Spain - Sevilla to Malaga

I don't know what is the best way to do this. I am way behind in blogging, and now I am not going to have the time, nor the detailed recollection to get it right. We've been on the go constantly, and only very recently have we had good Internet access. When we have had bits of downtime, we both need the computer, and so I've not been able to keep up, what with all the photos to download and edit, videos to download and edit, blah blah. So, here we are in Malaga, and I have not even written a bit about Sevilla. And oh what a magnificant time we had in Sevilla, I'll rewind a bit, and try to pick up where I left off in the last blog.After we figured out the electricity situation in our beautiful room in Sevilla (insert access card into little slot just inside the door in order to complete the circuit), we were soon off to explore the city on foot. We were both tired, and hungry, so our first motivation was to find a bite to eat. We found a place called Pans & Company just a few blocks away, and seemingly on the cusp of alot of buzzing activity. Pans was a chain fast food joint offering long baguette sandwiches, of which we had one each. Mine was a tasty mixto of blue cheese, tomatos, gargonzola and Vee's was a tunafish mixto. My orange Fanta tasted particularly good. With bellies that were somewhat more satisfied, we continued exploring and found Sevilla to be a city of contradictions, charming, quaint and historic, modern, chaotic and chic. Emphasis on chic, because it has been a while since I have seen so many fashion retail stores. Not stores like TJMax and Marshalls, which is my kind of fashion, but instead, REAL fashion stores, exotic womens clothing, shoes, jewellry, accessories, perfumes, belts, and on and on, street after street, a whole extensive grid of this stuff. We were not expecting that. Once beyond all this shopping, and people watching, we found the river that cuts through the city, and along its banks, crossed a bridge, walked along that side of it, crossed back over, and continued towards what looked to be some beautiful old buildings, including a cathedral, and assorted castle-like structures. We had no idea what we were looking at, but we found ourselves surrounded by beautiful architecture. The muslims had enormous influence on the city, and you could tell by alot of what remained architecturally, and we loved it. The sun was beginning to hit the point in the sky that just made everything around us even more beautiful as the light was that late afternoon golden orange glow that enriches all the colors you see. With the light the way it was, and the buildings we were among, it was as if every time we turned our heads, we were facing something amazingly beautiful. We would be saying "Wow" in unchoreographed unison, scurrying from street to street, snapping pictures of as much as we could, as quickly as we could, knowing the light would soon be gone. We took a breather in a plaza situated at the foot of the cathedral and watched groups of tourists, packs of kids, couples and workers do their thing. Wanting for a coffee, we found a great place, of which we eventually learned there were plenty of in Sevilla, called the Cafe de India. We each had cappuccinos, and shared a sweet ice cream and a slice of cake. One thing we are finding difficult to do is eathing healthy. We are not finding any fruit stands, which would be really nice, for Vee anyway. For me, I could really use a great big green salad. Anyway, with a much fuller afternoon than we expected, we headed back to the hotel. Our original goal for Wednesday, our first day in Sevilla, and only a half day since we would be travelling from Toledo, was to get all caught up with our blogs, photos, videos and the website. The hotel claimed to have Wi-fi, and so once back at the hotel, we napped a bit, and then I ventured down into the lobby to get the password and get online. The guy behind the desk gave me what he said I needed, but it would not work. I asked again to make sure I had the right information, and he confirmed as much, but it still would not work. After an hour or more of complete frustration, I gave up, and Vee asked for directions to an Internet cafe closeby, where we were able to sneak in for an hour before they closed, and at least get caught up on emails. Afterwards, we tried finding a place to eat, and quickly learned that Sevilla is NOT Madrid, and that after about 10 o'clock, almost every restaurant and bar is closed, or about to close. We asked a couple of young girls on the street if they knew where we could go, but their recommendation was for an area of the city we had explored earlier in the day, and would have been a pretty long hike from where we were. So, we resigned to starving some more, and heading back to the hotel. Luckily, this hotel had a mini-bar, and the prices were cheap. I quickly gulped down two beers, a small bag of peanuts, and we shared some chips. Then, it was time to do the laundry. One mistake so far has been to not to have done much laundry. I