny" fit ones!) there but I needed to try them before buying and was put off by the lack of time. Hope I get to visit another Desigual somewhere then!
We had a quick bite of pizza on the way back to the hotel where we collected our luggage from safekeeping and got into two cabs (one per family) to get to Atocha Renfe station to catch the train to Seville. So I got the first day's and part of today's blog posts done on board the two-and-a-half hour journey. Sadly, we were facing backwards on the train journey - not the best, but live with it I say! Thank God for the iPad and it's prodigious battery life - I was listening to gospel and jazz while drafting this! =P The train's really smooth and fast. We passed by lots of dry fields and small hills on the way, saw a couple of horses too. What's more, the sky's really blue! On My Way by Phil Collins played on my iPad and it really suited the mood lol!
So upon arrival, we cabbed to the hotel. We found that Seville's full of narrow cobbled streets and is rather hot. It was twenty-eight degrees Celsius - nearly like home, except that it's a whole lot prettier and not nearly as humid! Cars aren't allowed on quite a few streets. The street where the Hotel Alminar was located was one of them. We were quite surprised when the cab dropped us and we couldn't see our destination! And so we walked and soon found where we were supposed to stay. It's a really nice place! My mum and dad says that the room is cramped? I don't really think so, but that's me. ^^" We got the third floor room and it's at the very top, with an attic-like ceiling. Way cool. We'll be staying here for three nights. =D
We went around the area to explore following a short rest. There's a cathedral just outside the place we're staying at and it's really quite beautiful? Only saw it on the outside though, I think we're going to go see the inside of it tomorrow or something. The architecture of the surrounding buildings is rather quaint - gives you that old world charm, but it really is a bit too warm! The streets were made for horse-drawn carriages and were then repaved for cars, or so I do believe - haven't come across any concrete evidence for that, though one bar did display quite prominently enough that it originated in 1920! And there were still those open horse-drawn rides that most touristy places with old world charm in Europe seem to have, as evidenced by loads of dung left in the middle of the streets (and yeah, I did see the horses for myself!).
We had a delicious dinner at one of the restaurants nearby. Our first proper meal in Spain! I was eyeing the fillet of cod with shrimp and garlic when my mum decided when she wanted that, so I went for the leg of lamb rack stuffed with mushrooms and spinach. Yes, you read that right, spinach. I can see your jaw dropping all the way from Spain, I can, and you know who you are! =P Dad had paella (pronounced as pah-eh-yah, since their double "L"s sound like a "Y"!) rice. My dish was absolutely scrumptious! The lamb didn't have a strong taste and it was nearly as tender as tofu. The spinach lends the lamb a nice texture and not taste (thank God!), while the mushrooms lends a compatible flavor (not surprising there.). I tried the cod too, and it was really as tender as tofu! It was very fresh and was nicely salted. The accompanying cream sauce was tasty, but then again, I do like cream sauce a lot. The skin wasn't nice though - it was fishy and rather rubbery. I didn't try the shrimp on that one, so I can't comment. The paella rice I didn't like though? It was very filling and each grain was fat, soft and sticky compared to the jasmine rice we Singaporeans're used to. I had a bottle of water and it cost as much as a glass of beer - two euros! I think the the glass of spanish sangria was cheaper than that lol!
Subsequently, we went for a stroll further than we did before but there wasn't much else. Saw a sombrero shop though, the hats were really interesting! We also saw a bullfighting stadium from the outside, though I don't think we'll get to see one, more's the pity! And now, I'm back at the hotel hoping that the wifi connection will be better one or two levels down - want to post the two blog entries I've written.
Anyway, don't think I'll be as detailed for the following days? Knowing myself, I'll probably get lazy and besides, today was different - there was a long train ride to pen down half this entry lol! Yeah having said that, guess I'll sign off now, I'll probably get up at eight tomorrow morning so goodnight! ^^ pen down half this entry lol! Yeah having said that, guess I'll sign off now, I'll probably get up at eight tomorrow morning so goodnight! ^^
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Calle Conteros,Seville,Spain
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