Seville - Review 1

Travel has its ups and downs. I had stayed in a HI hostel in Cordoba , fine, three beds and one night only me in the room.

The hostel here in Seville was not a good one for me. The good - price was reasonable, free breakfast and free internet.

The bads - four people had to enter their room through ours, where three of us were. It was noisy, the internet was not good, and I got a few bites on my body during the night.

Next morning, I went to the tourist office and walked. I found a room in a one star hotel in the center of the city - private bath, television and HEAT. They have a space heater in the room and it was warm at night. The days are fine but it does get cool at night. There was also an open air art show near the hotel.

SUN!

I plan to stay here for another three nights.

Met a man in the hotel who told me of his abonico exhibition. This word was not in my dictionary but it means fan. Anyway, he has pictures of fans featuring African American musicians on display at some cultural center. I would have preferred to see the actual fans but he said they were too fragile to transport from Jersey City, NJ. Yes, an actual American artist from Jersey City! Travel is full of surprises.

The center also has this good internet service so I am using it to catch up with the news.

Yesterday, I went to the Cathedral which took over 100 years to build. Huge, beautiful windows and too much. Too many chapels, too many pictures, just too much!

The city is also good to walk and this morning, saw a strange building made of beige bricks. It looked like a fortress, had small windows and trees on top of a building that looked to contain about fourteen levels. A museum? A hotel? A shopping mall? I walked over and learned that it was just an office building for the government and I could not enter. Really, it did not sound so interesting as when I thought it was some kind of museum!

One thing that I enjoy when I travel is just to walk without a real goal. One never knows what one will see next and this morning was that kind of an experience.

The Plaza de Armas was just a shopping center that appeared to have been converted from a railroad station

People are out in the streets much at night. Many children.

Impressions of Spain that are not the usual - polka dot dresses on little girls; leopard skin blouses; some beautiful shoes and clothing; lots of smokers.

You can´t tell where people are from until you hear them talk. The clothing is so similar and body actions are, too.

This is a big city but the river serves as a point of orientation. There is a Metro under construction and it seems to go many places.