Spain.  Man oh man Spain is SO BEAUTIFUL!  I am going into my 3rd week of being on the road and I am so happy I made the decision to start in Spain.  It is just such a gorgeous country.  I ended my Camino walk in Ponferrada.  I thought about taking a train/bus to Santiago de Compostela but reconsidered.  Instead I would like to come back to Spain and finish the walk Ponferrada to Santiago.  I think it would take me another 7-10 days.  I will keep my pilgrims passport and hopefully pick up where I left off.    Next on the agenda was to meet a friend in Seville for a couple of nights before we  left for Morocco.  My route essentially backtracked: Ponferrada- Leon-Madrid-Seville.

Many people fly directly into Morocco but we thought it may be more fun to cross over land but more on that later.  We had 2 days to explore Seville and oh how I wish I had more time there.  This appears to possibly be a trend for me in my travels thus far.  Wanting more time in one place. It is probably a good lesson to remember for this upcoming year.  Quality over quantity.  Traveling to places isn’t a bucket list of destinations to be crossed off the list.

On the first night, my friend Bridget and I went to the Seville Catherdral, and when I say “went to” I actually just mean walked around the outside.  It is the largest Gothic Catherdral and third largest church in THE WORLD.  Yikes.  Let that sink in for a minute.  This place was massive.  The cathedral is also said to be the burial site of Christopher Columbus.  However, this fact is disputed.  His remains were originally sent to the Dominic Republic, then Cuba and finally Seville.  Some DNA evidence suggests his remains never left Cuba so there is an air of mystery surrounding the whole situation.  As Bridget said “That seems appropriate for a world explorer.  This guy sure get around for being dead.”   Regardless if he’s buried there or not, the cathedral was beautiful and impressive.

The next day we headed to a royal palace called Alcazar of Seville.  It is the oldest royal palace still in use in Europe.  The best way to described the place is decadent.  Room after room of beautiful tile work and carvings.  It was originally constructed as a Moorish fort but it has been renovated numerous times over it’s long history.  The  Christian and Muslim architecture in it’s roots is so apparent throughout the entire palace. It’s really interesting to see how the two cultures and religions came together to create the place.

That night we went to the river front for a meal of traditional Spanish paella and red wine.  My first couple days in Spain I would order red wine as “vino rojo.”  That makes sense right?  Vino=wine, rojo=red.  I would get varied looks and then something different was brought out to me every time; pink wine with ice, sangria, etc.  I have since been informed that red wine is actually “vino tinto.”  This tidbit of information has been essential in optimizing my travel experience.  Now I can order my delicious red wine with no confusion!