Seville - just a glimpse

Our one night trip was obviously no where near enough time.  We just wanted to see it on our way through to the south of Spain.  It was beautiful and exciting in the late afternoon and evening.  We ate, shopped for shoes for Donnie's poor little toe, and wandered the streets with just about every living soul in Seville.  There was some kind of event happening in the Plaza de Espana, but we didn't get close enough to tell what it was.  This is pretty much what I experienced in the Plaza Mayor in Madrid.  Thousands out walking (the Paseo) and gathering in the city's central Plaza (pronounced platha myore).

One of the many shopping streets in Old Town Seville.  Note the fabric shading the streets.  It was 90F going into the evening.

This woman sang flamenco style, sang her heart out.  I don't know how her voice survives that.  It was very beautiful to hear and watch while we ate our evening meal in beautiful Seville.

The Cathedral of Mary of the See, or Seville Cathedral.  As you know, I cannot pass up a cathedral and this one is heartrendingly beautiful architecture.

A side chapel to the Cathedral.

It's possible that there were no people inside that night.  They all appeared to be out on the streets, with multiple police everywhere.  

The cathedral at night was just gorgeous and we were able to walk into the entry area, where a brontosaurus or apatosaurus would feel comfortable.  Those vaulted ceilings are just incredible and they do indeed make you feel small - the point of the gargantuan proportions.  There was a large group at the altar area watching a televised or recorded sermon.  It was actually rather bizarre to see the faithful sitting and watching this recording, while the tourists were aimlessly wandering and talking at the other end of the huge ancient church.

Seville was founded as a city in the 8th century BC and has been the capital of Andalusia for centuries.  Legends evens say that Hercules himself founded the city.  Lucky Seville was the seat of the Inquisition after Granada fell and the muslims were finally pushed out of Spain in 1492.  Like the other Spanish cities we've visited, it is now a modern city with the necessary infrastructure to maintain that and still one that shows the ancient walls, buildings, and art that has been here for generation after generation.

It's difficult for me personally to assimilate that these cities are SO much different than ours in the U.S. - the attitude toward and acceptance of this heritage, the willingness to accept some inconveniences in order to protect and maintain the evidence and beauty of the past.  Many in the U.S. may have genealogical heritage that goes back to these ancient sites, but we have very little connection to them.  We are, in some ways, displaced people for having left and lost this land so many generations ago.  People here seem more interconnected, too.  As Steve and I walk down the street, we hear many, many difference languages - some are tourists, some are immigrants, some are local dialects of Spanish, I'm sure.  But, people here don't seem to notice or discriminate; in fact, they seem to deal very well with each other.  The local governments help with signs in multiple languages, and private businesses help with gestures, patience, and kindness, so much kindness.

Granada - THE ALHAMBRA!

After looking up at it for a day, we finally got to see the Alhambra in all its glory.  It took some climbing (I mean serious hill and stair climbing, that it turned out we didn't have to do because Google Maps is not as good as you think it is, and Steve didn't think we should spoil the experience by taking one of the MANY taxis and buses that go directly to the Alhambra front door.  Okay, end of rant.)  But, I digress.  The Alhambra palaces were amazing, as so many have told me.  I loved the Arab portion the best: the design, the gardens, the rushing water, the artistry, and the obvious science and math that went into creating this thing of beauty and demonstration of power.

Our guide, Jose, took the opportunity to explain the connections to Islam of many of the decorations and architectural features.  The square is important the Islamic faith and the numbers 7 and 8.  The intricate decorations are literally writing of the name Allah in two different scripts and the few symbols that Islam allows - natural things like trees, plants, and stars (especially the 8 pointed star).

The Generalife Gardens were just gorgeous and this is the end of the season; the gardens in summer must have been extremely lush.  I loved it all - the views from the gardens, the irrigation design, the garden rooms, the myrtle and oleander and every other flower (or tree) you can think of, the varying designs from garden room to garden room, the use of architectural design to make gardens inside the building create a much cooler environment, and the musical sound of splashing water.

The later wall decoration was carved, but originally it was cast in strips and glued to the wall.

The mosaics were just beautiful.

Our guide pointed out that the writing on the wall is predominantly Allah written over and other in two kinds of script.  Notice the green tree edging at the bottom and the inverted trees in white.

This fountain is in the Christian palace that was built for the King of Spain.  Personally, I didn't care for the staid decorations of the Spanish palace.  The Moors did a much better job of decorating, but they were definitely into power and the gaining the upper hand.

[Btw, if anyone is interested, according to my iPhone Health app I climbed 17 floors, took 15,023 steps and walked 6.9 miles today.  And, yes, I think my caboose is a little bit narrower now.]

Our tour started at 5pm and took 3 hours.  So, after the tour, we walked back down to Plaza de la Nueva and strolled back to the cafes at the bottom of our barrio, the Albaicin Quarter, at the foot of the Alhambra.  As we sat and ate our tapas dinner, a small band of musicians serenaded us for the second night in a row with gypsy jazz guitar music, the kind Django Reinhardt used to play (not as good as Django, but these were very talented young men and tonight they included what looked like a tenor saxophone, trumpet, trombone, great guitar, and a very unusual bass made of a long stick and a string with a washtub at the bottom - and he was amazing).


All in all, a wonderful day, even though I fumed at Steve for that incredible death march up hill and never-ending stairways to get to the Alhambra.

Tomorrow, we hop on the knee-crushing bus (with a plan to protect our knees this time) and head for Seville.  We could only get one night in Seville, but our AirBnb is inside the old city.  We will arrive around 3pm, settle in our apartment, and wander the streets of Seville among all the other tourists until the tours leave for the night and we have Seville to ourselves for the evening.  The only rub is that we have not set up any arrangements for the next leg of our travels.  So, it could get sticky soon.

