We then wandered to the back of the market and walked through their version of a supermarket, which was very similar to ours with the glaring exception of the pig legs hanging around. We then got some churros from a street vendor. We mistakenly asked for 1 Kilo and they laughed at us and gave us the correct amount. We ran into Drew and ate our churros in the flower market. We continued to wander and came across a beautiful Cathedral. After ducking inside we continued to walk near the water. We visited the recently excavated ruins of a Roman Coliseum. Apparently, they are the 2nd biggest found ruins after those in Rome. It was very cool and interesting because they were found so recently there are literally apartments right on top of the ruins. Then we wandered some more and headed towards lunch. Eric said he was supposed to meet up with Fiana & Jayson (roommate & her bf) and I didn’t really want to hang out with them. They are nice, but I don’t need to spend any more time with them then I already do. Thankfully, we were shopping in Zara and I found my friend Melissa so I sort of switched groups. I went out to lunch with Melissa, Hannah, Cynthia and some other girls. We got 2 types of paella and a few pitchers of Sangria that were delicious! We were going to wander and shop a little bit more after lunch, but it was siesta time and everything closed. I thought siesta would really just be a few stores closing, but I was wrong. The country literally completely closes from 2-5:30. This is after they open at 10am. I have no idea how anything ever gets done there because things are closed all the time. It is such a stark contrast to the states where people work 10-hour days. So, I went back to the ship to nap before Flamenco Night.
Flamenco Night was my first Semester at Sea organized trip. We figured it would be hugely touristy, but thought it would be interesting. Hannah, who I had lunch with, was also going so I met up with her and we headed down to the bus. Hannah knew a big group of girls that were going and I ended up sitting next to this great girl, Kara, from Rye, NY. We drove for a half hour and ended up in the middle of nowhere. We got off the bus and were offered sherry. There was a little bullring that we climbed up into. The first thing we saw a flamenco performance with 2 women, a man and a horse. It was very interesting to watch these women dance with the horse and not with the man. Then a boy that couldn’t have been older then 12 came out into the ring dressed as a matador. It was so cute because then this tiny baby bull ran out and the kid tried to fight him. His friends were all standing around the perimeter of the ring laughing at him. One was a dead ringer for Owen…his Spanish clone- I took a picture. This kid was pretty cute, this bull wanted nothing to do with him. His friends were laughing hysterically. They signaled that the event was over, but then we were invited in to the restaurant. We were all perplexed because we really were in the middle of no where and couldn’t figure out where a restaurant could be. We walked for about five minutes and ended up in this gorgeous restaurant. It was all lit by candles and they had sangria and different types of tapas including Spain’s famous Jamon. A man and women walked on the small stage at the front of the restaurant and began singing and playing the guitar. All of a sudden 3 female flamenco dancers and 1 male dancer came out and began to dance again. This was a much more intimate setting and It was very interesting. We all sat and watched for a while. It was then I noticed that my favorite movado ring that I got from mom & dad for my 16th birthday had broken! The hoop that held the dangling gold heart had split and the heart was gone. I was wicked bummed but tried to to let it ruin my night. We then got the opportunity to try flamenco dancing ourselves, which was fun!
We headed back to the boat around 11 and everyone was itching to go out when we got there. I didn’t know if I wanted to go out really crazy because I had a 9am trip in the morning. I am having a hard time finding a balance between the partying and the cultural parts of the trip. As my friend drew put it “there are kids who just want to get wasted in every country t o say they got wasted in 11 countries then there are kids like us that party more than enough at school and want to have a good time while getting everything out of every experience”. Being hungover for a day would take away the already little time I have in each country. That being said, we all know I love to go out, so it is a rough street to traverse. I am trying to find people with the same mindset as me and I am getting better at it. Its not like I wanna travel the world nerds either.
