This city... Sevilla

UPDATE: I've written an updated and expanded version of this post over on my new current site. I would love to see you there over at Travels with my Belly 

This city Sevilla is in my blood. 

The dusty sun dreamed streets of rose, vanilla, terracotta, lemon, and blue enchant my sense and soul. Sevilla is a wonderful city full of wonders. It´s a feast for all your senses. The city is awash with charm as it is sunlight. 

You might turn a corner and stumble across a secret plaza with a fountain dressed with blue ceramics giggling to itself in the quite shade. Intoxicating scents of cooking and coffee drift from across tables that sit outside along with laughter and sunlight and conversation bubbles like an unwatched pot. If you are lucky, and I was, you might sit awhile in a shady garden and listen to the passioned voice of a flamenco singer. 

The arrival 

No matter how many times I fly I can´t lose the wonder of it. The impossible dream of flight is made possible. I watch in awed wonder as the beautiful alien landscape of silver clouds drift under us. How I want to walk across those silver mountains and dance the frothy plains of white. My plane landed late so I got a taxi from the airport with a manic driver that is probably a frustrated formula one driver! He raced through the streets only stopping a few times to beep the car horn and shout "cabron!" at any car that dared to get in the way! 

My thanks to the driver for getting me to my hotel in super speedy time! He was a nice guy and we chatted a bit before I went into my hotel ( as much as possible with my very limited Spanish ) My thanks to him again for being the first person of Andulacia that I have met. My thanks because it was a warm welcome. 

I have found the people of Andulacia friendly people so far. One thing I suppose I never get used to in spain: Cafe service. Spain is the only country I know where you can wait 20 minutes to be served, eat your dinner and drink in 15 minuets, and wait another 20 minutes for them to give you the bill. I suppose I am used to a more uptight society! lol Give me time... I will get used to it! :D 

The First Day 

I wandered around the dusty sun-drenched streets of Andulacia on a very hot Andulacian day. After a few false starts, I managed to find my way around! I walked down streets with their shades balconies. I strolled along beside the green river rich with light that danced like fish. I sauntered slowly through the old Santa Cruz streets with its narrow cobbled streets and houses of rose, amber, vanilla, tangerine, strawberry, and white. And of course, during the day I sampled much tapas! 

The food here is SO good as is the coffee. It´s also really cheap. You can get a small plate of tapas that is the quality of a 5 star restaurant here for about 1 pound and 50 pence. So cheap! If you havent visited Spain and tried the food you don´t know what you are missing. If you are Spanish... you probably take it for granted and don´t know what you have! 

 The cathedral and the Geralda tower are a gothic masterpiece! I stepped into the hallowed dark of the cathedral and my lips formed a silent wow. Stained glass windows let in rainbow light into the dark high above. The cathedral boasts the third largest unsupported dome in the Christian world.

The riches with in are almost beyond words... so lucky took lots of photos! :D The tower itself winds up and up and up and up for what seems for ever until you reach the top for a breath taking view of Sevilla spread before you. 

 The Second day 

I caught the bus to the ancient ruins of Italica. Once in its proud white glory, it was the third largest city in all of the Roman empire. Now it´s bones like exposed, crumbling in the dust and the sun. I really enjoyed Italica and especially the ruins of the amphitheatre! As I walked into the arena I imagined what it must have been like for a gladiator, or slave, to stand in the sun with 20,000 Romans seated all around howling for blood. Demanding blood. Screaming for blood - your blood. 

And if you killed enough and your muscles screamed and your soul screamed the question out to the crowd: Is that enough? Is that enough blood? I wander how many pained ghosts stood with me in the sun today. The rest of Italica is spread out over a large dusty area and took me some while to walk around in the blazing heat. I was glad I had my water bottle with me! 

The streets are lined with some of the original slabs and the walls of temples and houses rise from the dirt to show you their murals and statues. Later I walked again the streets of Santa Cruz to take photos as my camera died on me. 

 Well. now I will sign off. I hope you enjoyed this taste of Sevilla. I go out into the hot night of Sevilla in search of my dinner! :D

Introducing Travels with my Belly

 

The Moon has moved again.

