Hot as a Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

I have heard that Seville is as hot as the Sahara in July, and I believe it. The last two days have been boiling. Yesterday Lisa, Daphne and I intended to visit a museum. Instead, halfway there and almost completely molten, we gave up and went to an Irish pub to watch World Cup soccer. By the time we reached Flagerty's we looked a lot like the fellow in the photo on the left- partially disentegrated and besotted with sweat. Nevertheless, in our travels I discovered a pet shop selling chipmunks. Chipmunks as pets?!

Café Porque Aquí

Saturday was one of those days where one glimpses the extraordinary in the mundane. It began with a trip to the tapas bar around the corner from home. Sidling up to the counter I requested my usual "cafe con leche para llevar" (coffee with milk to go). I had things to do- verbs to conjugate, vocabulary to memorize and laundry to ignore. The jovial bartender, Santiago, however, would have none of this. His coffee was to be savored at the bar. Santiago had control of the precious espresso machine, and therefore all of the bargaining power. I conceded and received my cafe in the typical glass. I soon realized that Santiago was right: the bar turned out to be prime real estate for participating in the local social scene. The bar is patronized by all types of locals- patricians, middle aged duenas, and women with infants to name a few. All engage in fast paced, jovial banter with Santiago and his mother, who are also the restaurant's owners. Santiago introduced me to a distinguished looking octogenarian in a dapper fedora, who turned out to be a bit of a flirt. Santiago looked on mischievously as the distinguished gentleman asked if I had plans for that evening.

Later, on the way to a flamenco bar with friends we spotted no fewer than a dozen brides. They materialize in alarming number during Saturday evening sunsets. Some newlyweds go for a triumphant ride around the Old City. One such couple passed by in a classic horse drawn carriage with white horses. The bride was resplendent in lace and satin. The groom was equally elegantly attired in sky blue tuxedo with coattails, accessorized with a top hat and, the piece de resistance, a pimp cane.

Italica

Continuing on the Roman theme, on Thursday I visited the ruins of Italica, a mere 9 kilometers oustide of Sevilla. Highlights included well-preserved mosaics in aristocrats' homes and an amphitheater. Large enough to seat 20,000, the amphitheater drew crowds from neighboring cities. In addition, I learned about a new section of the theater, the vomitorium. The name is self explanatory. This section definitely was not included in the tour of Rome's Coliseum. Despite playing a gladiator from ancient Spain in the blockbuster "Gladiator", Russell Crowe was not at the amphitheater when I visited. Hrmph. :)

More on the archaeology of Italica: http://www.livius.org/io-iz/italica/italica2.html

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the...

...Alhambra. Granadans have a Moorish masterpiece, and a sense of humor. The photo of the t-shirt (a sentiment after my own heart:)) was taken at a souvenir stand just outside the Alhambra's grounds. The other two photographs is from a fountain in the Plaza Bib Rambla. These uncouth eye-level grotesques spit water at passers-by, while a somber Neptune surveys the Plaza from up above. With a pigeon on his head. p.s. David tells me that the t-shirt is by a company based in Pamplona called Kukuxumusu. They sell all sorts of fun cartoon designs: http://www.kukuxumusu.com/shop/.

La Alhambra: un Sueño Hecho Realidad

his weekend I I made an art historical pilgrimage of sorts to the Alhambra in Granada. I dreamed of visiting this magnificent place ever since learning about it in Professor Bonde's class, Muslims, Jews and Christians in Medieval Iberia, way back in 2000. It was everything I imagined and more!

The Alhambra is in fact a complex composed of several buildings, including a Moorish fortress, a Moorish palace and the Palace of Charles V. As with many surviving Moorish Andalusian sites, the Palace of Charles is in part a monument to Christian triumph over the Moors.

The Royal Complex is by far my favorite section of the Alhambra. Here, nearly every surface coruscates with inscriptions and abstract patterns. Walls, archways and ceilings are meticulously carved. Our tour guide indicated that the artisans toiled on the Alhambra's decorations for more than 200 years. I am not surprised. The result is astonishing. One encounters room after room of adornment, a marvelous optical buffet impressing upon the viewer the immense wealth of the Complex's inhabitants.

In addition to decorative motifs, the Alhambra features impressive aquatic engineering. Fountains abound in the Alhambra, as does evidence of comprehensive plumbing. I noticed a couple of gutters gurgling even on the oppressively hot day on which I visited. Water sprouts playfully from orderly fountains concealed in garden pools. The Alhambra's creators clearly maintained their reverence for water despite their mastery of it.

I am so grateful to have gotten to see the Alhambra. It's an UNESCO World Heritage Site, and for good reason. There is so much to this place, and I encourage anyone interested to read more about it. The wikipedia entry is a good place to start: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alhambra.

Ah, la vida Andaluza....

Tapas Exquisitas!

One more tasty morsel before my weekend sojourn to Granada: today I relished a late lunch at the tapas bar around the corner. I have adopted it as my unofficial cucina (kitchen). Today's fare included polo a la moruna (Moorish chicken) and queso granatido con mermelada aceituna (cheese with olive spread). Both were divine:)

Ole!

