Sevilla

I got up at around 8:00 this morning, and was of course the first up in my room, even though I was not the first to bed. I spent nearly three hours dithering on the internet, trying to sort out my itinerary. I've decided to go to Granada next, and then Algeciras so I can get to Gibraltar. There are no hostels in Algeciras or Gibraltar, so I had to splurge on a hotel, which is still a relatively cheap 40 euros a night, but twice as much as the hostels. I've also decided to go to Madrid and spend two nights there. I asked the lady manning reception whether I should go to Cordoba or Madrid, and she said that Cordoba was similar to Granada but not as good. So, I'll go to Madrid before returning to Lisbon for a night.

After sorting all that out, I headed out into town. I first went to Casa Pilates, which is a former ducal palace. I was amazed at the similarity to the architecture of Morocco. It was like the Bahia Palace, but much better maintained. I finished there at noon and was desperate to eat, but couldn't due to the spaniards late eating times. I ended up going to the cathdral to pass the time. It was huge, and while it had originally been a mosque the only part of the mosque structure surviving was the minaret, which looked the same as the one in Marrakech. I walked up the minaret and was impressed with the view. It was shortly after one when I finished, and even though no one was eating yet, I was famished and went to a Paella restaurant, where I ordered Paella coloured with squid ink. I ate slowly as I had a newspaper to read, and by the time I fnished at around 1:45, people were just beginning to show up for lunch. I then headed to the bull ring, which was recommended to me by a girl I talked to last night. It was pretty dissapointing unfortunately, as I had to pay five euros for something that I could have spent five minutes in. The tour took half an hour. I saved the best sight for last, the Real Alcazar, a formar royal palace. The palace was orignally build by the Muslims in the 9th century. It, once again was like the architecture in Morocco, but much nicer. There was a lovely garden attached to it. Like in Morocco, many of the trees are orange trees covered in juicy looking oranges. I decided that I had not been getting enough vitamin C, and therefor removed a particularly juicy looking orange from one of the trees. I had been warned in Morocco that there was a reason they were not eaten, and when I bit into it, I understood. It was so sour, that I had to throw it away. After I finished in the palace, I walked down to a big building called the Plaza Espana, which was moderately interesting. Still needing to pass the time, I stopped at one the city's numerous Starbucks for a beverage. I also got a salad there for dinner, as I did not want to wait until eight to eat. When I finished my coffee, everything had reopened from the siesta and the city was buzzing. I passed by the art museum, hoping it was open despite the time (six). It was, and while most of the paintings were pretty mediocre, there were a couple of good ones. The rest of the evening has so far been spent reading my book and browsing the internet. I'm off to Granada tomorrow.