Spain, Day Fifteen

Exhausted from the previous day's adventure, we decided to sleep in a little, getting up around 11:30 and then showering and primping until 12:30. We decided to have an early lunch and then get the ball rolling with our next action packed day. You will never guess where we ate lunch... 100 Montaditos! Those prices were just too good to pass up. I learned yesterday that four montaditos was one too many and carefully selected two new ones for lunch along with the delicious goat cheese and pesto one (I seriously can't get enough of that). We finished up lunch right around two, which was the time designated as near perfect if you want to bypass all the lines at the Seville Cathedral, our big attraction for the day.

Although, on our way to the cathedral, we were intercepted by these weird gypsy ladies who grabbed our arms and started telling us our fortunes. No matter how hard to tried to get away, they just wouldn't let us go, so I got swindled out of seven euros, which would have been like two meals at 100 Montaditos... So angry. I didn't even understand what she was saying most of the time. The only thing I got from this "fortune" was that I will be having two children. It will be interesting to see if that is true or not.

So we finally bypassed the gypsy ladies after they stole our money and we gained admittance to the cathedral, again with a student discount. Holla at euro pinching though! But really, I can barely even begin to describe this cathedral. I thought it looked big from the outside, but my goodness it was even bigger once you stepped inside. We splurged and got the guided tour this time so that we could take in every detail of this breathtaking structure. One fun fact about the cathedral is that it actually used to be a mosque when the Arabs were in charge in Spain. Once they were expelled, the Spaniards expanded the mosque and turned it into a cathedral. You can tell which part of the building is old and which is new from the outside because the mosque part is made of brick and the cathedral part is made of stone. This is also the third largest cathedral in Europe and the first largest Gothic cathedral in the world. Here are some of the highlights we saw:

This is just one part of the cathedral. I couldn't get the whole thing to fit in my camera frame. The area that is in the center and closest to me and all the tourists was part of the original mosque (see how its made of yellow bricks?) and then all the neat ornate stuff above it is made of stone. You can also see Giralda Tower which is the cathedral's bell tower and look out point. I climbed up this and took a picture which I have posted below.

I was so overwhelmed right when I stepped in the cathedral that I had to take a picture right away. So this isn't anything particularly special. I just thought it was beautiful with its high, vaulted ceilings and immense decoration.

This is where all of the cathedral baptisms take place. You can't really tell in the picture, but that basin is huge. It's like at least four feet across in diameter.

Again, another overwhelmingly beautiful picture. I just had to take pics of everything I saw.

This is the tomb of Christopher Columbus. This is actually a really huge tomb. If you look closely at the picture, you can see four statues (one for each monarch that unified the kingdoms of Spain in 1492, the same year that CC landed in America). These stone statues are huge though. They're like twice as tall as me and they are carrying his casket, which is his final resting place on their shoulders. Pretty cool if you ask me.

This was my view from Giralda Tower. We had to climb up 34 ramps to get to the top but it was totally worth the beautiful view.

After our tour of the cathedral, we decided it was time for an icecream snack considering how hot it had gotten and then shopped our way up the block until we got to our hostel for a small siesta before we took on the night. Once we were well-rested, we scoured Trip Adviser for a good but cheap restaurant for dinner. We settled on one that was ranked around 150 out of 800ish but it was 3/4 of a mile away. We opted for the extra exercise and made our way to La Taberna. Turns out this literally just means The Tavern (palabra del dia, anyone?). We sat down at a table once we got inside since there were no workers to be found, expecting table service of some kind. Then the bartender showed up and scolded us for trying to order what we wanted from the table and insisted that we walk five steps to the bar to place our order. Not feeling any alcohol that night, I opted for a coke and then the waiter showed us the runaround of the few tapas they had available that night.

First, he brought out a big dish with some kind of marinated steaks, to which I promptly said yes to (probably my favorite of what we were served). Then he pretty much just started bringing us tapas until we said no more. The second round was really the turning point of the night though: he brought us snails. I had eaten snails before I came to Spain, typically in a nice steak house where they were lightly fried and served with cheese, garlic, and butter. These snails however were just straight up steamed and lightly soaked in some kind of broth. They still had their shell. They still had their faces. They still had their antennae. If you know me well, you know that I have always talked about wanting to be a vegetarian because I am a huge animal lover but I have struggled because I just don't like enough foods to be a vegetarian and stay healthy. So as soon as he served us these snails, I knew I was in trouble. How could I possibly eat something that still had a face? Tiny as they were, they still had had lives and I was feeling really disturbed. Earlier that day, I had read an article with Spain tips and one of their top suggestions was to eat all of your food because it's impolite to leave anything on your plate. So what did I do? I promptly changed my mind about not having any alcohol that night, downed several a couple shots, and proceeded to eat the snails once their faces had blurred in my vision. Needless to say, it was a taxing night for me.

All the little snails. How many can you count?

Between the fullness and my semi-inebriated state, I was passed out a little after midnight and snoring happily through the night. I will say though, I was a little disturbed when I woke up the next morning and thought about all those little snail bodies (probably a couple hundred) that were presently getting processed through my body. So tragic. I will be passing on the snails from now on.