only had one more set of clothes to wear the next day, and so for another hour or so, we washed clothes in the sink, wrung them out in the shower and hung them anywhere we could find in the bathroom. By 1am, we were exhausted, and went to bed.Thursday would be our full day in Sevilla. And what a day! It started with a tasty traditional breakfast in a local pub consisting of a fluffy roll cut as a sandwich, loaded with olive oil, little slices of ham, and tomato puree. It was delicious, along with the coffees, and fresh squeezed orange juice. We contemplated ordering more, but I did not want to come across as an American glutton, so we decided to go on with bellies temporarilly satisfied, knowing we'd probably be indulging in some sweet pastry during our walk. We walked to the Cathedral, paid the admission fee, which I thought was a bit expensive, and spent the next hour or so there. It was magnificant, but in a different way from the cathedral in Toledo. The cathedral in Sevilla seemed more approachable because of it's many imperfections. There was work being done to two of the main supporting columns, and these were the first two big ugly things we saw upon entering. It was also a cathedral that was very obviously added to, in different styles and materials over time, having gone from in islamic mosque, to roman style, to gothic style, etc. But, it was absolutely beautiful, and once again the carvings, paintings, stained glass, artificts, etc. were staggering in their intricacy and artisanship. The part that was most fun was climbing the 35 levels into the tower and seeing the views from the top. There were only stairs at the very top, last level, with the rest of the way being a gradually inclining series of ascending/descending perimeter walkways. I really don't know how to describe it accurately, but it was really simple. There were people of all ages making there way up and down, which was heartening to see. One sweet lady was really huffing and puffing her way, while her husband would march ahead, stop, and patiently wait for her to catch up. So sweet. We got alot of pictures and video from the top as the views of the city were beautiful and expansive, from each of the four sides of the tower. I could have staid there much longer, but you were always having to jostle for position, and we had enough, and made our way back down, which was much easier than the climb up. Next, we took a little break sitting on the steps surrounding the grounds of the cathedral and watched the guys with the horse and carts situate themselves in various parts of the street so as to not be in the way of the passing cars, motorcycles and pedestrians. We had the urge for some croissants, and found a corner pasteleria where we picked up a chocolate filled one, and a vanilla filled one. Next was the bullfighting stadium. The weather was perfect, and warm, and the walk was refreshing. We finished our croissants and joined a quick tour of the stadium where we learned about the history of the stadium, it's acclaimed fighters, it's acclaimed bulls, and such. A bullfight lasts about 2 to 2 1/2 hours, and there are 6 bulls and 3 bullfighters, with each bullfighter responsible for killing 2 bulls. I am not sure if my recollection is right, but I think that the matador (bullfighter) fights with the bulls for about 2 hours, and the last 20 minutes to half hour is when they actually end up killing the bulls. In this stadium, there were 2 picaderos, and 1 very famous matador killed by the bulls. We go to see the infirmary area where they attend to anyone injured in the show, and this was a pretty serious looking place with lots of equipment looking quite ready to be used for some really serious injuries. Being gored by a bull is not on the top of my list of ways to die, that is for sure. After our tour, we knew we were close to some places that would have flamenco shows, and so we went hunting for one of them. We found the one we were looking for, and then decided to walk back towards the river to relax a bit in the sun there. We considered a river boat cruise, but they were way expensive, and instead, we headed back towards the Internet cafe near the hotel, with an indulgant stop into another Cafe de India for two cappuccinos and a sweet slice chocolate-mocha cake. In the Internet cafe, we got alot accomplished, and that was quite a relief. We quickly stopped in our hotel room, and then headed back out in hopes of landing tickets to the flamenco show we found earlier. We arrived about an hour early, got our tickets, and excellent seats in the very front of the flamenco theatre. The beers were expensive, so we only had one each, and a small complementary bowl of mixed tasty crunchy peanuts. What would unfold before us was something for which I have no words to express. I can only say that it left us both floored. All choked up, glassy-eyed, and awestruck. I've never seen a live flamenco performance before, so I didn't know what to expect. Vee's grandmother on her Mom's side was a flamenco-dancer in Sevilla, and Vee