After about a week in Madrid we packed up our bags gave the gals who let us stay at their place a big hug. We were headed for Sevilla to visit some more of our good friends and spread the word about Matador to the many study abroad programs there.

The transition from Madrid to Sevilla can be as much cultural as it is geographical. It's only a two in half hour train ride away, but it can feel like a different country in many ways. The hot sun beats down on the whitewashed, traditional, Spanish architecture lighting the small alleyways that wind through center of the city. The heat slows the pace of life way down and people spend most the afternoon in siesta, which consists of food, a nap and for us a lot of time at the internet cafe working where there was AC.

People emerge to go back to work at around 5pm and work until 8pm, and won't eat until 10 or 11pm. The tapas are much better in Sevilla than they are in many of the Cafe's in Madrid and a series of tapas and beers constitutes a healthy meal. You go out at around 1:30 and can find a place to rock until dawn on just about any night if you like.

We had an incredible setup in Sevilla. We had met some kids from Sevilla a couple years ago and had stayed in touch over the years. They told us they would show us a good time when we saw them at the wedding, but they completely outdid themselves and made hosting an art form. Our friend gave us the keys to his apartment that had three beds and rooftop terrace less than a block from La Catedral. He was staying with his girlfriend so we had the place to ourselves. We couldn't have asked for a better place to spend the hot summer nights, with the towers of the Catedral as our backdrop and a view across the rooftops of Sevilla. So we had this great little place to ourselves and were treated to incredible meals every night at the restaurant that our friend’s family owned and they all worked at. We would get there as they final tables were finishing up and be treated to special from our boy Carmelo who was the chef. And drink and talk until about 3am when we would finally make our way to a local bar or club until sunrise.

These guys were generations deep in Sevilla, I'm talking 300 years and they knew everybody in town. Their generosity and hospitality was more than I have ever experienced. From places to stay, late nights at the restaurant after everybody had gone home, great food and wine, parties, free Flamenco tickets and not one mention or thought that this was out of the ordinary. There love for life was unmatched by many people that I know and they can’t help but spread the enthusiasm to others.

Needless to say we had a wonderful time in Sevilla and met some great people in a place that can usually be a bit closed off to foreigners. Sevilla as a whole is fairly conservative and traditional and, besides the college study abroad programs, there are very few foreigners living in Sevilla and getting to know the folks here can take some time and effort.

But Sevilla is Spain at it's most traditional and in many cases most beautiful. If you come in the summer be prepared to spend the days hiding from the heat the nights partying until dawn. Check out my blog on the Boys de Sevilla for some good people to know, or at least a great place to eat of you’re in Sevilla and want to get off the beaten path.

Speaking of off the beaten path I have to describe the experience we had a little bar that I've included a couple of pics of. The bar was covered with old radios, antiques from Pre-Franco era and earlier. There was a man there that had memorized the dictionary in 3 languages and was working on his fourth. He get site verbatim the encyclopedia definition of Photosynthesis in Spanish and French and almost got through the whole thing in English. You never know what you'll find if you pop off the beaten path.