Spain and Portugal Part 5 25th -26th Dec => Lisbon -> Seville -> Gibraltar -> Costa Del Sol
okie so i knoe its a bit late but oh well.. wats a story without an end? so here i am setting my mind to get the whole trip review at least by the next week. lets pray this gets done yar. hehe.
So in this part of the long forgotten journey.. we left the fair banks of lisbon across a long long bridge to the other end beyond the blocks of clouds tt have gathered on the surface of the frigid waters. then we travelled back to Spain to continue on the journey of the capital of Andulusia region - Seville. the ride was long and time stretched on forever.
Lunch was a problem too as hardly any restaurants nor cafes were open due to the onset of xmas day. In europe, most pple would take xmas breaks tt lasted from xmas eve to new years day itself. we braced ourself to face a ghost town of a city anyway, with a slight dwelling of hope that possibly there would be mini celebrations held in the city.
Meantime, the lunch stop over was at a "ghost-city" look alike settlement with empty dusty streets and closed windows. Scary i might say. the meal was less than satisfactory with its over the top 'lean' cut of meats. Argh.. terribly dry and chewy. so we had no choice but to snack on little tibits to appese the hunger pangs. 'sin'ful of course. but when you're hungry, anything goes!
it was soon after lunch that we reached seville and started our tour of the place. viewing the alcazar and the jewish quarter of Santa Cruz. dirty little boi.. hahadun you just love the tiled floors.. adroably cute motifs...one thing extremely endearings about the town of Seville are the millions of orange trees lining the streets of Seville. Incredibly bright orange, then u may question why these dun get plucked down by residents? well, these are bitter oranges! lyke inedible-y bitter, well, so wat the government does at the end of the season is to gather the oranges and ship them to Britan where they are made into lovely jars of marmalade! how quaint! just love the idea... hehe the setting sun over the fountain
Seville by night... the next day, we woke up bright and early to get a head start on the journey down to Gibraltar, and independent colony under British colonial ruling. so everyone! get ur passports ready. hehe. as soon as crossed over the narrow strip of land joining mainland Spain and the little rock fortress. a incredible sense of homeliness washed over me. Perhaps i'm too used to living on a little island. restrictions of space and the lack of vastness of the land seems a little appealing. this island, though small, had a very strategic part to play in the first world war, proving to be a major stronghold for the British. from this little landmark, you could seee the Mainland Spain, and over the seas, the most northern end of the african continent, Morocco. Amazing ain't it. there was more to it than tt. this island is said to be one of the most densely populated islands in the world and this i agreed upon viewing the houses built on the sloped hills of land. oh gosh, the houses were so tight, driving was an extremely thrilling task since the narrow streets and cobbled pathways made manuevering the streets almost impossible (given my less than perfect driving capabilities. haha)another star attraction of the tiny island are its large populations of macque, a monkey of course. and if you've lost me somehow.. we'll meet at the desserts table! haha.