Picking up from where I left off the last time ... My girlfriend, Kim, came to visit me in Spain on the 15th, and on Friday and Saturday we were in Sevilla and on Sunday we went with a trip sponsored by the university to Ronda. Sevilla is the capital of Andalucia, which is the province of Spain in which I am living. evilla was the largest city I have been in so far in Spain and it is too big to take in everything in 24 hours. But we certainly tried.

We got to see the cathdral in Sevilla, which has Christopher Columbus's mausoleum, although I don't think his body is actually inside it. Spanish people seem to love Columbus, possibly because he helped to usher in an era that saw Spain a very powerful country internationally. We also went to see the Real Alcazar in Sevilla and we walked through the Parque de Maria Luisa. So here are a few pictures from Sevilla:

Kim and me in the Parque de Maria Luisa

Another part of the park

Sevilla at night. The overhanging white tarps over the streets are to keep the streets cool during the day. These are common in Spanish cities on the walking streets where a lot of shops are located, so people/tourists can walk around during the day and not be too hot. But Sevilla is over 100 degrees for most of July, so it's too hot whether or not you are in the shade from the white tarps.

A stained glass window in the cathedral

The Columbus mausoleum -- the actual casket is what the four statues, one on each corner, are carrying.

An enormous tapestry in the Alcazar, it took up almost an entire wall

Close up on one part of the tapestry so you can see the detail

A bathing pool that one of the kings at the Alcazar built for one of his mistresses

On Sunday in Ronda we saw the other end of the spectrum since Ronda is a very small city (town?) that you can walk through quite easily and see in one day. Nevertheless, Ronda was an impressive little city. We walked all through Ronda's bullring, which Hemingway and Orson Welles used to frequent, and which I believe is the oldest bullring in Spain. But don't quote me on that.

There is also a beautiful old bridge in Ronda that crosses two cliffs, and at the bottom of the cliffs there is a small river. There is a trail that takes you from the city at the top of the cliffs to the river below, and Kim and I walked about halfway down and took pictures of the bridge.

During Franco's reign he used to have people thrown off the bridge. Anyway, pictures:

Kim, with Ronda in the background off to the left, and the Spanish countryside off to the right

The beautiful old bridge (built in the 1700s, I believe) in Ronda

So if you have read Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls, you most likely remember a scene from the book in which the townspeople force the Fascists from their headquarters in a township building (in Ronda). The people line up on each side of the exit from the building, and if you read the book you know what happens next. The big building in the top right is that building, recently refurbished, and the cliff immediately next to the building is where the townspeople threw the Fascists off in the scene from the book.

OK, so I still haven't completely caught up to the present, but I will do that next time.