Last day in Saville

The hostel arranged for us to go to a flamenco show Tuesday night so 7 of us went out for some drinks and dancing. Weaving our way through the winding streets of Saville we finally came to a stop in front of some plain doors. Walking through there was a barn like floor, a fireplace, and a beautiful mantle with a piano underneath. Walking through a doorway set in the corner was a room with plastic corrugated roofing, a cement floor, and a stage where a woman in blue was pounding her feet and spinning. I grabbd a sangria and sat with the group to watch. The show was three people; a guitar player, a singer, and a dancer. The guitar player started to play and then the singer started up. It was not traditional singing but more like a whailing song showing his agony for his lost love. The flamenco dancer didn't dance the whole time and it was hard to follow since I don't speak Spanish and didn't know what he was saying. We stayed for the whole show though to be honest by the end I couldn't wait to leave. It was midnight, the benches were cutting off circulation to my bum and the songs all sounded the same. The flamenco dancer only danced about 15% of the time. I am hoping to see another one to see if there's a difference. It was a very casual atmosphere and fun to get out with some good people. Three of us left together and got lost trying to find our hostel. But laughing the whole time we eventually found our way.

The next morning I woke up after a great sleep that had been filled with weird dreams! Must have been the flamenco! A group of us went for breakfast and then Vinicius and I headed down to the bus station to buy some tickets. Afterwards we went to a bridge called Pte. Isabel II, designed by the same man who designed the Eiffel tower. We wandered past the bullfighting ring, where it's a big deal in seville before heading to real Alcazar. This castle was beautiful, with Moorish designs, Roman columns, and Spanish royal symbols all tied together. The gardens were exquisite and there were even peacocks wandering the paths. After over an hour we left, wandering the streets of Seville before realizing we had no idea where we were! Haha. Pulling out a map we found our way back to the hostel. I had some leftover pasta for lunch and Vinicius decided to go wondering some more. Since I didn't have much time before my bus I stayed behind to do some hostel booking. My stay in Hostel One Centro was amazing. The building had a beautiful courtyard for the lobby that had neat lights and furniture. Two birds sat in the quiet room off to the side and serenaded me while I Skyped. The staff were so friendly and sat to chat with you when you were in the lobby. Ariel, the manager was amazing. I will definitely miss the people of this hostel.

Fun fact about Saville: it used to be a town built on the top of a hill with house cascading down the sides of the hill. Over the centuries they build new houses and buildings on the old ones and now Saville is flat. Although whenever they dig or go to rebuild they find ruins from another time!

I took the bus, less than 3 hours, to Granada. I had the unfortunate pleasure of sitting across the aisle from a guy with the most obnoxious voice who spent more than half the time yelling into his phone and cackling. If I knew how to say "quiet" in Spanish, I would have told him. My headphones turned way up didn't block out the sound of his phone conversation. And there is something about bus drivers in Spain that drive me crazy. They don't turn on the reading lights or air unless asked. So half way through the drive when it got too dark to read I had to put my book away. They also don't speak English, and because there were no stops on the winding road between the two cities I didn't want to die trying to explain the reading lights. Happens every time....I'm going to start asking them before we leave the station!

I arrived in Granada and met a guy on my bus from New York who was heading to the same hostel. And I am so glad he was there because we got so lost trying to find the hostel. The directions said turn left when you actually need to turn right! Ugh....hostels should follow their own directions some time! We got checked in and went to our rooms and then met again in the lobby. We decided to go for dinner and get some tapas. The way it worked in this restaurant is you could take tapas sitting at the bar or wait till they brought them out hot from the kitchen. When they did this they would ring a bell and yell something. After they would count your toothpicks to know how much to charge you. It was OK but not very filling. Also, they didn't have sangria, what is up with that??? Anyways we had a great time. Ankush is originally from India so we had lots to talk about!

I am off to do the walking tour today, and it's laundry day!!! Yahoo! Lol Granada has Arabic baths with massage....might have to splurge and treat myself!!!