lunes, 5 de diciembre de 2011

The Great Peacock Debate (along with some other site seeing)

Despite having lived in Sevilla for so long there were still a few must-see places that we still had not visited until recently. Therefore, we dedicated the last two weekends to doing just that.

First, there is the palace called the Alcàzar. Most of the palace is now open to the public, but some of it is still private so the royal family can still use it. The inside of the palace is yet another example of the Muslim influence from their reign in Spain. It has a lot of traits of the Muslim architecture including baths, mosaics and a dome. 

My favorite part of the Alcàzar, however, was the world of gardens outside the main building. If you are walking in the central of Sevilla, it is hard to picture where they would possibly be able to fit so many gardens right in the middle of a city, but they were there.  

The gardens are complete with a small hedge maze, waterfalls, fountains and, of course, peacocks. A fun fact is that peacocks in Spanish is "pavo real," which means "real turkey." There were peacocks all over the gardens, but  we also saw a cat, and we wondered if it would try to attack the peacocks. 

Thus sparked what has now become the "Great Peacock Debate." For the past week, Luke and I have been arguing with Mark about who would win in a fight between a peacock and a cat. The two of us are convinced that with a cat's agility, claws and teeth it could easily take down a "real turkey" after the initial shock of their huge feathers. We have been asking teachers, students, and senoras alike what they think about who would win, most of whom agree with us. However, Mark still thinks the peacock would win and the subject is sure to come up again. 

Despite tempers flying in the debate, Mark and I were still able to go on a trip together to Aracena, a small city about an hour and a half west from Sevilla. 

The most noticeable thing about the small town is that there is a castle on the top of a hill that you can see from almost every spot in the city. When we went up here, we could see everything including bulls that, are used in the bullfights according to Isabel.

We also went on a cave tour while in Aracena. The caves were beautiful and there were huge crystal formations all over along with some of the clearest water I have ever seen. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures in the caves, but they probably would not have done them justice anyways. 

The final must-do thing that we did was climb the Giralda, the huge tower connected to the Sevilla Cathedral. It is kind of sad that we had not done this yet, but we were waiting for a non-busy Sunday, when it is cheaper. 

Upon entering the cathedral, we saw yet another breathtaking display of pipe organs, altars and Christopher Columbus' grave. After taking all this in, we headed to the tower and walked up 34 small ramps once used by men on horses to ring the bells, and finally arrived at the highest point in Sevilla. 

From the Giralda, we could see everything from the Plaza de Toros to the huge bridges along the river. I could have stayed up there for a lot longer than I did, but it was still an amazing site. We waited for the sun to set behind the mountains before making our way back down.

This week, we have yet another week of holidays, with classes only on Wednesday and Friday. I am going to try to make the most of it as it is the last week before exams and then my return. 

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