Basically, I'm picking up right where I left off on my last post. We went to Sevilla (or Seville as it's known in English), on that Saturday. The first thing I noticed there was how much hotter it was there than in Granada...and Granada is HOT! It's so much hotter that while few houses have air conditioning in Granada, almost ALL have a/c in Sevilla. Our tour guide told us that a/c was more important than the size of the kitchen...haha. The town, as most I have come into contact with thusfar, was very quaint. Everything was very old but kept up well. Our first stop was at the palace. It was really cool. Some of the architecture was similar to the Alhambra, but Sevilla's palace had a lot more "Christian" influence, I'd guess you say. We then visited the cathedral where some of the remains of Christopher Columbus are held! I say some of the remains because since his death, his body has been moved several times. Other cities claimed they have the actual remains as well, but Sevilla is the only city that has tested the remains to prove it. After lunch we walked around a bit more and made the trek back to Granada. That night our director took us to dinner. It was SOOOOOO good to have a steak. I really needed it. On a side note, I've had an odd craving for Mexican food lately. Anywho, after dinner we went to this huge park where apparently all the young folk in Granada go to drink on weekends before hitting up the discotecas. There were at least a few hundred people there. Craziness.
The next morning we hopped on a bus for a trip some of us signed up for through the school. Our first stop was a town called Almuñecar on the Mediterranean coast. There we explored an old Spanish castle. Our next stop was the town of Nerja, also on the Mediterranean. Here we got to explore Spain's largest cave and then went to the beach for a few hours. I didn't swim, but I did stick my feet in the Mediterranean (that counts) and we climbed some really big rocks along the beach. It was pretty sweet.
Tuesday we bought bus tickets back to Almuñecar for the Festival de San Juan. The Festival de San Juan, from what I gathered, is basically when the Spaniards celebrate the summer solstice by partying the ENTIRE night. Beach cities are very popular for this event and as we found out on the bus there, Almuñecar has one of the best in the area. We got to the beach just before sundown (aka almost 10pm) and chilled. Basically the festival is a designated night for everyone and their mother to party on the beach. There was not a piece of sand left untouched. Bonfires were everywhere as well. People jumping over them left and right. The festival must be close to the end of the school year as well, because many kids were furiously burning workbooks, notebooks, paper, anything school related. It was quite a site. This lasted literally ALL NIGHT. It was very chill - just talking and hanging out. Later in the evening we went and explored and found a techno rave-ish spot on the beach and danced there for a while. It was pretty crazy. My favorite part, though, was watching the locals get in groups and bang on drums and dance and sing their Spanish songs. It was probably the biggest glimpse into the culture I've gotten on my trip so far. I fell asleep in the sand for about an hour around 4:30. It wasn't bad though. The Mediterranean sand doesn't stick to your body. It's more like finely crushed rocks than dirt. After I woke up we chatted a bit more then headed for the bus station around sunrise. We got back to the house around ate and took a short nap before I headed off to class for the day! An incredible night!
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