Sevilla Days 4, 5, 6

Day 4 Sevilla


Woke up late (again). We left and walked around quite a bit toward El Catedral, but we got lost (and that’s what we really end up liking to do). We ended up near a Franciscan place, in a nice little plaza, where we stopped to have cerveza. It was a little local place but we were not alone. There were a couple of families and we sat at little tables with stools.

At that point, Bob had said, “I don’t know where we are.” Of course, that was the one day we forgot to bring the map. As we started walking through the nice shopping district toward Plaza Nueva, Bob said, “I think we go this way.” Wrong! Oh, so wrong! But we were laughing. So we kept walking to the mushroom buildings (new construction in Sevilla) and ended up in the Plaza de Annucione. Matt called and knew where we were, so we had a few tapas, cerveza and vino tinto. We did a tapeo, a tapas crawl:  at Bar Espala we had croquettas, beer and wine, olives and bread; Bar Alfalfa where we had pickled eggplant with mint, beer and wine, olives and bread; Bar Estrella and had brochettes des cordero, baccalao estrella, solo mio ala whiskey and vino tinto; Bodega Santa Cruz and enjoyed motaditos de pringa, beer. Then we walked around Barrio Santa Cruz, watched a filming of two flamenco singers in a park.

Then we went back to El Catedral and went into Doñana Refuge and enjoyed looking at many different pictures of animals and plants--sea scenes, etc.



Day 5 Sevilla

Today we went to El Catedral! It was stunning—Moorish with Renaissance and Muslim influences. MASSIVe arches and columns, many richly decorated altars. I kept saying, “I almost missed seeing this” as we have been to many cathedrals on our travels, but none like this one. While we were there, the bells rang—beautiful in a haunting, spiritual way.

We spent quite a bit of time in the cathedral taking pictures and trying to read signs in the dark (and in Spanish). We saw the tomb of Christopher Columbus—see pictures as it is indescribable.

By that time, we were pooped, so we stopped at a coffee place, had espresso and chai, and then Matt met us as he was done with work. Because none of us had eaten, he took us to a little sandwich place right near his archives (where we happened to be) and we discussed when we would go to El Alcazar. We decided to have some beer and a sandwich and we proceeded to El Alcazar which was right around the corner. Again, stunning—no way to describe it except for you to see the pictures Bob took. The gardens were amazingly beautiful as well, even in the winter. We stayed until it closed seeing every room and garden we could possibly see and then we walked to one of matt’s favorite tapas places, Bar Giralda and feasted on chipirones (fried cuttlefish), pimientos rellenos (filled with meat), fried cochinillo (suckling pig), patatas don miguel (with salmon), solo mio (pork) sandwich.

Tomorrow, we are going to Cordoba, to the mosque and more sightseeing.

Also, Matt discovered that the Andulusia festival is this weekend and there is no work (archives are closed) on Monday, so we’ll be with him for three days straight before we leave on Tuesday (Sat., Sun., Mon.). That will be very nice; however, we’re not sure what is open on Sunday or Monday (and I haven’t done any shopping for myself—just for friends and family).

Day 6

Today, Matt picked up our laundry and then we took a cab to the train station. for 100 Euros we were in Cordoba in 45 minutes. Nice train ride and we saw all the flooding in the outlying areas of Sevilla and the Quadalquivir River.

The La Mesquita (the mosque), a great architectural   made by the caliph, Al Rahman and son, that was a mosque that was later Christianized and parts of it are now the Cathedral of Cordoba with many altars and beautiful tile work, interesting arches that show the influence of the Romans but it was much more intricate. We also walked across and Roman bridge and saw the raging (and now muddy) Quadalquivir River that is responsible for all the flooding outside of its banks because of all the rain here.

We ate at the Bar Mesquita: a pitcher of sangria (delicious), numerous vino tintos, Rabos al Torro (oxtail stew), patatas bravos, albondigas Mozarebes, Salmorejo (cold tomato soup thickened with bread crumbs). For dessert we had the sampler tray of desserts--about 8 different ones (fried milk, Sevilla oranges with olive oil and sugar and cinnamon, chocolate cake, profiterole, cheesecake, etc.).

We walked around more and then took the slow train home (which costs 1/3 of what the fast train did, yet got us home in the same amount of time--45 minutes).

Matt later went out to call Veronica and work a bit online at an Internet bar; Bob and I read a little but we went to bed at 11:30 PM.

Day 7

Slept in until 10 (Matt too). We did some prepacking (I have no idea how we´re going to get all of our stuff in those suitcases which were already completely full on our trip here and now we have a few more items). OY!

Went out to the Alameda de Hercules where the celebrations had begun for Andalucia days. There was a huge pot of paella (which is what I had) while bob and Matt had skewered chicken, pork motadittos, papas fritas, and beer, Cruz Campo (a local Sevilla beer). We finished our meal off with a visit to the Gelateria where I had crema, Bob had pistachio, Matt had hazelnut gelato.

We spent some time walking around the Alameda enjoying the local color and all the people drinking (over 30 bars and restaurants on the Alameda which is one block from Matt´s). Many shops are closed because it is Sunday but it´s also part of the Andalucia holiday. Tomorrow is the actual holiday. The celebrations are many bullfights, flamenco music and dancing, food and lots of drinking, it seems.

After we Internetted, we went to the Bar de Copas ____something. We found a place that protected us(barely) on the patio because the sky was black and a storm imminent. We were sitting drinking beer and wine when it hit. It rained and there was lightning and thunder. Bob put on his little plastic poncho and then one of the bartenders came out to roll the awning out a little further to protect us. The wind was blowing though and we were still getting wet. On this patio with us were a number of Spaniards---wusses that they were--cleared the patio so we had the whole thing for ourselves. We moved in towards the building a little bit and then I had my first caipirinha (and then my second!). We had a some discussions about various sociological issues, both American and Spanish, and I, as always,  learned a lot from my son. By the time we were ready to leave, the rain had stopped.

Since we didn´t eat while we were drinking this time, Matt made up a large platter of chorizo, cheese, bread, olives and we feasted on that with some vino tinto that he and Bob had bought t the market nearby a few nights before. We watched some cooking show on television and then we tried to watch  Spanish movie with Penelope Cruz (in Spanish, of course, with no subtitles). It was one of her typically quirky-but-cute movies that I´m not sure I´ll rent in the states. She is a beautiful woman though and a pretty good actress. One of the restaurants we visited in Madrid is frequented by her since it is owned by the famous Spanish director, Pedro Almodoear, who is also from just outside the Madrid area.

Boo hoo, we leave the day after tomorrow (Tuesday). Have to catch a cab at 4AM, then leave Sevilla for Madrid at 7AM, 4.5 hour layover in Madrid, 9-hour plane ride from Madrid to Philadelphia, 2.5 hour layover in Philadelphia, 5.5 hour flight from Philadelphia.  All in all, a 24-hour day. Antoinette, wish I had your magic pill right now.

Tomorrow is a holiday.