Sevilla, Day One

March 21st--Today was our first overnight outing. We just packed a small bag and left the apartment in Puerto Banus at 7:15 a.m. We caught the 7:45 a.m. bus from Marbella to Malaga. Once arriving in Malaga (about 8:30), we walked to the train station, purchased our tickets and boarded the train. We departed Malaga at 9:10 and arrived in Sevilla at 11:00. It was a pretty uneventful trip...we like those kind! Anyway, we took a taxi to our hotel and were able to check in early. We are staying at the Hotel Maestranza. It is your typical, small European hotel with only 18 rooms; which is exactly what we wanted to experience. We all have our own individual twin beds and the hotel is located in a busy area of Sevilla. We immediately tried to make plans for our 2 days here in Sevilla. Our original plan was to go to a bullfight tonight, but kids under 14 are not allowed...too bloody. Imagine that! So we changed our plans to go to a Flamenco show. More on that later in the day. By the time we wrapped up our plans for the evening, it was time to eat lunch. We ate a light lunch at Horno San Buenaventura located on Avenida de la Constitucion (a pedestrianized boulevard), across from the cathedral. Since we were right by the cathedral, we decided to go there next. Sevilla's cathedral is the third largest church in Europe and the largest Gothic church anywhere. Before the cathedral was built, a mosque of brick was in it's place. The only part remaining from the mosque is the bell tower. We climbed to the top of the Giralda Tower. It is 330 feet up with a spiraling ramp which was designed to accommodate riders on horseback, who galloped up five times a day to give the Muslim call to prayer. We walked through the entire cathedral seeing things like the high altar, the choir, and the tomb of Columbus. Christopher Columbus was buried first in Spain, then in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, then Cuba, and back again to Sevilla (when Cuba gained independence from Spain around 1900). After leaving the cathedral, we walked to the Bullring where we did a 25 minute guided tour of the bull arena, its museum and the chapel where the matador prays before the fight. The tour was done in Spanish and English and was a great insight into the 4 steps of a bullfight. There are 3 matadors and 6 bulls that consume an entire fight. It takes 20 minutes to kill each bull with a 4 step process that has 5 minutes each. Abby had been a little upset that we weren't going to a bullfight until she found out that the bull was actually killed and there would be "bleed". Once she found that out, she wasn't so sure she wanted to go, but then decided that you can just get up and walk out before the end. Funny child. After the tour, we walked back to the hotel to rest for about an hour before heading to our Flamenco Show. The show we saw was at tablao El Arenal de Sevilla. There was a lot of guitar playing, singing, dancing, hand-clapping (called palmas) and castanets. It was very good and cultural. Austin enjoyed the first part until he decided to go to sleep. I don't how he slept through all the noise, but I guess he was really tired. Abby really enjoyed it. In fact, as I type this, it's 11:00 p.m. and she's still up, playing her own castanets.........