So on Tuesday, Laura and I went on another walking tour. This time we decided to do downtown Sevilla. We started out at the Ayuntamiento, or City Hall, of Sevilla. It's under construction, but its facade is still pretty impressive!
Next, we walked by the Capillita de San José. It's a really cute little chapel that's just kind of randomly stuck in amongst all the shops downtown, sort of as a reminder that you're still in Europe!
We also walked by this really cool ad for Studebaker cars from 1924 on Calle Tetuán. It's the only one of its kind left!
We also stopped by the Iglesia Salvador, which is second only in size to the Catedral de Sevilla. Like most of the churches in southern Spain, it was converted from a mosque.
Our next stop was the bust of Cervantes on Calle Carceles (or jail street). It was here that Cervantes was imprisoned for debt for 5 years, during which he began writing.
All in all, it was a nice walk and a good way to kill time before our trip to the beautiful Museo de Bellas Artes, which is also in the Centro.
The museum used to be a convent, and it is built around three beautiful courtyards that used to make up part of the nun's cloister.
The rooms are arranged chronologically by period, so it's super easy to navigate, whether you're an art person or not. Most of the art is religious, and they have a great collection of work by the Sevillan painters Murillo, Zurbarán and Valdés Leal.
My favorite work was by Florentine Torrigiano and was titled "San Jerónimo, Penitente".
My favorite room though, was the old sanctuary which they have converted into a display room for the works of Murillo. The space is so impressive and gorgeous!
On our way home from the museum, Laura and I spotted an "American Diner" called Peggy Sue's, so we decided to try it out! It wasn't completely American, but they did have barbecue sauce (something Laura's been craving). It was also just fun to go out!
So we left for Morocco on Friday morning. We made a pit stop in Gibraltar first. For those of you who don't know, Gibraltar is a British territory on the very tip of Spain. It is technically considered part of the UK, and you need a passport to enter. They also use the British Pound! Its most famous landmark is probably the Rock of Gibraltar, shown below.
Because we were in a British territory, we decided to do some stereotypical things like stop for fish and chips! This is my friend Cassie, posing with our lunch.
We also took a picture at a telephone booth, because we are tourists after all!
This is a picture of the main square, called Casemates Square. Gibraltar only has about 30,000 inhabitants, but there are TONS of tourists from all over Europe.
This is Main Street in Gibraltar. The street is lined with designer stores!
It was a beautiful place, and we spent a great afternoon here!
Next, we went to Algeciras back in Spain. From there, we caught the ferry across the Mediterranean Sea to Ceuta. I'm absolutely terrified of open water and I'm not a big fan of boats, so I was a little nervous, but the way over was fine. The way back, however, was not. The ocean was very choppy and I felt very seasick. Luckily Laura was with me to talk me through it!
This was my first glimpse of Africa! Ceuta is technically a Spanish territory, so I wasn't really in Morocco.
From here, we crossed the border into Morocco, which was kind of scary. The border was a little sketchy and there were a lot of people speaking a lot of different languages! After we crossed, we went to our hotel in M'Diq, just outside of Tétouan for the night. We got our first taste of Moroccan food here. My Sprite bottle was in Arabic! For dinner we had fish, rice, and vegetables.
The next morning, we left M'Diq for the small town of Chefchaouen. On our way there, we drove through Tétouan and I got a few pictures from the bus.
I'm not sure why, but I expected Morocco to be more sandy. Our guide told us that you have to drive about 12 hours south to reach the desert! It was actually very green with lots of mountains and valleys. It was incredibly beautiful at times, and this picture doesn't really do it justice.
Chefchaouen, located in the Rif mountains, is famous for many of its buildings and houses being painted blue. We first met our guide, Ahmed. He was adorable! He kept yelling "HABIBI!" at us, which apparently means, "my loves". He was so sweet and told us that he speaks Arabic, French, Spanish, English, AND German. Most people in Morocco speak Arabic and some speak Berber. They learn Arabic in school, and then they have to learn either English, Spanish, or German in high school. It's crazy!
The blue is omnipresent all through Chefchaouen. Ahmed said that this was because it keeps the mosquitoes away. We wandered the streets for a little while looking at all the shops, which was really fun.
After our walk around the town, we went to a fabric co-op. We got to see a weaver working on a loom that's more than 100 years old. It was so cool to see all the fabric made by hand!
So after Chefchaouen, we went back to Tétouan for a lunch at an Arabic Palace. It was really fun and there were even some traditional musicians and a candle dancer!
After lunch, we went to a traditional holistic pharmacy. We saw a short presentation about different products from Morocco, including Argan oil and saffron.
After we wandered around Tétouan for a little while longer, we headed off to Tangiers for dinner. We checked into our hotel and went next door where there was a big tent set up that we ate dinner under. We had traditional Moroccan musicians playing in the background, our guide called them the "Duran Duran" of Morocco.
We had a Moroccan salad, chicken, and cous cous for dinner. I've decided I like Moroccan food!
There was lots of entertainment with dinner too! There were dancers, acrobats, a candle dancer, and a belly dancer! The belly dancer brought a guy from our group up on stage to dance with her. Little did he know she was going to make him wear a belly dancing costume too!
The next morning, we left Tangiers and headed to the beach for a camel ride! It was really fun, but dismounting was kind of hard.
Directly below this is the Cave of Hercules, which has been used for everything from a neolithic dwelling to a brothel and now a tourist attraction.
After we left the cave, we had the ferry ride from hell back to Europe and then a two hour bus ride back to Sevilla. It was a busy weekend.
In other news, I got my grade back from my intensive grammar class, and I did very well, so that was exciting! My sister's birthday as well as two of my cousin's birthdays were last week as well. Even though I couldn't be there to celebrate with them, I know they had great days! Also, my brilliant boyfriend got into graduate school, which was another cause for celebration!
All these blessings have made me really reflect on just how lucky I am. I get to have this once in a life time experience because of all the wonderful people I have in my life. I have an amazing mother who whole-heartedly supports my wanderings around Europe and Africa. I have some great friends who are making memories with me here and giving tons of love and support from home. I have a wonderful extended family who check in on me constantly and cheer me on. I have an awesome boyfriend who has been nothing but supportive of my travels, even when it means being away from him for almost five months. All in all I am an incredibly lucky person, and I don't know how many times I've stopped to say thank you recently. So thank you to everyone who has been a part of my journey so far, both here in Spain, and back home in the states. I can confidently say that my experience wouldn't be the same without you!
Speaking of my wonderful family, my mom and sister are coming to Spain this weekend, which I'm super excited about! I'm also going to Cádiz on Friday with my interest group.
Until then,
Carly <3
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