Seville is probably my favourite place in Spain so far. Not even really sure why to be exact, just something about it clicks with me. The area near my hostel is a nice plaza with heaps of restaurants, cafes and bars which is nice. And actually unlike anywhere else I've been they actually seem to have decent bars here. And the main beer they have isn't even too bad either.

But on top of that, there's plenty to do. I've already taken two different walking tours which were both interesting and informative. I've learned quite a bit about Spanish history between these tours and the one in Granada. Especially about the Arab/Muslim past of the area. From when the Phoenicians first settled here, to when the Romans took over to when the Muslims came up from the south and then eventually ran in to the Christians coming from the north. Eventually the Christians would start the Inquisition and kill or kick out pretty much all the Jews and Muslims.

The Cathedral here in Seville is also really quite interesting and is a mix of Gothic, Renaissance, Neo-Classical and even a bit of Muslim architecture. The tower itself is the only part of what was a Mosque still standing, though it has been added to since then by the catholics and turned into a bell tower and has a renaissance architecture to it. The main part of the cathedral itself is gothic, but it's been added to and enlarged with some classical elements. According to Wikipedia it is the second largest cathedral in the world after St Peter's in the Vatican. But our tour guide actually said it was possibly only the 6th or 7th largest, so I'm not sure. I think he was talking about the area of the footprint whereas the Wikipedia article was going on volume of the area inside the cathedral. In any case, it was a pretty damn large cathedral. The view from the tower was amazing too. Seville is a pretty beautiful city.

The walking tours also took us through the Jewish quarter where we learned a little more history, much about Peter the Cruel (the king the Spanish lisp comes from). We also got to see the bull fighting arena which is the second most popular one in Spain after the one in Madrid. And finally we ended one of the tours at Plaza de Espana which is this awesome looking building/monument built by Spain for the Latin American countries. Along the walls they have paintings for each of the Spanish cities.

Monday, 27th, today I went and saw the Alcazar. Yeah, that's right, I'm actually writing about it straight away. I ought to do this more often, much easier this way. I won't publish this entry until I'm done though. The Alcazar is a palace, in some ways similar to the Alhambra in Granada. That is to say it has a very Arab feel to it. It was originally built by the Romans but then taken over and expanded by the Muslims and then eventually by the Christians, as much of the history of southern Spain goes. Took a good couple of hours to walk around the palace and the huge gardens. Was really nice. A nice sunny day too. Now I'm just spending the rest of the day updating this journal and figuring out what I'm doing next and where I'm going. Leaning towards Morocco.

Wednesday 29th, Last night I went and saw a Flamenco show. I did a tour in which they spent the first hour going through the history of Flamenco. All about the gypsies and working class and all the various types of Flamenco (of which apparently they are over 60). During this talk we also had some Manzanilla wine, which is a wine made from grapes which only grow in this region of Spain. It didn't really taste anything like wine actually, it was really strong and tasted more like tequila or something. Was actually quite horrible. After that we went to the show which went for about an hour. It was really quite something. Flamenco is a very intense style of dance/music/song. Although the show was an hour long, most of that was just guitar and singing. The dancer was only one for maybe 20 or so minutes. And there was no wonder why. After only about 10 minutes she was drenched in sweat. That dancing is hard work. Not something I'm super into, but it was a fun experience nonetheless.

I was suppose to be leaving today, but Bankwest decided to freeze my credit card so I couldn't book my hostel or bus. Neither really needs to be booked online necessarily, but I decided I would just stay an extra day here anyway to get it sorted. This also ended up allowing me to watch the second half of the T20 too which was a nice bonus. As for the rest of the day I think I'll just spend it watching shows and playing games. Not exciting I know, but I've done everything I want in Seville I think.

Tomorrow I am off to Malaga for a few days. Bit of a party town from what I understand and I am staying at what is advertised as a bit of a party hostel. So should be a fun weekend. I plan on taking a day trip to Gibraltar too which should be interesting.