Una vacación a Italia

The morning my Dad left for the U.S. I left for Italy with a group of friends from Providence College who are also studying in Sevilla.  We had experienced La Feria, and wanted to make the most out of our week of vacation.  We were headed for Rome on the second earliest flight out of Sevilla (the earliest to Italy).  Even though it was tough to wake up and get myself to the airport, I was excited to be spending time with some fun people from PC and to be visiting Rome and Florence!

We landed bright and early just as the city was waking up with the entire day ahead of us.  We dropped our bags off at our hostel and headed out determined to see all of Rome before dinner, leaving us with the whole next day to explore Vatican City.

We headed from our hostel to the Trevi Fountain, welcomed by a mass of tourists.  We snuck our way down to the water so that we could make our wishes and take some photos.  The sculptures were phenomenal, from the details I can only imagine how much time and effort was put dedicated to each figure.  

We then headed to see the Spanish Steps and find somewhere to eat lunch.  We found a small restaurant nearby with a good selection of pastas at a decent price.  I ordered the spaghetti bolognaise, which tasted vastly like my grandma’s recipe that my mom uses all the time.  It must be true, then, that the best food doesn’t always come from a restaurant. 

After lunch we headed to the Pantheon, initially built as a temple to the Ancient Roman gods but later converted to a Catholic.  The Pantheon is almost two-thousand years old and still stands in great condition.  It is the largest unreinforced dome in the world and serves as the burial place of the First and Second Kings of Italy.

From there we headed to Piazza Navona, one of the most famous Piazza’s in all of Italy.  We learned a lot about Rome at each of our stops thanks to my friend, Sean, who is a Political Science major and has a great memory for history; I definitely had more appreciation for what we were seeing because of it.

We then headed to the historic center of the city to see Altarre della Patria (“Altar of the Fatherland”), better known by the “wedding cake” or the “typewriter” for its appearance.  Even though the architecture is of classical style, the monument, dedicated to Victor Emmanuel II, is only around one-hundred years old.

The building sits next to the ancient roman ruins and the Colosseum, where we ended our full day of touring.  The inside was breathtaking and I enjoyed the audio tour we had bought because it provided a lot about the history behind the building.  The stories hidden inside the walls of the Colosseum are actually very tragic.  Even though gladiators are portrayed as strong and honorable, many of them died unfair, tragic deaths.  They were forced to fight jungle animals like lions and sometimes even forced to fight each other to the death.  The Colosseum was equipped with trap doors to trick the gladiators and make the games more interesting for the crowd.  To be honest, the whole ordeal reminds me too much of The Hunger Games.

After a quick rest at the hostel, I met up with three of my friends from high school for dinner.  Becca, Greg and Mike have spent the semester studying in Rome and I was glad to be going to one of their favorite restaurants.  For dinner, Becca ordered me her favorite pasta dish, which was absolutely delicious, and for dessert she ordered me homemade tiramisu.  Mmmm good!  It was great to catch up with some old friends I haven’t seen in a long time.  I still can’t believe that four classmates from lil ol’ Holliston were all eating dinner together at a restaurant in Italy.

After dinner Greg and Mike took me to one of their favorite hang-outs in the city where I tried my first Peroni (an Italian beer) and met a few of their friends.  From there we headed to a chocolate bar!  It was probably the coolest.  The best part was that we were able to eat the shot glasses because they were made out of chocolate!

The next morning we headed to Vatican City bright and early.  We lucked out as far as lines go and only had to wait for the security check to enter Saint Peter’s Basilica.  There was no line for the Vatican Museums or the Sistine Chapel.  The detail inside Saint Peter’s was incredible.  There is so much to see, I could have spent hours taking it all in.  On our walk to the museums, we stopped at a Gelateria called Old Bridge, famous for, well, its gelato! 

That night we headed to Florence, our second destination, where we were greeted by another group of PC kids who graciously took us in for three nights.  The girls were very welcoming and even though finals were approaching, they dedicated a lot of their time to showing us around the city that they now call home.

Florence is a gorgeous city and the ambiance reminds me a lot of Sevilla.  The city circles around the Duomo much like Sevilla circles around the Cathedral.  The most popular form of transportation is walking and on most streets, bikes are more popular than cars.

Our first day in Florence our friend, Cate, took us around the city.  We saw Michelangelo’s David and walked across el Ponte Vecchio before lunch at Pino’s, one of the girls’ favorite sandwich shops in Florence.  After a delicious lunch, we visited the leather market and then, of course, stopped for gelato!

Porcellino, the good luck boar in Florence!

