Sevilla

Sevilla was a great stop on the trip. The cathedral there is pretty wild, and in my opinion is more impressive than Notre Dame. However, the big draw in Sevilla is Flamenco. During our two nights there we checked out a professional performance, which was pretty amazing. However, even more interesting was the small local place we went to on our first evening. It was a Sunday around midnight, and we went searching in a particular neighborhood for a Flamenco bar. Things were pretty dead, and I was beginning to worry that the search would be a bust. However, after looking around for a while, we finally stumble on this tiny place with a live flamenco band and a bunch of locals just having a good time. From the looks of the goofy hat and camera some middle-aged guy was wearing, it appeared to be his birthday celebration and everyone was dancing and having a great time. Needless to say, it wasn’t up to the standard of skill that we saw in the professional performance, but it was fun to watch and amusing to note the universality of some white men being completely hopeless regarding dancing, be the dancing flamenco or otherwise.

One thing I’m coming to appreciate much more as I spend my time here is the profusion of the Muslim influence in Spanish culture. I always knew it was there, but I had no idea of the full extent to which so much of Spanish culture can be directly attributed to the Moorish influence, particularly here in the south. Be it in all the Muslim elements in Spanish architecture, the reflection of the Muslim call to prayer in the wail of the Flamenco singers, or even peoples’ appearance (which becomes notably more dark and exotic the farther south you travel), you can see it absolutely everywhere.