Day 5: June 18 (Seville)

Last night was a disaster!  The street under our window was noisy all night. Groups coming from the Plaza Encarnation around the corner.  Neil, never a good sleeper, tried earplugs.  I do not think he slept at all. Our lack of sleep is getting be a big factor, especially coupled with the heat of day.  We went down to reception and explained the problem.  They graciously (and readily - I do not think this was the first time) agreed to change our room, moving our stuff to a new room during the day when we were out.  Our plan for today was to check out the Alcazar, the Cathedral, and find a little road that we read about but missed yesterday where there was a wall of Cervantes prison. We accomplished all - including finding the road (but not the wall).

We has breakfast in a very lovely setting at Plaza El Salvador.  We keep ordering more food than we want due to our (lack of) language skills.  Not a big problem.

One of many brides at Alcazar

A walk through the gardens

We got to the Alcazar and did another - probably our last - audioguide tour.  The Alcazar was very beautiful, with lovely patios and a central courtyard.  There is a huge amount of very intricate tiling and plastering.  Neil and I both liked a little room that now had a glass top two stories up but had originally been open to the stars.  This palace was a place Columbus had come to meet with Ferdinand and Isabella.  It is still used as the Seville residence of the Spanish royalty.  As we toured, we noted five or six brides having photos taken by wedding photographers.  The gardens were very impressive with courtyard after courtyard.  There were walks and openings through walls to draw you along.  There were water features and shaded areas to use in warm weather,  including a covered walk along a second story where you could view the gardens from above.  There were also big, sunny areas for cooler weather.  The grounds were immense and it was very hot.  I was worried about Neil.  He said he felt like he was going to pass out.  He was very disoriented and could not make sense of our map.  I think he would still be wandering around there now if I had not led the way out. We saw pretty much everything on the tour before we left.

We were beaten down by the heat.  We walked a bit and refortified with some ice cream.  We saw some of the brides (and family) from the Alcazar, one in a big convertible and another in a horse drawn carriage.  Armed with a big bottle of water, we took on the Cathedral.  The Cathedral was huge (and fairly cool); something like the third largest Gothic cathedral in the world!  The roof was so high that they had a big magnifying mirror mounted on the floor so that people could see the ceiling in detail.  The main area of the Cathedral contained the remains (or some of them) of Columbus.  OUr favorite part of the Cathedral area was the Giralda Tower.  We walked to the top via a series of about 35 ramps ending in a flight of 17 steps.  As we circled the inside of the tower, we checked out the windows set in the walls.  Each window opened to a different direction and, as we ascended, we saw the same directions from different heights.  The top of the tower had a stunning panoramic view of the city. (See the video.) We could identify areas we had already seen, like the park and the river, as well as new things like the bullring.  When we got back down from the tower, we walked all around the outside of the Cathedral to see if we could recognize where Raquel ran in looking for Jaimie in an early episode of Destinos.  I think I will have to watch that episode again when we get home and see what I recognize.

We returned to our hotel and to our new room.  We were now on the ground floor opening into the courtyard area, with no exterior windows.  I did some laundry and Neil took a short nap.  My blisters from last night were really bothering me with all of our walking.  I did not know how I could continue our trip! Neil suggested wrapping my blisters with adhesive tape and went down the street to the El Corte Inglis (a big department store) on an adventure of his own to buy some.  My feet are not good.  I hope the tape works and I can find a way to continue without intense pain.

At 7:00 pm, we went out heading for the Museo de Bellas Artes, which had the exact same description in Frommer as the one in Cordoba.  The Cordoba description was the mistake.  We walked through a new, less touristy area down from the hotel toward the river.  My taped feet were tolerable.  There was a wedding spilling out of the church next door to the museum. The museum had an (what we now expect) attractive courtyard and was almost empty of people.  We still couldn't find the El Grecos promised in the guide book.  We left at the 8:30 pm closing and walked off in the direction of the river.  We walked past the Plaza de las Armas, which looked like a shopping mall with an intricate kiddy play area /amusement park set up in front.  Neil was looking for the bus station we would be leaving from to go to Granada, trying to figure out how to get there from the hotel.

End of the boat tour

When we got to the river, we walked along it on a beautiful public walkway.  Eventually, we got to the launch area for the boat tour up and down the river.  We got there just about 9:00 pm and hopped on.  It was very pleasant with a nice evening breeze drifting across the water.  The tour went upriver under some very stylish modern bridges to the site of the Exposition in 1992.  We returned at a lovely sunset and walked back to the cathedral area where Neil had earlier noticed an invitingly situated restaurant.  Neil had paella, which I think was "fast food" because it was displayed with pictures I saw in other restaurants.  He ate it heartily, though, along with two beers (unheard of for him) without complaint.  It was a beautiful, warm night at dusk in an unbelievable setting!  We got lost once again tonight on the way home and had to backtrack until we found a familiar route.

At dinner

Before going to bed, I spent some time covering the light fixture above the door with a towel to darken the room.  all of the hotels we have stayed in have a system where you put your key card in a slot in a fixture by the door allowing the lights and air conditioning to be used.  These little lights are somehow wired into this system.