Sevilla - First Trip of the Year!

Sorry this post is a bit late, but better late than never, right?

Becky, Danial, Dietrich, Ian and I (in alphabetical order) set out for a weekend trip to Sevilla during the December puente, Dec. 5- 7. We had to make sure we were back for the Martos Olive Festival on the 8th (see following blog). Here's a pic of Danial and me in the little square by the cathedral.
And here's the famous Giralda Tower.


We stayed at a great little hostel, called Dulces Sueños, which was right in the center of town. Here's Dietrich, Beckky and me on the roof of our hostel.


And here's us on the staircase. Pretty, isn't it?


The first night, we saw a Flamenco show at La Casa de la Memoria. It was FANTASTIC. I cried. A lot. - You can ask Becky. It was just so beautiful and moving! Here's a pic of the stage and the performers.


Afterwards, we checked out an old bar called El Riconcillo, which is said to be the oldest bar in Sevilla, since 1670! They house some really cool antique liquor bottles.




Apparently, their espinacas are legendary, and now I can attest to the fact. They really were absolutely fantastic.

The next day was our busy day. We woke up early and hit up the Alcázar first. It was just as gorgeous as I remember.








Afterwards, we went to Plaza de España to take some jumping pictures. Here's us by the Jaén section.



The jumping pictures were definitely one of the highlights of the trip. We had so much fun! Brilliant idea, Ian. We just may have to do this again sometime. Here are the pictures Ian took. I pinched them from his website, www.iankphoto.com.









In the evening, we decided to grab some drinks and tapas on Calle Betis, the in-place for nightlife in Sevilla. Here's us on the bridge over the river Guadalquivir on the way.


We were a little early, so the places by the river weren't open yet, so we wandered on some of the back streets and came upon the most adorable little place. It was clearly not a turisty place so we decided to invade. In the front part, a group of locals were spontaneously busting out with some Flamenco. Very, very cool. We took over the back ( after scaring off the other group that was there.) The food was good, the drinks were good, the company was good... we were feeling pretty good when we left there. This bar though did not have a legendary drink called Agua de Sevilla, so we had to continue our search elsewhere. We figured it was probably more of a turist thing (which didn't dissuade us at all) so we thought we should go back towards the water. And there Becky and I walked into bar-heaven. Not only was it adorably decorated, but they had Agua de Sevilla and offered all of us champagne on the house! SCORE!



There were also playing fun music, so we danced. Then, Becky decided to teach us all how to swing. Not the basic steps though. She wanted to teach us lifts. Five tipsy tourists doing lifts... we must have been a sight to behold. No wonder they gave us another free round of shots.

They were at it for a while, but here are 2 videos of the most successful attempts.

Here's Becky and me demonstrating the proper hold.



Danial had some trouble with this because as a drummer he apparently can only use his thumb and forefinger to grab things. Imagine trying to swing 125 pounds of Poonam on your hip with only your thumb and forefinger... In any case, I woke up with fingerprint bruises all around my waist! Ouch! But it was worth it. We had a blast.