A Long Day in Andalusia

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This morning started at 4:30, thankfully the one good thing about technology is our phones automatically adjusted for daylight savings time, so we stayed on schedule. Our train for Seville left at 6:58 so we would have not time to have breakfast at the hotel. Again, they were kind enough to pack us a picnic breakfast for the train. It was much better than what we provided in Tarragona. The comparison would be the free lunch you get at grade school compared to the lunch your mom makes you to take to school.

The hotel called us a taxi and we arrived at the train station in plenty of time, but for some reason it still seemed as if we were rushing to get on the train. It seems that our car is always the furthest away, so we have to roll the luggage all the way to the end of the platform. We still have plenty of time to store our luggage and settle in. The seats are fairly comfortable, more so than on the Eurostar, which is strange since the Eurostar costs considerably more.

Let me take a few moments and talk about why we opted to train everywhere on this trip. First, it is inexpensive, even if you opt for a higher class of service. Second, it is convenient, usually city center to city center (the exception of course being Tarragona). Third, driving just isn’t an option for us anymore, we can’t do a drive for more than three hours at a time so we would never get anywhere. Finally, it is just the greener option. Flying is environmentally horrid and ends up taking longer than the train anyway. For the most part Spanish trains are very reliable and on schedule. They have both a café car and if you can figure out how it works at seat meal service in certain classes. They are not as fast as the French trains, but still faster than driving. We just very much enjoy relaxing and just looking at the scenery or taking a nap, you certainly can’t take a nap when you’re driving.

Our train left on time, but at the stop before Cordoba where we had to change trains, we suddenly just stopped, the train completely shut down for about 20 minutes. We had a very short connection in Cordoba 28 minutes to be exact and the train was 28 minutes later. The good thing was that they held our connecting train and some personally escorted the group of us switching trains to the platform. Ok, well your thinking, that was not so bad, we didn’t miss the train, well let me paint you a little picture. First, we were in the next to the last car on the train from Granada, Jerry rushed off, I almost fell of the train trying to get the suitcase off. Now, close your eyes (well after you read this) and picture a well-dressed walrus with three suitcases rolling down a long train platform, then up the moving sidewalk, sweating like a pig. The walrus is sure he is going to just collapse and never make it to the next train. Once at the top of the platform, it is back down, fortunately there were people guiding and cheering the walrus on. Best of all our car was not at the end of the platform but at the front. To finish the picture, after the luggage is all stored and we are safely seated the walrus feels like he just got out of the ocean.

50 minutes later we were in Seville and the humidity was there to greet us. It was a nice taxi ride to the hotel, through narrow alleys and streets the taxi managed to avoid the pedestrians, who do not like to get out of the way of cars. We arrived at the hotel at a little after eleven, much too early to check in, but we did store our luggage and were then off for the balance of the day.

We were going to go visit one sight before our lunch reservation, but Jerry’s GPS went horribly wrong, and we ended up going the entirely wrong direction and then had to double back. Back on the right path, the street we needed to take was under construction. Plans thwarted, we headed to lunch.

I don’t have much to say about lunch, other than it was in the Cathedral Square, the English-speaking server was not pleasant and felt it necessary to point out several times that service was not included (meaning tip me). The Spanish speaking servers on the other hand were quite friendly. The food was just that food, the gazpacho was acceptable but not great. Not every meal can be a homerun, that is just part of traveling abroad you take the good with the bad. Fortunately, most of the time we have far more good than bad.

After lunch was our self-created walking tour of the Jewish Quarter. A series of pedestrian only narrow passages which lead into plaza after plaza. The synagogue apparently was converted to a convent during the Spanish Inquisition.

After the Jewish Quarter we did find our way back to Casa de Pilatos. The casa is a combination of Spanish Mudejar and Renaissance architecture, I have not idea what that means, but Jerry does. The casa was build in the first half of the 16^th century and is considered the protype for Andalusian Mansions. The Marquis of Tarifa supposedly modeled it on the Jerusalem house of Pontus Pilate, thus Casa Pilatos. There is a huge roman influence on the façade and the various statutes. There are several court yards though out and the casa is two stories, we only toured the ground floor as were not up for a guided tour.

By the time we finished the tour it was time to check in to our room, so we headed back to the hotel. The room is very nice and spacious, but the balcony is insane, pictures to come tomorrow. I rested my feet and started this blog entry. Jerry unpacked, as is his way, and started the process of getting the laundry ready. We are halfway thought the trip so that means it is time to go to the cleaners.

Dinner will be in the hotel. We were going to go to a great tapa place we ate at the last time we were here, but really were not up for the half mile walk each way, and the rain is supposed to come in tonight. The rain really doesn’t stay mainly on the plain in Spain.

So almost at the end of a very long day. We have adjusted tomorrow to save a few miles on our feet, but it will still be a full day. More after dinner. Oh, and we are having a fabulous time, even if it is a different experience than 16 years ago.

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Dinner was better than we anticipated. Often the restaurant in a hotel is just ok and they don’t try very hard because they have a captive audience. That was not the case here. The chef obviously recently graduated from culinary school, as the presentation of the dishes were very artful. There were not a lot of choices, but we did manage to put together a pretty good menu. Just a quick run down since this wasn’t an experience but just a meal at the end of a very long day:

· Dos Copa Cava

· Patatas Bravas (different take, sauce on the side and two types)

· Revuelto de sete (mushrooms, scrambled eggs and asparagus)

· Falmenquin (kind of a rolled schnitzel stuffed with ham and cheese)

· Solomillo (perfectly cooked steak with a rich Pedro Jimenez sauce.

· Bottle of Carmelo

That was pretty much the day, we didn’t even finish the bottle of wine, so just took it back to our room for later. There is no dish of the day, not because we did not have good food, but in order to achieve dish of the day status, it truly must be an outstanding dish, and that we did not have today.

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