On Wednesday I attended a flamenco performance in the Casa de la Memoria in el Barrio Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz is Sevilla's historic Jewish quarter (Juderia). As with other old Jewish neighborhoods I have visited in Europe (such as Josefov in Prague), the area is both beautiful and tragic. Beauty lies in the grace of the structures and the art that have been preserved over centuries; sadness lingers in the realization that these neighborhoods are not living, breathing communities but museums. (In the case of Josefov, the neighborhood was rather morbidly and expressly intended to be a museum of an extinct race.) There are still people and businesses in the Barrio Santa Cruz of course, but now, so many generations after expulsion of the Jewish people and reclamation of the physical space and culture by the majority society, you have to listen closely to hear even the whispers of the Jewish community that once was.

Contemporary Santa Cruz is primarily a touristic neighborhood, replete with small hotels, tapas bars, restaurants and photo-snapping tourists. I arrived at the Casa de la Memoria a few minutes early and decided to stroll through the neighborhood. Along the way I encountered a church with doors carved intricately in the Moorish style. These decorative doors were reinforced by the ubiquitous metal-stud-reinforced wooden gates of all Sevillan churches. Making doors battering ram proof was all the rage before surveillance cameras entered the market. Thank goodness the old ways are obscure and Baroque. No need to fix them. Ba-dum-cha.

Back at the Casa de la Memoria, the flamenco performance was stirring! The space was a rather beautiful patio in the center of an 18th century townhouse. The show began after sunset, and as a result the photos are dark and don't quite capture the wonderfully romantic lighting. I imagined the lady of the house wrapped in an oversized embroidered shawl, watching from her second story balcony as the action unfolded on the patio below. The performers included a guitarist, a singer and a dancer. The show started with a quietly intricate Spanish guitar song. Soon, the guitar was joined by the plaintive but unwaveringly masculine voice of the singer. Finally, the dancer emerged. The synergy between guitar, singer and dancer was palpable. When the guitarist indulged in complex riffs, the singer and dancer murmured encouragement or clapped in rhythm. The dancer would then erupt in movement, an eddy of pain, love, flirtation and fury with moods punctuated by percussive feet and stoked by the musicians' calls of encouragement. Curiously, the dancer did both traditionally male and female styles of dance (and changed her costumes accordingly). La Zambra (the dancer) had superhumanly fast feet and an intensely emotive mien http://lazambra.es/.

The performance only strengthened my resolve to take flamenco classes here in Sevilla!

A Room of One's Own

Victoria Woolf famously opined that every aspiring female writer needs a room of her own. Here in Sevilla, I am fortunate enough to have just such a haven. I live on the third floor of a grand townhouse. From my aerie I can hear the rumblings of Sevillan street life and the chatter of my housemates, all while savoring the afternoon breeze and avoiding the blazing sun.

Música de Sevilla

Every place has its own particular symphony of sounds. Here in Seville time is punctuated by bells- on the street by the grave gong of church bells, and at the language school by the politely insistent trill of school bells. The latter invariably triggers memories of the "Saved by the Bell" theme song. Then there is the ubiquitous street musician. Today's sidewalk cafe lunch came with a gratis serenade consisting of a delightfully jazzy rearrangement of "Somewhere over the Rainbow." In the evening my housemate Shiro plays Nirvana, Green Day and Extreme (including my favorite 1992-93 bar/bat mitzvah season chestnut, "More than Words"). He also takes requests. Mike, another housemate, plays the piano. With my acapella experience, an impromptu concert is inevitable. Who knows, we might even become a Spanish student version of the Von Trapp family. Music aside, there is the conversational concert of our multilingual, multinational household. We are French, German, Dutch, Swiss, Japanese and American, united by our study of Spanish and enjoyment of red wine. Esta la vida Andaluza!

Firtht Day of Clath

Today marked the first day of class, and the introduction to the Andalucian lisp. I have not yet discerned the rules for when the lisp is exercised, but I like the sound of it. The same can be said of my Spanish skills in general- a peculiar patois of verbiage, giggles and gesticulation. Luckily, everyone here wants to practice, and so we communicate by stringing together words with varying degrees of accuracy but much enthusiasm. We sound like Romper Room. En Espanol.

The auditory lessons are continuing apace. There was one minor setback during which I had thought that the tour guide was talking about a music hall. Just as I was about to ask when Bono would arrive, I realized that the building in question was in fact the National Archives. Dewey Decimal is the only rock star in that house.

Bonolessness aside, it was a lovely tour of Santa Cruz, which encompasses Seville's historically Jewish neighborhood. Vibrant examples of the fusion of Muslim, Jewish and Christian aesthetics abound. Equally strikingly, the area is unquestionably directed at tourists; nonetheless, locals engage in the prosaic details of life, walking the dog, smoothing a tablecloth, with apparent habituation to centuries of architectural relics that surround them. Here, as everywhere, life goes on.

Better than Ice Cream...

let's face it, not much is. I am therefore all the more impressed with my ability to sniff out the best ice cream in Seville, despite mind-clouding jetlag on my very first night in Seville. It turns out that orange infused chocolate (sorry, Nora) ice cream bolsters the spirit and the mind. Me gusta mucho Helagos Rayas!

Bienvenido!

Hola amigos! For the next five weeks, I will be traversing the land of flamenco, toreo and a surprisingly diverse selection of chocolate doughnuts: Al Andalus! I have long been fascinated by this cultural crucible, and I am thrilled to share it with you. Some of you may recall my e-mail diaries from Australia. Welcome to version 2.0, a collection of virtual snapshots of life in Seville and nearby cities. And with that, let's begin with important issues....