Sevilla: NO8DO naranjo

This weekend I went to Sevilla to visit one Eric Simons (hi Eric!), a loyal reader of this blog and fellow auxiliar de convo. Eric moved from Fuengirola last year to an awesome school in central Sevilla, lucky indeed. Our weekend consisted of a lot of walking, a lot of eating, a lot of calling people at 3:30 a.m. (hi Jackie!), and a lot of going out. So much going out that Saturday, the day we planned to head to Jerez for a daytrip, we ended up sleeping until 2 and then began an epic search for a place that serves churros at 5 p.m. We went to a birthday party with some of his teacher friends and then out to Fun Club, a bar on the alameda that plays good music, and stayed until 7 in the morning. I felt bad about vegging out in Sevilla until Eric informed me that that was indeed the third time that a daytrip to Jerez has been shelved due to inebriation. This consoled me.

Another interesting thing that I noticed in Sevilla, and cannot believe I never really though about it until this trip, was the ever-present motto of the city, NO8DO, which they put on everything.

On the street lamp.

On the "metro"

On the sign for the puente de Triana.

 And not just in pretty places. Any public work made of iron, and man is there lots of iron work in Sevilla, has this on it.

Trash cans.

Sewer lids.

Sewer grates.

Plaques about things that happened.

The symbol is even on Christopher Columbus' tomb. I don't have a photo of that, but Wikipedia says it's true. The center character, which looks like an 8, is actually one of those balls of yarn that people knit with that has two ends. This is called a madeja in Spanish. The symbol says "Nomadejado," which is andaluz for "No me ha dejado" meaning "It (referring to Sevilla) has never left me," or "It has never abandoned me."

The story is that in 1248, after the reconquest of Sevilla from the Muslims, King Ferdinand III of Castile and León moved into the stunningly beautiful Muslim palace, the Alcázar. After his death his son, Alfonso X, came to power. By all accounts, he was cool. A scholar, linguist, astronomer, astrologer, poet, musician... Therefore, when Alfonso's son, Sancho IV of Castile, tried to usurp the throne, the people of Sevilla had Alfonso's back. "No me ha dejado," he said, and gave the city it's motto.

Another thing that is all over Sevilla are oranges.

Recién exprimido.

Everywhere.

And there is nothing better than a crystal clear, slightly chilly January weekend in Sevilla to really see how much that orange pops.

Naranjos en Barrio Santa Cruz.

I was all set to move to Sevilla this year, as many of you know, before I became hooked on Málaga (and phonics!) and decided to stay here. This weekend reminded me how beautiful and quirky Sevilla is. While I would have loved to live there, staying here was the right decision for me. I, for sure, would not abandon Málaga.