We met up with even more girls from PC for dinner and I tried my first gnocchi!  I loved it! 

On Sunday we were off to Cinque Terre for a day of hiking along the coast.  Despite the rain that we had been wishing would not come, we were excited visit the coastline of Italy.  Cinque Terre is a National Park made up of five villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore.  Unfortunately, the area has experienced some bad floods and a lot of the land is destroyed and unsafe to hike.  We still made the most of it, and enjoyed the parts we were able to see.  The views were absolutely gorgeous.  I definitely want to go back someday when I am older.

On Monday we climbed the Duomo and then ate lunch at Gusta Pizza, one of the most famous pizza restaurants in the whole city.  Absolutely delicious.  Highly, HIGHLY recommended.  After lunch Sean, Celeste and I toured the famous Santa Croce, which happened to be just down the street from Colleen’s apartment, where we were staying.  The Basilica is filled with tombs that house some of the most famous Italians including Michelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli.

After Santa Croce we relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.  That night we celebrated “White Night”, an annual festival in Florence that started only a year ago.  For the celebration, all restaurants and bars stay open throughout the night to promote business.  We had a lot of fun walking through the streets-it was so crowded!  I felt like I was at Carnival again, just without the costumes.  I saw so many people from PC, at one point we had a very big group together.  It was so much fun and a great way to end our vacation to Italy!

Courtney waiting for a sandwich from All'antico Vinato-best sandwiches I have ever had!

Celeste, Colleen, Courtney, Sean and Cate at Pino's

Sevilla tiene un color especial

La feria de Abril is a celebration of spring unlike no other unique to Spain and largest in Seville.  It is what I have been waiting for all semester.  This year was the 300^th celebration of La feria in Seville and I am so happy to have been a part of it.  The celebration officially starts Monday night with the illumination of la entrada (“entrance”) at midnight and continues for a week.

There is an area in Seville known as the feria grounds when the festival takes place each year.  During the off season, the neighborhood is deserted.  The streets of feria are lined with decorated casetas (“huts”), some public but many private.  Each caseta has its own kitchen, bar, bathroom, and dance floor.  Some of the larger ones even have stages to host bands throughout the week.  My dad and I were very lucky and had access to three private casetas which we could enter at any time.  Two of them were owned by friends of Charo and the third belonged to los bomberos (“firefighters”) who we had made friends with on Sunday before the start of feria.  The people in each caseta were all very friendly to us but the firefighters were especially welcoming.  When they learned my dad is also a firefighter, we were flourished with free food and drinks for the rest of the night.  It was extremely generous and I know my dad was glad to see that the firefighters in Spain are known to have the same warm and hospitable attitude as the firefighters in the United States.

Walking into the feria grounds is like walking into another dimension of time.  No cars are allowed on the streets, only horses and horse drawn carriages.  All of the women are dressed in beautiful flamenco dresses, each one different from the next.  I have fallen in love with flamenco dresses because the fish tail style is flattering on every type of body.  Since each dress is unique, they cannot be compared.  Each woman adds personality to her dress by accenting it with big, bold jewelry and sporting a matching flower in her hair.  Before heading to the feria grounds, my dad and I stopped to have a cervecita ("llittle beer") with Charo so that she could see my outfit.  She was very impressed, especially with my hair.  It was very "sevillana" and I was happy that it made her smile.  I could tell she was proud of me.  

The first night all of my friends were dressed up.  We had a great time and felt like we fit right in.

In each caseta, we were surrounded by nothing but flamenco dancing.  “Sevillanas”, a famous flamenco song and dance, seemed to be playing nonstop.  We had the opportunity to try some flamenco ourselves, although it is a hard dance to master.

Much like Semana Santa has its traditional dessert, La feria has a traditional drink.  It is called rebujito and during La feria it is rare to see anyone drinking anything else.  Rebujito is a mixed drink of 7-up and manzanilla.  It is sold in each caseta but a lot of Spaniards also buy both the soda and alcohol to make the drink themselves. 

As I said before, La feria is unlike anything I have ever experienced.  Each caseta is like a wedding reception and all together they make the biggest, classiest, most-Spanish party I have ever attended.  It is a festival to not be missed and one I would definitely attend again.

Wednesday was my dad’s last day in Seville before heading back to the States.  We spent the day in Italica, a small town outside of Seville with old Roman ruins.  Even though I had been to Italica before, I knew my dad would enjoy seeing the old amphitheatre and Roman mosaics.  We had a lot of fun together and I enjoyed spending time with him.