I'll keep you posted, but I think we are headed to Malaga next.

We arrived in Granada!

It was a bit awkward, switching from a train to a bus for the last leg of the trip, and the bus, dear ones, was very tight - I mean, I'm above average in height for a woman and my knees may be bruised.  It got exciting when the lady in front of me reclined her seat a few inches.  So, after 1 1/2 hours on a tight bus, it was a relief to finally arrive in Granada, which by the way is a full size small city with bus service, tram service, traffic, industry, the works.

Thank goodness Steve had his transit app (MoovIt).  He didn't get frustrated, just opened the app and found out how to get to our AirBnb.  Because we had 1 1/2 hours to wait until our apartment was available for check-in, we found a great little cafe called Cafeteria le Duce (using Trip Advisor app) and had our first actual meal of the day since rushing for the train and then the bus. At that point, we walked looking for the bus stop and finally said "oh, heck, let's take a taxi".  This is what we saw when we exited the taxi.

Actually taken from our entryway, looking up hill.

Down hill is a large outdoor cafe and a wall next to the small river.  This is the view from that wall.  The Alhambra in all it's glory.

As much as I like this apartment, the wifi is not very strong, maybe not enough bandwidth.  So, more photos will probably be uploaded from our next stop, Seville.  (Now I owe you the Thyssen museum/Botanical Gardens and the Alhambra.) Wednesday, we take possibly the last tour available of the Alhambra and the Generalife Gardens at 5pm for 3 hours with an actual human guide! Yes, apparently you have to book a month in advance for tickets and we booked from the Bus Station in Granada for tomorrow; we were SO lucky.  (Our host was going to book the tickets and then emailed that we would have to physically go to the Alhambra to get them.  We weren't feeling lucky.  They only allow a certain number per day.)  The price for these tickets was our punishment for not booking a month ahead.  Oh, well.  You only live once and this might be our last time here in Granada. Carpe diem!

Two nights in Granada in our apartment in the historic district.  Then, on to Seville just for one night to see the city by day and night before going on to wherever we decide to go.  Hmmm...  We have some thinking to do.

Ah, Madrid!

Madrid has squeezed every waking hour out of me.

Hence, the one day delay in posting to the blog.  The first night after we arrived, I left Steve sleeping and walked up to the Plaza Mayor, just to see it at night, watch the Paseo, and reconnoiter for the shoe shop I wanted to visit the next day.

All the way to the Plaza, there were people in the street: eating at outdoor cafe tables, chatting on street corners, and walking.  It was 8 o'clock and this was a LOT of people.  But, it was nothing compared to what I saw when I climbed the ancient cobbled incline into the Plaza Mayor itself.  I swear there were at least 1000 people there.  I sat down at a front row table, ordered a Coke (my new caffeine drink of choice because that is what there is) and watched the people go by: young, old, families, teenagers, some sitting on the grass (which turned out to be turf over cobbled Plaza).  It was amazing and absolutely everything I had been told.  For the price of a very expensive Coke, I could has stayed for hours.  But, after an hour, I had to go back to prepare for the next day.

Yes, that's my coke and it was delicious!

Afterwards, I wandered out to find Cash Hernanz, the shop where amazing espadrilles are sold.  It was not open on Sunday, but I could window shop and be ready for the next morning when I came back to beat the crowds.  I eventually bought a pair of bright red espadrilles, made in Spain, and fitted them with Dr. Scholl's inserts of course.  The Doctor is international apparently.  Still not sure if I like them, but for 13E how could I resist.

The next day, Monday, after I got up early and hiked to the Plaza for my beautiful espadrilles, Steve and I headed for the Plaza, food, and the first of three art museums.  It turns out that you can buy, online, a Paseo del Arte pass (30E each) that gets you into all three of the major art museums (Prado, Thyssen, and Sofia) for 20% off the total entrance fees.  You can get in quicker, get in once to each of the museums, and it's good for a year.  We discovered how great this was when we came out of the Prado.  Yes, all the museums are open at 7pm for free, but the line is several people wide and covers at least 2 city blocks.  At our age, I don't think we could have stood in a line like that and then walked all over the museum.

Plaza Mayor by day, when they apparently roll up and remove the sod.  Who knew?

This is for you, Mom.  I know you love these. They were in a shop on the Plaza, which wasn't open when we were there, unfortunately.

The Addams Family seems to be in town.

Velasquez in front of the Prado.

Goya in front, too.

This is the "free" line after 7pm.  Photo taken at 6pm.

The Prado was fantastic!  https://www.museodelprado.es/en No pictures allowed (even with flash turned off), but that let us really focus on the art.  Yes, Gary, I saw some amazing Velasquez paintings.  He did paint light beautifully.  I discovered another artist who was good that way, too - Anton Raphael Megs.  I never heard of him, but I really liked the way he painted. Of course, there were all the masters, but I didn't find the impressionists that I was looking for: Manet, Monet, Renoir, etc.  Those were at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza. https://www.museothyssen.org/en   

Today, after fixing a travel snafu at Atocha station, we went to the Thyssen and it had a lot of the works that I had hoped I would see in the Prado.  The Thyssen was less, shall we say, aloof than the Prado and I was able to take a few photos of my favourites (without flash, of course).  Tomorrow, I will post a few of my favourites and a couple from the Botanical Garden that we found nearby.  But, we have to prepare for an early train (and bus) ride because we are going to Granada in the morning!

More later.