On to Granada

On the train currently between Seville & Granada. It's
a nice bright day and we are passing wet green fields and olive tree
groves with some mountains in the distance.
We finally had the weather we were hoping for in Seville yesterday.

But I'll jump back to day 4 to fill in the gap. Another rainy one but
at least it wasn't cold. We decided to forge ahead with our plans and
caught a bus out of town to Santiponce to see the Roman ruins of
Italica. Loads of old mosaic floors, broad streets and different
floorplans have been excavated here - as well as a massive collosseum.
It really was miserable though - so wet and windy, my umbrella got all
bent out of shape and we were soaked. Bused it back to Seville,
changed to dry clothes and comforted ourselves with a meal at our
corner restaurant. The rest of the day we just kind of hunkered down
with books and popped out for a tapas snack before bed. I'll just
explain how the Sevillian schedule operates - it's very weird. People
sleep in and have bread or jamon sandwiches for breakfast. Then lunch
- the main meal of the day is eaten between 2 & 4pm. Dinner consists
of a smaller tapas meal between 9 & 11pm. Shops are open 10-2 then
again at 5-8:30ish. We are finally getting the hang of this :)

Day 5 was a drizzler again. We wandered around town and checked out
shops. Headed back to apartment for 3 as Angel invited us to eat with
him and his 12yr old daughter Margherita. He cooked up a fabulous
multi course meal with loads of fresh veg - very tasty. He also
showed us his roof garden, such a warm and generous man. Even though
our lodging here was a bit less clean than we would have liked, we are
glad we stayed here to have met him. That evening we met up wih a mob
of people from couchsurfing.org It was neat to talk to new
people, at least the few that spoke English. Forgot to mention that
Spain doesn't have any smoking bans so Everywhere indoors reeks, and
therefore so do we a lot of the time. Very hard to get used to - seems
like everyone smokes.

Day 6 we woke up to glorious sunshine and warmth. Spent the morning
wandering different neighbourhoods on bike and foot, shopping, having
coffees, etc. Back home for last La Madraza meal and a rest. Then out
for a bike ride more shopping and sightseeing until 9pm flamenco show - it was
fabulous. After show went to a flamenco bar where were heard more
gritty music and saw another dancer. Too smoky here so we didn't last
long! Back home for a snack and bed.