Welcome once again to the fourth log of "Rayson in Spain". As though it's really interesting lol! Anyway, it's been a really long and tiring day full of walking again, but I daresay we've covered most of what there is to cover here in the city center already! ^^ Let's start from the beginning! We left the hotel a trifle earlier today, at nine. Using our legs, we blundered into a cosy but empty (at the time anyway!) coffeeshop that had an owner that speaks English. Wonderful! He even speaks African, but which dialect, we never found out lol! We had bread, ham, cheese, a few sticks of churros, and I had hot chocolate (surprisingly american and liquid!) for a drink. The ham was really salty, though we've come to expect that by now, and left my ulcers in my left cheek and on the tip of my tongue tingling unpleasantly. =/ Oh an important thing to learn! Hot water is "agua caliente", and I'm pretty sure you can figure out which word means what! It was a pretty expensive breakfast at forty-four euros - I guess that's the price you pay for staying and eating within the city center hurhur!
Went to Plaza de Nuevo to buy our tickets for tomorrow's train ride to um... some other place hahaha! Yeah tonight's our last night here. Truthfully, I'm not sorry? It's been way too hot for words. That wouldn't be so bad in and of itself, but the constant walking around? Folly to the point of being sadomasochistic haha! Ok fine I exaggerate things... We were also there to look for the place where we were going to take a tram ride later, and a certain Loewe boutique. I saw a simple tan calf-leather bag that drew my eyes to it as though I was Gollum and it was the Ring! And no, I seriously haven't been reading that very much at all even though I've been eating healthy hahaha! It took all my willpower not to buy it even though it was relatively cheap. After all, it was roughly the same size, though lighter, than my current brown bag. In the end, I managed to cheat myself saying that there'll be the same boutiques, but even bigger, in Madrid and Barcelona, and the grass may be greener on the other side, so stay tuned for the Epic Battle of Rayson and the Loewe Bag Part II! =P And let me tell you, I WILL be the winner, arrrr!
Subsequently, we took a short electric tram ride to Plaza de Espana, which was built for an expo apparently, so it was pretty new. I think you need to check up on it if you're interested though! It was a huge horseshoe-shaped brick building with large bodies of water within the belly of it's curve. Looks rather like a university to me, but it's not? Strictly speaking, it was simply another excuse to use my camera hurhur~ we had an interesting experience there though. On our way in, we passed by a roasted chestnut pushcart and we were so excited that there was "gao luk" in Spain as well lol! So we asked for one portion and stared dumbfounded as the man pulled out a paper cone kacang putih-style, poured in some chestnuts, and asked for two euros. In Singapore, you can get a PAPER BAG of awesome chestnuts (roughly one kilogramme!) for 5 bucks. "So little ah?" exclaimed Mrs Ho, and after a short milling about, we scooted off leaving behind a rather annoyed pushcart owner! I was rather embarrassed actually hahaha! I thought that perhaps raw chestnuts were more expensive in Spain and their cost of living trounced ours in any case, so why not? But oh whatever, what's done can't be undone you know? And to compound matters, we had to walk past him as we were leaving and we all pretended nothing had happened! Okay, maybe to the others, nothing had really happened anyway...
Following that, we walked to Seville University (I think?), which used to be a tobacco factory of some renown many a year ago. Why exactly it was renowned was actually below the level of my concern - my main concern was to beat the heat, and that we did at a restaurant opposite the entrance and I say, boy was it worth the money! It cost us forty-five euros - a dollar more than breakfast and it was SMASHING! My dad ordered a Hawaiian pizza for six euros and I daresay it was loads better than the one we had yesterday. The crust was puffy and the pizza was hot. A warm, puffy croissant-like crust - I loved it! I had two slices out of his six. =D My food was Tagliatelle al Funghi, essentially flat pasta with mushrooms and cream sauce. Felt like something lighter 'cause of the heat. I was debating between that and the safer choice of a Carbonara? I'm glad I went with my gut feeling 'cause it certainly hit the spot! It tasted like mushroom soup with pasta! Okay, so the texture of the pasta wasn't the best, but the sauce... I do believe I could've eaten a double portion of it. Maybe more if it were angel hair pasta. =D
We headed to the Church of Salvador after that, and I took a immense pile of pictures there. It was cool and I got active. Please don't roll your eyes at me - I saw you from the corner of my eye all the way from here in Spain, so there! =P I'm simply not made for the heat! Yeah it doesn't seem like a very churchy place from the outside? But once I stepped in I was bowled over by how elaborate it all was. I still had that niggly "money-put-to-better-use" feeling but hey, since it was all there already, might as well take pictures of all the artwork (and the corresponding information plastered on signs nearby) my poor camera must've been exhausted after that lol! I'll put the pictures of the church, but not all the information up on Facebook - the resolution of Facebook pictures is too inadequate for the display of words anyway!
