The Fetmans Take Sevilla, Day 3: Pampered

Friday, June 16

Woke up at around 11…yeah, we skipped breakfast. I mean, we went to bed so late, so what do ya expect. It’s nice that I’m having this family vacation because it’s helping me transition back into American time (e.g. going to bed earlier than 5am after a night out). But yeah. So anyways, we all got ready and headed to the Alcázar. Yup, my third time over there. On the way we ran into Jay from my program. He was leaving the next day. So I got to say goodbye which was great since I don’t think that I’ll ever see him again—he’s the only senior on our program, so he’s now a graduate. So crazy. The Alcázar was really nice despite the random rain shower in the middle of the trip that lasted about 20 minutes. My family was really impressed with all of the Arab-Christian, and original Arab architecture. Yay! My dad kept being silly and requested pictures of him with random artwork and architecture labeling each picture as “The Wayne in Spain”. Haha. Yeah, that catchphrase/trend never grew old. So all in all the Alcázar was a joy and I loved it (as usual). A good last visit, all in all. After the Alcázar we considered Cien Montaditos again for lunch, but decided to go across the street to the Cathedral bakery/cafeteria for tapas. The tapas weren’t bad; my family got their first taste of espinacas con garbanzos (spinach with garbanzo beans). My favorite Spanish tapa, mmmmm. Since we ended up spending awhile at the Alcázar and a good amount of time at lunch, we didn’t finish until about 4:30. We had appointments for the Arab baths at 6 we decided to head back to the hotel to rest a bit (we had done a lot walking at the Alcázar) and get ready.
We went back, rested, changed into our bathing suits, and walked to Aire de Sevilla—the Arab baths. I had never gone to the infamous Arab baths and have wanted to since arriving in Sevilla. It was a confusing yet awesome experience. We first walked into the patchouli-scented lobby where we had to work out paying the balance of our appointments. We were given wristbands, rules, instructions, etc. The biggest challenge was how we had to speak quietly the whole time. Hehe. We were given little blue plastic bags to put over our shoes to wear into the locker rooms. We took awhile figuring out how the towel and locker situation worked, but eventually we took a rinsing shower and headed to the baths. We didn’t know where to go first, so we went to the bottom floor which was dark except for some dim lighting provided by little candles. The walls were painted deep, peaceful colors. There was a luke-warm pool that we went in. It was pretty quiet and awkward—there was a couple and a random dude in this one. Once we entered we didn’t really know what to do. I mean, it was basically an indoor swimming pool…with brick walls and a fancy ceiling. So we were kind of talkative and awkward, so the others left the pool. Whatever, more opportunity to be uninhibited. I mean, we hadn’t yet settled into the whole experience. After a little less than ten minutes we checked out what else the baths offered—we found a very warm large Jacuzzi-like thing. It was packed, but we squished in. Little by little people got out and in and we were eventually able to sit against some water jets. A woman came in and asked who hadn’t had a massage yet (we signed up for the 15 minute massage package). She saw our wristbands and called the four of us into the massage room. This confused me because I thought that the massage was the last part…guess not. So we all got a 15 minute full-body massage in this peaceful, patchouli-scented room. It was a nice massage, except for my ticklishness. Oy, I’m terrible with massages that go below my shoulder blades because I am just so damned ticklish. It’s terrible. So I was kind of tense the whole time trying not to laugh or flip out. Ugh. Oh well, it was nice to lie down, I guess. After the massages we were told that we could still go in the baths as long as we rinsed off in a shower that they indicated around the corner. Turns out the shower was in an intense steam room. I have never really sat in a steam room…it started to become very apparent that this was like a spa…and I’ve never really done the whole spa thing. So we rinsed off in the extremely foggy, dark (there was only one candle…seriously, I could barely see anything) steam room and then grabbed seats. We sat in there for about ten minutes. It was extremely relaxing and I could really feel myself sweating out my toxins. It was really, really nice. I need to steam room it up more often! Hehe, I’m not used to being pampered/pampering myself, what can I say? After the steam room we headed to the next floor up where we realized was the main bath area. There was a huuuuge room with a big bath that was the one from the cover of the brochure. It was in a dark, tranquilly lit room with deep red walls and a typically Arab decorated wooden ceiling. Lots of candles. So nice. The large pool was very warm, like a warm swimming pool. It was about four feet deep. We waded in the pool a bit, then swum to the edge where we found two more baths. One was a pretty small square bath which was reeeeally hot, like, Jacuzzi temperature. There was a couple in it cuddling and it was