We wanted to find the large cathedral first, through a large and lovely park. But got slightly lost and ended up at the huge and old uni campus. The students everywhere gave us a bit of a clue. I wanted to spend alunch there, pretending to be a student.
We were closer to the Plaza de Espana so we went there instead. It was gorgeous and well worth going to. Blue and white ceramics covered all the railings.
The buildings and fountains were covered in Mosaics. Josh said he recognised it from a Star Wars movie.
We hung around for a little while in the shade. Then we moved towards the river. We walked along until we hit Torre de Oro. It was on the list of sights but nothing too spectacular.
We headed away from the river to finally find the big Cathedral and neighbouring palace. It was nice, but I think I´m a bit over cathedrals by now. So we sat for the chicken and cheese sammish lunches we brought with us. We ate perched on the top steps of some memorial statue. From our higher plain we spied women doing the herb thing. The type of women who hold bunches of some kind of garden herb (a lucky charm maybe?). They go up to tourists and give them a sprig,then stand there demanding money for them. A classic tourist trap. But these women didn´t seem sneaky or destitute like the usual suspects. They were dressed nicely and spent most of the time stand in a group gossiping. When the whim took them they descended onto the same group of tourists and over powered them with numbers. I don´t know if their hearts were really in it.
We walked past the church and into the maze of tiny winding streets. Again we wondered around lost.
In the evening we had dinner and then went to the free flamenco show the hostel pointed out to us. We found the red door and went inside. Not too many people to start with, but numbers grew. Spanish and not Spanish alike filled the benches around the stage. The show was supposed to start at 10-30. It only started at 11-30. I was already trying hard to stay awake.
Three people came on stage. A woman in a black and red flamenco dress, an older man in black and a young guitarist. The older man gave an introduction in Spanish before they all sat down. The show started with lovely guitar playing. The other two clapped and stamped their feet in time with the music. The rhythm was amazingly intricate and irregular. I was impressive that they managed to keep the time.
The older man started to sing. The most beautiful, clear and powerful voice. No microphone, but his voiced filling the entire bar without breaking note. Incredible. The dancing hadn´t even started yet.
After a few songs the woman got up and started the flamenco dance. The most impressive part of all of it was the rhythm. I would have messed it up after the first few bars, but she kept time effortlessly with her hands, feet and body.
I was beat after so we left and walked back. A good time had by all.
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