All of Spain at Once (slightly anachronistic but it covers everything)

9/4/10
                Hey so here’s the update on the first day of Cadiz! I am writing this just after my tours at around 6 in the evening so I haven’t done Flamenco night yet and can’t upload pictures so I’ll post this whenever I can do that (sorry if this makes it end up being a little late, as in a few days!)
Later Edit: Pictures! Finally!Now I can upload them! Oh wait, the public wifi in Cadiz is horrible. Sorry guyz. I tried real hard. Twice. For a grand total of 2 hours. It never worked.
                It was awesome to wake up this morning and see land out the window. I had only slept for 5 hours but it was exciting enough to get me out of bed instantly.
Cadiz is a beautiful small city. Its very old-fashioned and in a pretty small area at the tip of a peninsula. The streets are all very narrow and lined with shops and the buildings above all have decorative balconies, as future photos will hopefully show. Every other building is a church (its Spain after all) so there were plenty of pretty old buildings to photograph.
The weather here is crazy. Not a single cloud all day and the sun is brutal. I’m shocked my sunburn isn’t that bad.
While I was wandering around the city with some friends we stumbled onto this old Spanish coastal fort which had been turned into a monastery which was free to tour. It was absolutely silent inside, which was crazy since it was so loud just outside of it. There were some good views out the cannon portholes.
During the walking tour SAS trip we also went to the archaeological museum. It had artifacts from the prehistoric inhabitants, who drew Phoenician ships on the walls of caves (kinda crazy) and a bunch of Phoenician, Hellenic, and Roman artifacts. Cadiz is actually home to the only two known Phoenician sarcophagi in Europe. Sadly, I couldn’t figure out how to turn the flash off of my camera until we got to the 2nd floor of the museum, where they had fine arts. I did manage to get photos of an interesting collection of marionettes from children’s puppet shows set in Cadiz during the 19th century.
After that I had a badly-needed lunch (around 4pm) at the Cafeteria Andalucia which was really expensive for how good it was (average). After that I went on a trip to the Carrafour grocery store (basically Spanish Safeway) to get some mouthwash. As I was waiting in the checkout line, two guys outside started a fistfight. These two kids came running into the store and told their mom something or other excitedly, and she told the cashier who started screaming something about Policia. Thats about when I figured it out. Outside one guy had his shirt off and was dancing around this other guy who was bleeding in the face. A big burly supermarket worker in an intimidating red apron went outside and broke them up and hauled the bleeding guy into the store. The cops showed up after that and calm returned to the streets of Cadiz.

UPDATE
Just got back from flamenco night! It was incredible! We went to this old-fashioned country restaurant near the town of Chiclana and they just kept giving us these drinks and we didn’t know if they were alcoholic or not (they were). Then a traditional Andalusian flamenco dancing ensemble performed. Words cannot do justice to the sheer athleticism these three gals and one guy had. It was absolutely mind-numbingly good. Then afterwards there was some audience-participation dancing.
Another edit from later: I am enlightened now and know that the pomegranate, orange, apple, and sherry combination is Sangria. Its awesome. I can drink it forever. It was probably my favorite part of Spain, to just get a giant pitcher of it with dinner to share with everyone. Anyway, after flamenco night I went out with some friends into Cadiz to get some tapas and cervezas, and it was all in all a great time.
9/5/10
Today was the hike in Grazalema Natural Park. It covers several picturesque mountains in southern Andalucia. The highest of them is about a mile high and you can see all the way to Morocco from the top. Unfortunately we didn't summit this one, but it was still a very fun 7 km hike at about 1200m altitude. The scenery, once again, was too beautiful for words to describe. Blah blah blah needs pictures I know I know. I'd post thousands of them if I could.
One thing I noticed on the way to the park from Cadiz is that there are thousands of windmills. USA needs to get it together about this kind of stuff. The tour guide said that half of all the power in Andalucia comes from wind and solar. That’s ridiculous. Anyway, after hearing that I dozed off on the bus and missed a lot of scenery but I was pretty sleep-deprived.
After the hike I took a short siesta (what an incredibly good idea the siesta is) and went out for dinner. I met up with some SASers who had found a restaurant with a really cool waitress the night before. We had tapas and fried fish and at the end we all got a free shot of Sobieski. I don't know what it is, but I'd guess its either mead or caramel vodka. Delicious. It tastes like happiness.
Sevilla on day 3! My friends and I got a train that left EXACTLY ON TIME (not used to this in the states) and got to Sevilla EXACTLY ON TIME. When we were finished shitting bricks, we found a hostel at a great price that had such luxuries as potable water and electricity, and was in a great location. Then we toured the city all day and saw the Cathedral, the Alcazar, and the Torre del Oro. All of them beautiful. Sevilla has so much history and its probably my new favorite European city (its beating Rome, Paris, and Athens.) I feel like I'm wasting my time posting only text and not pictures since the place is so photogenic. While I'm writing this I"ve managed to upload a token few photos, so hopefully you can go see them on facebook.

Another edit: Okay time to finally write about Sevilla.
We got lost a few times in the city (on purpose). This is the best way to find back-alley places with authentic handicrafts and other souvenirs that are worth buying. I found a carved ceramic wall hanging that was Moorish (Arabic) in design and said Sevilla (I assume) in Arabic on it. I’d take a picture but I forgot, and now its all wrapped up in bubble wrap until I get home. Its about the size of a piece of paper (slightly bigger) and was only 22 euros. For hand-crafted and painted ceramic? I was prepared to pay twice as much. This was definitely my favorite purchase in Spain. Of course its only competition is a coffee mug, a gold-toned keychain (it has the coat of arms on it! It looks cool! Shut up!) and a t-shirt with a cartoon angry bull that says “Sevilla” and was made in Bangladesh. Bangladesh? Shit. Oh well its funny.
On the last day in Sevilla we got lost on purpose again and wandered through the streets. I could seriously do that for weeks until I’d seen the entire old section of the city. The new section not so much, mainly because looking at it from the train some parts seem pretty ghetto. But in the old town with its pedetrian-only streets and whatnot I felt very safe the whole time. I suppose this is a luxury that’s gone now until Japan, or maybe Hong Kong.
Day 5 was uneventful for the most part. I woke up, drank some nice strong delicious Spanish coffee, did a little shopping to get rid of my Euros and bought a Spain-themed mug and had a great but filling lunch with my friend Sara. We made friends with an adorable little Spanish girl who was maybe 2 years old. She waved to us and got sad when we had to leave. I could tell she'll be pretty when she's older (like every single Spanish woman pretty much). But then I was reminded she was a toddler because she smiled and dropped a mouthful of food onto her bib.
Anyway, after that all my euros were gone and I came back onto the ship early (4pm when the deadline to arrive was 6). I took advantage of the ship sitting in port to run on the treadmill and do some bench press, both of which are somewhat precarious while its moving.
There’s not really much else specific that I can think of saying, so if you want to know more you can ask questions on facebook or by emailing me at sgchastain@semesteratsea.net. I’m definitely forgetting stuff but I’m also really tired. As I’m writing this we’re booking it towards Morocco, which makes the ship rock more, which makes me tired. Goodnight!