Anyways, so when we got back to the boat there were a ton of kids standing outside and I found my friend Andy. Apparently all the hot clubs were in New Cadiz so 8 of us hopped a cab over there. We got there around 1130 and everyone was hungry. In Spain they eat so late so everything was still open. We found this little place that served tapas and was completely empty so we went in. The owner was such a great guy. We befriended him sat and talked to him for forever. He had a beer with us and let me try his favorite white wine , which was delicious and apple based. Very different, but yummy! Wine is Spain is almost cheaper than water! In the supermarket is was 3euro a bottle! I was happy! It was really a cool authentic experience. He made us all his specialties and even showed us how to debone & take out the spine of these tiny fried fish. By this point it was 1 am and we headed to the club everyone was at. We got there and there was an 7 euro cover and it was already 1:15, so most of us said screw it and went back to the boat. It was a great night though even though we didn’t go out.
Our second day I had a trip called the White Town Route, I really had no idea what to expect and it was really awesome. The first town we went to was called Arcos and was about a half hour from Cadiz. It was built into a hill and every building was pure white. It was gorgeous. Here we walked around for a long while and saw some churches. Our tour guide then brought us to the “Oh My God Balcony”. That is the name of this lookout point. It was gorgeous. Rolling hills and farmland was below and you could see for miles it really was amazing. Then we went to a town called Ronda. When we got there we had lunch at this nice restaurant. We had chickpea soup, a type of pork (w, fries) and delicious flan. Dad would have loved it. Then we began to wander around the town, which was packed. Our tour guide explained that Ronda has the oldest bullfighting ring in Spain and was home to Pedro Romero who killed more than 5,600 bulls in his lifetime. Well, the day we were there was a national holiday celebrating the bullfighters and the rarely used bullring was holding a fight later on in the day. Unfortunately, we were unable to attend the fight, but the city was buzzing with excitement. Ronda is also built into the mountains and there is a river that runs through the center, which over time had carved the 100+ meter El Tajo canyon. There is a bridge that goes over & down the canyon to connect the city. When I say bridge I really mean architectural masterpiece. This bridge was built in the 1400’s and is massive. It goes all the way down the canyon and stands 390 ft tall. We visited what used to be someone’s summer home and is now donated to a fund that allows retired teachers to use it. This mansion was beautiful with intricate tiles and a massive garden that had fabulous views of the surrounding mountains and the bridge. After visiting Ronda all day we headed back to the boat.
A group of us decided to venture out for dinner, at 10:30pm. As we were leaving we ran into my friend Drew and he said he would meet us at the restaurant. We wandered around downtown Cadiz for a while and finally found the restaurant that claimed to have “the best paella” it also had the most expensive paella, so we wandered some more and found this great outdoor restaurant with music. However, we remembered that drew was supposed to meet us at the other restaurant, so we left a post it note on the door. This is what happens when you have girls that have been preparing for this trip for months, we actually carry post it notes with us.
The dinner at the other restaurant was great. Gen and I shared steamed mussels and the BEST mini tuna tomato empanadas (even better than Valencia’s). We all ordered things and shared so I tried real gazpacho, which the served in a glass, fried peppers & potatoes. Our most eventful order of the night came when Lizzy thought she was ordering tuna. It came and was distinctly not tuna. It had a vein like texture and was very crumbly, so we assumed it was brain and all tried it anyways…it wasn’t very good. A few days later we found free wifi and googled it….it was not brain or tuna, but was fish ovaries. Not very good for future reference.
We got back to the ship and found Drew. Apparently he actually got our post it note! We were so excited, but our directions were sort of shitty so he didn’t find us. We were just excited for our victory with the post it. We headed to bed around 1:30 so we would be ready to get up for our adventure to Gibraltar the next morning!
Sorry these have been so long. Email me if you prefer an abridged version, I just want to make sure I get everything out before I forget!! Miss you all.
xoxo
Sorry these have been so long. Email me if you prefer an abridged version, I just want to make sure I get everything out before I forget!! Miss you all.
xoxo
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