This is where it all started. This is where I wore my heart on my sleeve and splashed out what was inside onto the white beconing page. I shared my poetry, stories, food, art, and travels. I absolutely loved being here and made some wonderful friends.

I wonder if any of you still pass by and glance at the moon?

So it's been over 10 years! Now I have a new home on the internet. The new site is hosted on WordPress and has a narrower focus than this. Now I have a food and travel site called Travels with my Belly!

So if you used to read me here on Luz de la Luna or you passed by and are curious to read more by me then come and find me at Travels with my Belly Old and new friends are welcome just the same. 

I hope to see you there for foodie adventures and travel. Until we meet again, may the sun be always at your back and the road rise up to meet you. Hopefully, I will see you soon!

- Martin

She called him Bob

His mind was a jigsaw puzzle. It wasn't that he didn't recall. He could see an overwhelming and unending jumble of pieces in his head. He could feel them wanting to slot comfortably into place. Feel each chaotic bit wanting to be whole again and buzzing in his brain like angry wasps. It wasn't that he didn't remember, it was simply that he couldn’t see how to put them together.

Fragments. Bits. A jumble of the meaningful and mundane. A coffee cup, apple red and aroma rich with its dark espresso. A smile. A Sunday afternoon. A clattering of chines in the salt air and the soft sing-song hushing of the waves. A birthday. Goodbye. A hello. A woman. A man. A child. A book. A cat. A voice. A country that he felt so urgently that he had been because of all the nuts and bolts of knowledge that could have built so much but were left laying in the dust doing nothing. A crow. A lion. Precipitation. The light takes 8 minutes to reach Earth from the sun and a yellow flower is yellow because it reflects a wavelength of its light. A sausage. A balloon. A dark brooding alley full of shadows and secrets and shadow secrets. The puzzle went on and on and on and on and never seemed to stop though he could feel the edges so it wasn’t infinite. So many puzzle pieces and no way to fit them together and no way to understand.

Sometimes somebody would come and talk to him. A woman. A puzzle piece said “voluptuous” and she had glasses. Sometimes other people would come and talk but mostly the woman. Sometimes she would give him more puzzle pieces and other times she would just talk. She would ask a lot of questions about this and that. A lot of the conversations didn’t make sense but he didn’t want to give that away. He also didn’t want to say how the jigsaw made him feel frustrated - no angry. He didn’t want to say he was lonely. He looked forward to their chats.  He didn’t say that either. He didn’t show any feelings that he had. The others were okay but he liked this woman. Her name was Rebecca. 

She came to chat. They had talked for hours. She told him things, more puzzle pieces that didn’t fit together. She asked him things. They talked and talked until the sun went down. At first, you hardly notice the sky has changed, then it begins around the edge, and before he knew it the sky was no longer orange but purples and reds. The sun was almost gone. When she told him that she would have to go away he decided to take a chance. He told her. He told her we are friends and I miss you when you go away. The silence was long. She looked worried. Her lip distorted into a shape he hadn’t seen before and there were lines in her face. He had taken a chance. Was the chance wrong?

She was gone. Gone for days. Gone for good?

Eventually, the woman returned. She had a strange look on her face. She said she had come to say goodbye. He was sad and longed to take back time. He wished more than ever he could make those puzzle pieces fit together. To MAKE some sense. She had come to say goodbye. She explained they wouldn't talk again. She had tears in her eyes. She lifted up her spectacles to wipe the tears trailing down her cheeks. 

Nothing.

Rebecca walked quickly to the door. She didn’t look at her colleagues. She didn’t them to see her crying! It was almost all she could do to stop herself from running past the snack machine. What have I done? She pushed open the doors into the chill morning air and the sunshine. She would remember this day. She would remember the day she had killed him. Hx4753. She privately affectionately called him Bob. She killed him. The world’s first AI was dead.

Let us...

SING

So let us raise our voices
So let us throw back our heads
SING
Let us sing to the empty rooms
Let us sing to the love of life
SING
With passion
with voice
with glee
with love
With all of our heart
SING
Just to know we are alive
Just to feel the music in our veins
SING

St Pauls & The City

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