to the Azores!

I went to Jerez de la Frontera as a day trip from Sevilla. I picked the wrong day. I wanted to go see the royal equestrian school, and taste some sherry. But the school wasnt open, not even to wander around in, and all the sherry tasting places were closed. All i got were a few pictures, overcharged for some tapas, locked in a park (see a trend?), and dirt in my eyes.

Im sure it would have been a grand town if i had seen the horses, then got to taste sherry in the ´noon!

Here was a giant man statue by the bus station.

Here were the only horses I saw... the first on the main street, the second in the alcazar.

This was the catherdral in Jerez, next to the alcazar. and following is a typical street in Jerez.

I did see what had to have been the biggest wine TREE?? ever

And, on the way out, i had to laugh... did you ever wonder how they got concrete to the top of a building?

So, that was my day in Jerez. I should have gone to tarifa for sure. Or picked a different day. but i didnt have an alarm clock. How have i made it this far? I woke up at 7 today to catch a bus with no alarm.. and from seville i woke up at like... 5:45 to get my bus to lagos. yes i AM crazy. and hardcore. maybe. just a little.

OKAY, here is the other half of Seville. I went to the plaza de españa..which supposedly they used to film parts of the the first starwars...anyone? so, here it is, a beautifully painted and ornate plaza...

and another view;

My favorite thing though was that along the arc of the actual building, were tile representations of all the provinces in spain. and they were all amazing!

and you can kind of see Valencia... since it was my first love, and there was no sevilla, my favorite.

And the up close parts;

Here is an upclose of Toledo.. I didnt go there, but The detail on the tile was to my liking...

Everything was painted and very detailed like i said. here is one of the railings on the upstairs.

Here is me admiring the stairwell banister

And view of the stairwell

Here was the center of the plaza... horses and carriages could go through it, and in the very center was a fountain. note the ground, how elaborate it is!

And here were two random things I found in Seville... Louie and Camu!

And thus concludes my travels in the most badass city ever. Hope you join me there next time.

Here is the first. The Cathedral. And some stuff around there.

So, on the way to the cathedral, very nice colorful buildings.

One of the large doors to the cathedral.

Through the courtyard.

The main door in.

A window above the door.

The woman in front of the door.

In the first rooms I went in was like a museum more or less. With artifacts and paintings and such.

Then, I found a stained glass of the same women!

Brian, remember the organ in the Mezquita? This place topped even that. It had like, dueling organs. facing each other. all the way to the ceiling. amazing!

Another stained glass.

The main attraction of this church was the tomb of Christopher Columbus! really! Here it is....

And on the way out... the door knob. I guess its hardly a KNOB.

This was a little of the Alcazar. I didnt go in because the line was around the block.

And Okay, I decided that Seville is the most badass city in spain. This is the door to the Alcazar. Tell me thats not sweet.

Then me meandering around the other day... some sights.

And finally, at the days end, this was my dinner! It had whole shrimps in it. Legs, eyes, little unhappy faces. But it was good.

To grace, heather, and michela... you would have a heart attack at spanish fashion. there are so many shoes, and dresses, and polka dots and bright beautiful things. its incredibly overwhelming yet alluring.

someone tell kris... i ran into a pane of glass at the madrid train station, and a guy laughed at me. they shouldnt use glass for walls when im around.

brian would be proud.. ive been drinking a lot of water. everyone knows how i dont drink any. except the two last days. and i only drank wine. and i half regret it. bleh.

grace, heather, and michela again... everyone in spain has a dog. and they are all ridiculously scruffy and small and mangy like little thea. i swear i see theas cousin daily.

grace, dont go jogging in morocco. this one girl got followed when she did that.

thats it for now. i think i had more but my belly is a washing machine of last nights wine.

These things actually made me crack up here in Spain...

First is these Beefeater gin ads... so fucking ridiculous! I talked to the englishman and showed him these, and he said they dont have ads like that in England. We decided someone has a conspiracy to really push Beefeater gin hard here.

And then this..while I was flipping through the channels of the TV in Salobreña...lo and behold..MTV España!! hilarious. so over the top intense. just like the states.

So, I leave you with that, and I will go now and explore Sevilla in the daylight.

Hello from Sevilla. Last night was my first night here, and I was pleasantly surprised to make friends with some people at the hostel. And finally some people to speak in english to. We met over at the dinner table with 2 bottles of wine. They wanted to go out, and hell after being alone for so long, I did too. After drinking wine for 2 hours til 12, we went out into the night. Myself, an englishman, a scott, a guy from montreal living in france, a guy from portland, and a guy from arizona. what a team we made! I had a great time. We only went to 3 bars because most were slow or closed because it was easter sunday, but we didnt get home til 5 am. We went to look for another bar, but obviously after some walking it wasnt where we were, and so the arizonian climbed an orange tree, but the oranges were awful and we ran spitting and gagging. The englishman and the guy from arizona were my favorites. The last bar we went to was the most poppin gay bar ive ever seen. probably the most busy bar last night in Sevilla. Ralph would have been so so intimidated. The arizionian got groped by the hugest transvestite ..post op... we noticed... in zebra stripes. It was a hilarious bar. The guys i was with were getting looked up and down like chunks of meat. I was happily ignored. They were dissapointed by the ring on my finger. I just laughed. They asked about my man at home, and I just stood there smiling, dreaming of Brian, thinking of the perfect thing to say about him. But all that came to mind was... uh he´s the greatest man ive ever met. but that sounded so cheesy so i said he was a musician. Unfortunatly, I dont have any pictures... and now that i think about it, im not sure i would want any! yikes. men in tight short dresses...

Salobreña was probably a savior of mine. I had plenty of time to rest, enough sun shine, and air, and sea winds, and mediteranean sea spray, and food to make for a wonderful time. The very first night I got here, there was a procession, and I swear sometimes the tourist understands more than the natives. It was a procession to honor the sufferage of Christ, and there must have been 20, nay 50 people holding up a huge block with a staute of jesus on it. It was awesome, and spellbinding, and I felt the passion of the people for their faith more strongly than I ever have.

here are the pictures of it, which just dont show how slow and awesome this procession was. These people literally moved one step at a time, the whole things swaying side to side like someone deep in prayer.

And the side view...

The next day I went out to the beach, and to the castle on top of the hill. I got a little sunburnt.. oy and I got very sleepy from all the fresh air. I am determined to come back with sexy golden, but not cancerous, skin. Seville rooftop sunbathing here I come!

The Beach here had these amazing rocks on it.. I stared at them for probably an hour.

They went all the way to the sea..

The restaurant I ate at..I had an avocado salad and a beer and a coffee. Umm..one hint. Beer and coffee dont mix. Only wine and coffee. Anyway, they had this octopi next the the fire, and they looked very wiggily yet tastey.

One could see the castle from the beach. I decided to make my way up the ascent.

It took me forever to get up the hill..mountain..hell walk.. but the streets on the way there were great.

Finally! I got to the castle and walked around. once again, no railings. There was even one part where people were dozing that was next to a shear cliff! Even I am too much of a wuss for that!

When I left the castle I realized there was a straight shot street up the hill to the castle and I had winded around for what seemed like hours. So I went home and passed out. And read a steven king novel I found?

The next day, yesterday, I went to go start a painting. This is what I was painting, but it got dark before I finished...

And then...this is the hallway to my room. You can see the door to my room on the left. The plants are in an open air kind of patio .. and this is the second floor! very neat eh?

One last thing... I went to the store today, and the wine was so cheap I actually giggled aloud.

This was the botton shelf:

This was the top shelf:

Ah, why cant wine be that cheap in the States? Id probably be a lot more drunk....