We were tired when we came back from Seville and decided to pass on feria because we both had to be up early.  Instead, we went to Rinconcillo to have pigs’ cheeks one last time.  At the bar we met a couple from England who were on holiday in Seville.  I was able to give them some advice about the city and answer some of their questions.  They were great company and we held great conversation all night.  Even though we had planned to retire to bed early, we ended up chatting with them pretty late.  I didn’t mind at all because I was able to spend more time with my dad and could put off saying goodbye as long as possible.

My dad's Spanish twin we found at the bar!
My dad even has a shirt almost identical to the one his twin is wearing!

Needless to say, the night eventually came to an end and so did my dad’s vacation in Seville.  I was so sad to see him go which is just a small indication of how much fun we had together.  I don’t want to leave Seville but I can’t wait to see my parents again when I return to the U.S.  I already know that it is going to be a bittersweet goodbye when I leave Spain in June.

Me Visitan Mis Padres

The long awaited visit from my parents has come and gone.  It was so amazing to see them; I missed them more than I had thought.  It was a lot of fun to show my mom and dad around Seville and I was happy they could experience the Spanish life.  The night before they arrived felt like Christmas Eve, I couldn’t wait for them to get here.  When we met up at the airport I was so excited to see them, I couldn’t stop smiling.  We took the shuttle to the Macarena, an area in Seville just outside of the center where my parents had rented out a piso (“apartment”).  After they were settled in, we ventured out to a restaurant near Las Setas and my parents tried their first tapas!  They fell in love with the food (and the beer) immediately.

As a welcoming surprise, I took my parents to a flamenco show across from the University of Seville.  We ordered tapas throughout the night and tried a good variety of different dishes.  Spanish food and Spanish music was a great way to welcome my parents to Seville (not to mention, we had front row seats!).

I was my parents’ tour guide all week, showing them the different sites in Seville and telling them a little bit about each one.  I was so proud to show them the city I have been living in for the past four months and the beauty that it holds.

Plaza de España

Real Alcazar

Las Setas

Dad enjoying the tapas at Bar Alfalfa

We also spent a lot of time exploring the different restaurants, in search of the strangest, tastiest tapa in the city.  My dad enjoys trying new foods, and Seville definitely has a lot.  My parents’ favorite tapas bar, by far, was Bar Alfalfa, which also happens to be my favorite!  I am convinced that there are no better olives in all of Seville than the ones that are served at Bar Alfalfa. 

We also loved Rinconcillo, the oldest tapas bar in Seville and rumored to have created the idea of the “tapa”.  A dish that we loved was the pigs’ cheeks.  Believe me when I say it tastes better than it looks.

However, the best food we ate all week was at my home.  Charo invited my parents to have lunch at my homestay so that they could get to know each other.  The food was absolutely delicious and I was proud to show my parents our house.  I am so happy that everyone got along well, and enjoyed each other’s company!

On Tuesday we went to a bull fight, something my Dad had been looking forward to ever since they bought their plane tickets.  I had been looking forward to going to the bullfight too, because I hadn’t been to one all semester.  We brought my friend Jackie with us and although the bullfight was very striking and graphic, I am glad I was able to experience it.

Thursday morning we went to the market on Calle Feria which conveniently was just next to the street where my parents were staying.  I had not been to the market before and I was glad to finally be going.  The market was like a big giant yard sale, filled with an endless amount of knickknacks from colorful beaded jewelry to old antique Spanish artwork.  Since it was the Thursday before Feria, there were many flamenco skirts are dresses for sale and Jackie and I were able to buy skirts that fit the both of us very well and only cost a couple of euros!  We were so excited to have outfits for the Feria!

There is also a food market on Calle Feria that we went to a few times to buy fresh meat and vegetables.  I hadn't known about the market before, and am so glad to have found out about it with time left in the semester to go back!

My parents and I took a day trip to Ronda, a gorgeous city in the province of Málaga, and brought my friend Leah along with us.  Ronda is a gorgeous mountain city, filled with white roofed houses and fields of olive trees.  We spent the day exploring the city, touring a few of the famous buildings and churches, and taking heaps of pictures.  At the end of the day, we stumbled upon a wine tour and spent our last hour taste testing the native red wines and learning about the wine making process.

Since my mom had to return to work, and couldn’t stay with my dad to celebrate the Feria, her last day in Seville was Sunday.  We spent the afternoon walking around the Feria grounds, watching the Spaniards set up for the weeklong festival about to arrive.  Afterwards, we had a relaxing dinner by the river.  We ended the night with a horse-drawn carriage ride around the city, a great send-off for my mom.  My dad and I were sad to say goodbye to my mom, but I am so grateful she was able to visit me in Seville.