and her sisters dance flamenco, so Vee knew what was coming. Either way, with or without expectations, it was AWESOME. The dancer's name was Carmen, and she was EXACTLY what an authentic Spanish flamenco dancer should be. She was part of a 3 person team, with the other two being the singer and guitar player. All of them were amazing. I'll never forget this. Their performance burned into our souls. Once it was over, and it was about an hour, we went to a place we saw earlier in the day for paella. Luckily, they were still open, and our waiter was quite a performer too, a young Canadien self-proclaimed alcoholic, speaking fluent Spanish, English, French, and apparently Arabic. Our meal was delicious, a large pan full of chicken paella, rolls, beers, and individual house salads. Finally FULL!!! Then, back to the hotel, exhausted after another day packed full of activity. Asleep in no time.Now, we're in Malaga. The train ride from Sevilla was beautiful. Mountains, green hills, rivers, terraced fields of crops, etc. Upon arriving, we walked to our hotel, called Zeus, just a few blocks from the train station. Immediate reaction to Malaga not a very positive one. Dirty, smelly, not well kept. Zeus is perfectly adequate though, clean and neat, but a pretty far walk from everything but the train station. Not having eaten anything all day, and already it was mid-afternoon, we sought out a place to eat. We ended up in a corner cafeteria where smoking was very obviousl permitted. We ordered a pasta salad, and a potato salad. When served, I thought our plates were loaded with a New England Clam Chowder-looking type of stew. Nope. It was mayonaisse. Yep, my meal, pasta salad, consisted of a plate of mayonaisse, with some bowtie pastas, and little ham cubes mixed in. Vee's potato salad was a plate of mayonaisse, with pieces of potato and onion mixed in. Luckily, they also put a large bowl of bread, and some fresh olives on the table, all of which we devoured. We did our best with the mayo plates, and tried to disguise the amounts leftover as having been thoroughly picked over. Luckily, the size of the bill was commensurate with the tastiness of the food. We left to explore the city, and found a few things we'd like to see tomorrow. But really, our initial impressions of the city were further confirmed. I believe though, by looking at some of the posted maps of the city, that the nice parts are outside of the city center. It is a coastal town, and I think that you have to be at the beach resorts to enjoy the city more. We'll see. Back to the hotel for a long nap since we were both feeling worn out, and want to also get caught up on our videos and blogging and website duties. Hungry again.--*!##!*--It is Saturday morning in Malaga. We went out late last night in search of an atm machine, and a grocery store to get a light sandwich, fruit and water. The guy at the front desk told us about a large store that was supposed to be open until 2am, and a block where there were lots of atms. We had no trouble finding an atm (2 EUR charge to extract money), and then headed for the grocery store. After double-checking, and triple-checking our map, still no grocery store. We ended up wandering through a mall that was open late and packed full of youngsters hanging out on the steps, and people of all ages inside in the many restaurants. Back outside, I convinced Vee to ask to ladies standing near us if they knew about the market, and they did. It was closed for business, and used to be directly right across the street from where we were standing. We'd have to wait until the morning, and find another one that we had seen before, and knew was open for business. Still hungry, we went to a Pizza Pino on the corner, that advertised it's other location as being on the Champps di L'Essys (spellings wrong, I know) in Paris. I wonder if we were there for pizza a few summers ago. The place was packed, and by this time, it was after 11pm. We each got a pizza, and mine was excellent, a super thin crispy wheat crust with a light tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, artichokes, black olives, and red peppers. Poor Vee only wanted some fruit and a water, but under pressure when the waiter came to take our orders, felt obligated to order whatever she saw first, and that turned out to be a cheese pizza, salty with anchovies and capers. I was still hungry enough, after finishing mine, to help her with hers, and I ate my first anchovie. Ummm, you can hold the anchovies for me, for life. No me gusta. The capers were good though. Salty, fishy fish on pizza is not what I'd want topping my pizzas. Well, now at least I know. Before, I just always assumed I wouldn't like them. So anyway, I loved my pizza, and the beers, and the speed with which it was all delivered to our table. We paid up, and headed back to the hotel. Nothing else to report, except a long good nights sleep, and now we are up and showerered, and heading out to find Vee some fruit, me some water, and maybe some mouthwash for the remains of the anchovies.