awkward. Whatever, I wasn’t going to let them hog the pool, so I got in and they soon left. Ha. Take that. Then the rest of my family joined me. It was really hot, so soon I walked to the bath right next to it which was very small, thin, and rectangular. It didn’t have any lights on the inside—it was really dark and mysterious—I didn’t know how deep it’d be. I stuck my foot in…it was freeeezing cold! I mean, like Lake Michigan cold. My family tested it, but chickened out and went back to the warm large bath. I knew that this was part of the bath process—ya know, really good for the skin and all that. So I sat in it up to my waste, after much self-coaxing, and splashed cold water on myself. Holy crap it was cold. Oof. Then I got out and got back into the warm bath with the family. It felt so good, it made my skin tingle. We all then got together and took turns holding each other up on our backs so that one of us would float on our backs, completely supported. We would move the floater through the water slowly. Soooo peaceful. People watched us and decided that it was a good idea, so they did the same. Yeah, us Fetmans are trendsetters, what can I say. I then told everyone about how amazing it felt to go in the cold water then the warm water, so they decided to do it. Take the risk…what’s the loss? Shana was still too afraid to do it, so just the parents went to give it a go. Daddy went first—he actually dunked himself in the super cold water! Then he rushed over to the warm pool and got in. Then Mom did the same. They agreed, that it felt awesome and was quite exhilarating. After much deliberation, Shana decided to just do it. I decided to go with her since I didn’t dunk my whole body the last time. So Shana went before…she really did it! It was awesome. Oh man, then it was my turn. I just went for it. You know when you go into really cold water and it takes your breath away? It was like that times ten. It was intense. Then we quickly got into the hot, hot bath. That felt crazy. We were in the hot bath for a mere few minutes when we were told that our session had ended and it was time to get out. I crawled into the warm bath and swam to the steps out of the pool. Talk about good timing with doing the cold pool dunk thing! We then all (us and everyone in our time slot) walked upstairs to the locker room where we changed. Then we met up with Daddy and went to the tea room there and had some green tea and chilled on the couch. Oh man, my body felt like mush, it was so unbelievably relaxed. My body has never felt so relaxed. I didn’t want to move! The tea was pretty good, too. But soon we worked up the motivation and headed out. Oh man, I was feeling damn good.
We got back to the hotel, we all showered and such, then at around 10:15 headed out for a late dinner. We decided to check out the Moroccan restaurant next store to our hotel, but it was full unless we had a reservation. That was a surprise, especially since it was so hidden. Oh well, I guess it was a nice place, so it makes sense. I was a bit disappointed and unable to think of a good place to eat. So we walked for awhile and ended up getting a bit lost. Somehow we ended up by the Museo de bellas artes (fine arts museum that I visited back in January). I wasn’t overly concerned, just worried about finding my family a good meal before most kitchens closed. Suddenly I recognized our location…we were right across the street from the Plaza de Armas mall! How did that happen?? I had know clue, but was very pleased with this fateful discovery. So I took them inside thinking that I remembered there being a good restaurant in there, but nothing really seemed to tickle our fancy. We headed out and saw a bunch of outdoor seating for the brew pub. The food looked pretty good, they accepted American Express, and it was a nice, cool night, so we decided to just go for it. Although the service was kind of faulty, the food was surprisingly pretty good. It really was quite good, actually! Wow, who knew. I was happy that we went there because I’ve been meaning to check that place out. We all split tapas: espinacas con garbanzos, ensalada mixta, salmorejo, fried eggplant (the only bad part of the meal), and bacalao dorado (my favorite dish that Maruja makes…and the brewery did a great job and my family shared my love for it!). It made me so happy that my family shared my love for the same Spanish foods. Oh man, after all of that food we were more than stuffed. I mean, I was busting. And I was cold…I couldn’t believe it was cold out! So weird. We then walked back to the hotel (I took a familiar route which probably took longer than the one we took there, but I wasn’t going to risk getting lost). We got back at around 12:30 and got ready for bed. Finally a chill night. I was excited to have a low-keyed night because I was not only exhausted from all of the sightseeing, heat, and Arab baths, but we also had to catch an early train to Córdoba for a day trip the next day, and our beds were so comfy I wanted to take advantage. Before going to bed I went online downstairs to double check train times to Córdoba and check my email and facebook. Gotta love the internet and computer at the hotel. So yeah, I was asleep by about 1am. Another awesome day with the family in Sevilla!