Seville September 28

After an easy 2.5 hour drive, we spent the day in Seville. Tom and I have


come to an understanding...He is strongly opposed to driving in European

cities. and I don't mind, so he does the bulk of the distance driving and I

do what he calls "the hard part". I took over driving at our gas station

stop on the way into Seville (65 euros/$97. to fill the tank and we are driving a small car!)

Driving through Seville was an adventure. They have Roundabouts, which I

love, but some of them had traffic lights in them because so many directions

fed into them.There must be some sort of order to how this works, but to my

somewhat unexperienced eye, it appears everyone does what they feel at the

moment and you'd better be paying attention and have your foot close to the

gas and the brake at the same time.... prepared to make the split second

decision about which will get you out of the way the quickest!



At one point we ended up on a side street, barely wide enough for two cars

to pass, however, the locals had found a way (again, there must be a system

I don't understand!)to park cars on the left side of the street and to double

park cars on the right side. This leaves one VERY narrow lane in the middle to

drive down (if everyone in the double parked row remembers to tuck their

mirrors in when they park). Alas, not everyone remembers, so this was a

fun filled adventure for me :} In this type of situation I always think

it's better to laugh than cry, so I giggled at the absurdity for about 6 blocks.



We enjoyed Seville. We had difficulty finding the parking areas (turns out

you are supposed to park and pay at the big hotels) so we parked at a 2 hour

metered spot and went to get our berings on foot. We wandered around the

Plaza de Espana first (amazing mosaics and hand painted ceramic pillars, etc.)

When we located the part of town we wanted to be in we moved the car and then

returned to the restaurant where we had reservations for lunch/flamenco show.

The show was small but amazing! The dancer, guitar player and singer all

showed such an intensity and devotion to their craft. When each of them was spot

lighted the others watched with such reverence and attention.  The showis somwhat like an opera
at certain point. It was quite amazing. I ate paella, (Spain's national rice dish) and Tom had

thin sliced Jamon and fried eggs on top of French Fries (another popular Spanish

dish, which I don't remember the name of).



After lunch we went to visit the Alcazar, palace built by the Moors in the

10th century. really enjoyed the Moorish architecture and the stunning and

intricate mosaic work. It still functions as a palace, and is the oldest still functioning in Europe.



After the Alcazar we enjoyed taking pictures while wandering around the Cathedral

and then we took an evening walk recommended by our friend Rick (Steves, the travel

writer :] ) through the Barrio Santa Cruz. This is the old Jewish quarter in

Seville. Filled with Orange Trees that never lose their leaves and "kissing

lanes", which are narrow streets designed to maximize the shade, it was a

delightful evening stroll.



We finished our day with a trip to Starbucks so we could enjoy watching the Sevilleanos

take their evening pormenade. It's so inspirational to watch as people drop every

thing to gather in the streets to walk, greet their neighbors and spend quality

time with their families.