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Published: November 5th 2011
PopArt
There's this little box thingy in the room with no art in it. I thought it needed something. So, as Daniel called it, "Pop Art."Today, we woke in the lovely Hotel Ciudad de Lucena. It is a really nice hotel in its way… the bed isn’t super comfy, but it’s not bad. The amenities are OK. The breakfast was adequate, and the price was right. It’s a little out of the way, but it is centrally located (ish) to Cordoba, Malaga, and Sevilla, so I chose it with the idea of being able to make a choice. Meh. I should’ve just chosen a city and gone with it.
So, after breakfast, we headed to Seville (Sevilla). We told the Garmin to get us to the city, but we were unsure of where to go when we were there. On our way, there was rain and there was some more rain. THEN there was the time when it was WAY too much water pouring down to really call it rain. But when we got to Seville, the rain slacked-off.
After driving around for a bit, Daniel found the Cathedral on the Garmin. We headed to that area and found a parking garage. If you drive to Seville, I strongly suggest parking in the garage. Don’t dilly-dally trying to find a parking space on the
Olive Trees
There were olive trees as far as you could see. It was mind-boggling. street. We were there from 11am to 11pm and it cost 12.85 euros. In SF, you pay more than that for three hours in some places.
Side note – I’m uploading a video of a crosswalk dude that can be found throughout Spain. I dig the animation and I especially love when it gets down to the last several second… ☺
Once we were parked, we wandered around, checking things out. We found ourselves near the cathedral, which was an impressive edifice. We walked into a chapel, which was nice, but not overwhelming. We didn’t attempt to go into the main part of the cathedral… we just kept walking. After I took a picture of it from outside, a woman came up, handed me a rosemary sprig, read my fortune (which I didn’t understand because it was rapid-fire Spanish), blessed me, and then asked for money. I suggested five euros, she insisted on ten. I figured that if I didn’t give her what she asked, some gypsy pickpocket would come and take more. I tried to keep the sprig of rosemary on me and visible (so other gypsies would leave us alone), but it fell off of my
Cathedral
Seville Cathedral person within the hour, which I was sad about. Luckily, the day went without incident.
After looking around, we had decided that Seville is nice, but not our favorite city in Spain. But we decided to look at the Reales Alcázares a little more closely. We are very happy that we did. We’re also overjoyed to have spent the 8.50 euros, each, it cost to get in. There was a feline greeter who Daniel and I paid homage to and we wended our way in and out of various rooms and salons. There was a room with interesting fans, a gallery of tiles dating back to the 14th Century, and some stunning architecture throughout. So, the building was really just setting us on our ears with jaw-dropping moments. THEN we found our way to the Jardines Reales Alcázares (Gardens of the Royal Alcazars).
The gardens are massive, well-manicured, beautiful, and filled with moments of beauty. There was a lovely peacock in the garden (finding some food) there were all kinds of cool ceramic-work and statues. The blue sky as a backdrop to various vignettes of plant and ceramic made for a wonderful afternoon.
Once we were done
Chica
Thought she was pretty cool. Laying there with a book! Sounds good to me! ogling the Alcázares, we went in search of various shopping items – some regalos to bring home, a cord to play iPhones in the rental, and a new polo for me, as I am running short on clean clothes.
We went back to the car, dropped-off our purchases and my camera, then proceeded to search for a bar called “El Hombre y El Oso”, which is a “bear” bar. We stopped at a café for a little gelato along the way. After a little fumbling, we finally found the bar, which wasn’t open when we got there (7:50pm – the place opens at 8pm), so the bartender gave us a suggestion for a tapas place, Las Columnas, which turned-out to be an excellent suggestion. We had small glasses of beer and the tapas were: 1) Manchego cheese; 2) Huevo relleno (hard-boiled egg stuffed with a tuna concoction); and 3) chicken breast, grilled, with roquefort cheese sauce. All of that for eleven euros.
After a light dinner, we headed back to the bar, had another beer, each, and chatted with a fellow from Austin, TX. His name is Christopher. Nice feller. We chatted with him for a bit, but
Friend
Daniel's newest friend. we had to go or else it was going to be too late to get back to the hotel by a reasonable hour. It’s a 2-hour drive from Seville to Lucena. This was also unfortunate because the bars start to pick-up around 11pm. We had to leave by about 10pm.
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Kristin
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Chica
It would be so nice to lie naked in the middle of a beautiful city and read a book. What freedom that beckons. I'm enjoying your blog. As your mom said, I'm "armchair traveling" with you.