May 13-June 1 Playing tour guide in San Sebastian, Madrid, and Andalucia (Part 4: Sevilla)

May 26-28 Sevilla

Sevilla was the last stop on our tour of Al Andalus.

Me and Rodrigo

About 27 years ago, while traveling through Spain for the first time, I took my friend Bridget’s advice and called a friend of hers who lived in Seville while I was passing through.  Rodrigo didn’t hesitate to go out of his way for a total stranger; he picked me and my friend up to go out to dinner in a small nearby village with a bunch of his friends.  We arrived only to find the whole town was “gone!”  He then remembered that everyone was participating in the Rocio (Spain’s most famous pilgrimage), they were on their way to Huelva, walking by day and partying by night (I don’t remember sleep being mentioned).  “Let’s go find them,” he said.  I clearly remember walking through a field at 1am, tiptoeing between resting oxen with, their giant horns silhouetted against the light of the moon.   Decorated covered wagons were circled, fires burned and people sang and danced around them; women wore Flamenco dresses, sticks were rhythmically being played along with guitar music, and a guy was passing out small glasses of sherry from the back of a truck.  I don’t remember any light other than fire and moonlight.  I literally felt transported back to the middle ages. It was an unforgettable night.

Flash forward:  I was recently able to find Rodrigo through Facebook, and arranged to see him while in Sevilla this time around.  Once again, he couldn’t have been more gracious.  We met near our hotel, and he treated us to a table laden with Andalusian specialties.  We had a “show and tell” with photos, and great conversation.  I hope it won’t be 27 more years before our next rendezvous.   

Though I had been to Seville in 1988, and 1999, somehow it felt new to me, maybe because we were staying on the opposite side of town.   We visited Sevilla's immense Cathedral (built 1402-1506), where Christopher Columbus is buried, as well as the Alcazar (started in 1181 but continued to be used and altered under Christian rulers).  One evening we made our way to the Plaza de España, which is not to be missed if you are into Spanish tile work.  It was built for the 1928 Ibero-American world fair.  It has a moat, elaborately tiled bridges, and is lined with tiled alcoves with ceramic tile maps and cultural scenes, representing all the regions of Spain.  In my opinion is best experienced just before the sun sets (but stay till the lamps come on at dusk).  

Sevilla's Cathedral

Sevilla's Cathedral

   

Massive alter piece...zoom in and the detail is unbelievable

Close up of a tiny section of the alter piece

Cathedral ceiling

Alcazar

Alcazar

Alcazar

This old part of Seville has not changed

I felt sorry for these horses standing out in the hot sun waiting for passengers

Mary looking out for Columbus on his explorations

Wonder if this barber of Seville sings opera

Plaza d'España

plaza d'España

Plaza d'España-see horse and carriages?

creative electronic device charging strategy 

Our hotel…win some lose some.  Though my friend had a perfectly nice room on an upper floor, my sister-in-law and I were relegated to a dark 1^st floor room off the dining room, its barred window opened to the street.  We could have reached out through the bars and touched the passers by.  We felt very smug as we moved a small desk and stacked 5 throw pillows in order to be able to charge our cell phones using the one and only functioning outlet in the room placed 5ft up the wall.  Closing the windows did not seem to muffle the sound of tourists coming and going from the nearby bus station rolling their wheely bags on the grooved sidewalk.  The clanking of dishes and conversations of guests eating their breakfasts in the dining room which shared a paper thin wall with the head of our beds, would have woken us up had we not already been awake from wheely bag traffic.   I got the odd glance from a diner as I came out of the oddly place room to borrow the blow dryer from the front desk (per protocol).  I know, what you are thinking, “Michele has become a travel pansy, what a whiner.”  To which I would say…if I wanted to stay in a hostel I would have paid for a hostel.   Ok, with that off my chest, they did move us the next day.  From Sevilla, it was back to San Sebastian via Bilbao.