It's pronounced seh-bee-cee

It was like selecting the best cut of meat at the butcher or finding the ripest apple at the supermarket. Each one had to be carefully inspected; every bruise, blemish or unsavory feature putting one after another out of the running. Finally we decided on number 4. I punched it in and went to retrieve my bicycle.

It'd been a while since I'd ridden a bike and as I pressed the pedal down for the first time the front half jerked right almost running Benji over. He'd been nice enough to let me borrow his Sevici card and show me how to use it and here I was trying to run him down. Two more pedals and I had the bike straightened out; heading smoothly down the green bike path toward the metro stop at Parque de los Principes. I arrived quickly and safely and (thanks to the path) the trip was much less stressful then riding a bike through Seattle.

I've been in Sevilla for five months now and this is the first time I've taken advantage of its bike rental service. Sure the bikes are heavy and sometimes the seats are worse for the wear, but with a Sevici stop every few blocks, they're a convenient way to get where you need to go. The cards are 25 euro for the year and as long as you don't use a bike for more than half hour at a time you don't pay anything extra. All I need to do now is get one.