My last weekend in Spain turned out to be quite eventful. After getting robbed and dealing with a bout of homesickness, I completely the triumvirate with violent case of food poisoning (or something) Sunday night. There's nothing like an evening in a cheap hostel, jumping back and forth from my bed to the (conveniently close) sink to make for a truly enjoyable trip through Andalucian Spain. It's been the kind of weekend where, as I pull my map out this morning, I drop it. I pick it up and realize that I dropped it in a fresh pile of pigeon crap. Of course, I only realize this after I somehow manage to wipe the map on both my shirt and my pants, meaning I get to spend the day walking proudly displaying my bird badges. It's been the type of weekend where the only thing I forget behind in Barcelona is something trivial like my cellphone charger; only to discover that I need to use my cellphone a lot, yet can't. It's been the type of weekend where I finally splurge for a somewhat luxurious hotel (one that even has wifi) only to discover that I somehow lost my power adapter on the train, so I can't even spend a sick evening on the internet. In general, it's been a pretty awful weekend, except for one small detail: I'm sightseeing through southern Spain!
When I wasn't huddled in bed or praying to the porcelain gods, I thoroughly enjoyed both Ronda and Sevilla. Ronda, a beautiful little town, divided in half by a deep gorge. An imposing bridge is the main connection between the two parts of the city. There aren't too many "attractions" to see, which was fine with me. I had a great time exploring the edges of the city, climbing over old walls and ruins.
I cut my trip through the Andalucians short, skipping Arcos de la Frontera and catching a bus ride straight to Sevilla. I've only had a day here, but so far it's my favorite city in Spain. There is a ton of stuff to see, but I haven't been overwhelmed with people, dogs, or sounds yet. As promised, the largest gothic cathedral in the world is, well, large (and it contains the tomb of Christopher Columbus). There's also a Granada-esque Alacazar, complete with intricate details and watery gardens. Everywhere you look you'll find an old church or historic building. Even the plazas look Spanish.
Sevilla is a fantastic city, one that certainly deserves more than 24 hours of my attention. But, 5:00am tomorrow morning I'm packing up and saying chow to Spain. I'm joining forces with my cousin and his classmates for a 5 day trek through Morocco. It will be, I think, one of the highlights of my travels this year. So I'm off to bed, taking my "Languages of Europe" book with me, hoping to memorize a couple of important Arabic phrases before we push off tomorrow morning.
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