Bats in the Belfry of Seville and Granada

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We said goodbye to Madrid and jumped on the AVE to Seville. The train got up to 195 km/hr (121 mi/hr) and we made the 300 mile journey in just over 2 hours. The train is so smooth it puts you right to sleep.



Seville is a city of labyrinthine, winding walls, but somehow we are able to explain to the taxi driver the relative location of our hotel. When we arrived, we found our room which was amazingly smaller than our room in Madrid. It did, however, have a full terrace with a view of the Catedral de Seville. (Cathedral)



We asked for a tapas recommendation, and wandered across the main tourist area and off a side road to enjoy some local sherry, Jamon Jabugo (from the black footed pig), Espinoca con Garbanzo, and, of course, Croquettes. This fueled us for the tours of the Alcazar and Cathedral.



We keep wondering why there's an Alcazar in every city we go to...is it a brand name? Turns out it means "castle". The Alcazar in Toledo was closed, but the Alcazar of Seville has been the highlight of our trip. It had amazing Moorish and Turkish architecture, and really was a foreshadowing to the Alhambra. Lots of patterns and tessellations.



We also visited the Catedral and climbed the 34 ramps to the tower. They built ramps up to the tower so the horses could ride to the top. I suggested they build a big horse elevator. The Catedral is the 3rd largest in the world and also has the largest altarpiece in the world, and it is all gold plated, so Chris has that one on his dad...



That night Chris surprised Gigi for their anniversary with tickets to see a flamenco show. We were in the front row, middle. Out came a guitarist and he played some amazing classical music. Then his counterpart, the singer, began wailing. We glanced at each other because the man sounded like he was possessed by the devil. Imagine if you put a goose in a garbage disposal and that will give you an idea what we were hearing. Apparently, afterwords, we would learn that it is traditional to do this to scare the spirits away. It almost scared the two American tourists in the front row.



Finally, the dancer came out. Her steps complimented the beats of the guitarist and singer. By the end of the third act she was covered in sweat. That night we enjoyed a dinner on our balcony with a view of the catedral and 5 dozen bats.



The next morning we woke at 5 am from the sound of Catedral bells to get to the train station to get to Granada. After a slow 3 hour journey (this was no AVE) we reached cold Granada. What was going to be the first thing we did? Catedral? Alhambra? Nope, off to buy pants for Gigi, as it was 58 degrees up here in the mountains. Gigi will be coming home with quite a set of Spanish pantalones.



We hadn't seen a Catedral in almost 18 hours, so it was off to the Catedral de Granada, which was completely different from all the other caterdrals we have seen thus far. We then visited a nearby church and saw the tombs of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand and their children. We felt like we wanted to say "Hi, nice to meet you. I've heard so much about you." after visiting so many places they lived and influenced.


We spent the rest of our time visiting the Alhambra. It is the most visited thing in all of Europe. Only 7800 people are allowed to visit each day, and we bought our tickets 2 months ago so we were able to skip the lines. First we toured the Middle Eastern Nazrid Palace, then the Alcazaba, and finally the Generalife Gardens. The architecture was so detailed it was amazing. The gardens and views of the city were beautiful. After 3 hours, we took the evening train back to Seville. Looking up from the Granada station we noticed the Sierra Nevada mountain range...still snow-covered. After returning to Seville we went for tapas and had clams in a wine and garlic sauce (and croquettes of course).


The next morning we awoke not to the sound of church bells, but bats. They squeaked like birds all through the night, one small drawback of having a terrace overlooking the Catedral. Off to the airport for a Spanair flight to Barcelona.

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Comments

[Sara]

Love the blog!
I love reading the blog from my office computer...a few minutes of daydreaming every day. I am starting to crave ham croquettes! Trip sounds fabulous so far! Sorry to hear it is so cold, I am sure Italy and Greece will be much warmer!?! I look forward to hearing about your trip to Barcelona. S

[Ken]

Here comes the sun!
Your trip will now get sunny and warm, I hope. Sounds like you are having a great time and seeing a lot. Very interesting too. Take care. Dad, Mom and Becky