We continued our never-ending walkabout to Antiqvarivm de Sevilla. An antiquarium, for the uninitiated, is a display of excavated archaeological remains, and not a display of aquatic animals. Of course, that definition may be inexact as I'm lazy to look it up. =P But wait! We stopped by Adolfo Dominguez boutique on our way there - a brand I've never heard of in my entire life! But the apparel was reasonably priced and I got my first pair of trousers in Spain for eighty euros. It's an interesting colour, which on average is grey, but I can't describe it exactly. You'd probably see me in it sometime back home. ^^ Of course it's too long and I have to get it altered when I'm back in Singapore, but it's very fitting around my waist and hips and I can't wait to wear it. =D
Anyway, I took a couple of pictures at the antiquarium. But you need to read up on it some because all the information was in Spanish and I couldn't glean any. Saw the remains of Roman baths and some reconstructed mosaics, the most interesting of which depicted Medusa! Sitting above the antiquarium is a spectacular object - what's said to be the largest wooden structure in the entire world (as far as the walking tour guide said yesterday...). Got a picture of that too. =) We laboured back to the hotel after that, where I completed half this entry in the lobby, and the rest scooted back into their rooms, and Wendy went off to explore by herself.
We had dinner rather late, at eight plus. It was at this rather big restaurant that was a short walk away from our hotel, titled San Marco. Apparently Tom Cruise and Madonna have dined there before. The interior was beautiful, with stone arches at the lowest floors and different furnishings on the upper two levels. There was some confusion when we were ordering, mainly because none of the waiters seemed to understand English very well despite us being given menus in English! They looked invariably nonplussed everytime we asked them for something lol! I ordered a "roast joint of young goat with thyme", and ended up changing orders with Mr Ho, who ordered "lamb with plums and honey". They were essentially the same thing (both were the same part of lamb!), with the main difference being that mine ended up with plum sauce on it! But anyway, it was highly tender and flavourful, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. My mum had "sweet duck with a bitter orange sauce", a dish that rang a bell in my head the moment I laid eyes on it. My mum said later that my friend who attends culinary classes will be familiar with it because it's a famous French dish. Hmm, I'm not so sure about that. =P But in any case, I liked that too, having tasted it. The duck had a nice strong taste nicely offset by the sauce. My dad had young escalopes (pork) in Marsala wine. It was tough though the sauce was pleasant. The westerners never got preparing pork down pat - Western-style pork is almost never to my taste... I took a picture of the menu, so you can peruse the entrees if you so wished!
Mum and Dad returned to the hotel to rest after that, Mum's feet were tired, that much was obvious! They bade me accompany the Hos to the site of the first proper bridge in Seville on foot to snap pictures, and snap I did, even running to the middle of the road at the beginning of the bridge to take a snapshot smack down it's middle! The moon was absolutely round this night - amidst a clear dark sky and low skyline, it was a sight to behold! We made our way back shortly after, but our adventures were not over yet! It didn't make much sense to me (how much, or little, energy do you want to save over such a short distance!?), but we grabbed a cab back to the hotel, or rather, tried to. Being so near, it was remarkable how the cabbie lost his way amidst the cobbled streets and after a few bewildering twists and turns, dropped us off at Plaza de Nuevo. Thus, we ended up walking half the distance back to base. What a waste of their financial resources!
So I'm at the reception now, where the WiFi reception is strongest, and I guess I'll round this off now and go up to pack? We're leaving Seville tomorrow - good riddance actually because it's starting to feel like home, and that's never good when you're on holiday lol! Besides, I don't feel like saying much - I'm in a quiet mood tonight. Bet you can't tell since my emotions usually don't manifest themselves in my writing! Alright, I'll sign off now then, and I sure am looking forward to moving to a cooler clime tomorrow. Goodnight dear readers, whoever you are! ^^
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Location:Calle Conteros,Seville,Spain
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