Day 7: To Sevilla and Barrio Santa Cruz

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Geo: 37.3833, -5.9965

Today's entry could be subtitled "Lost in the alleys of old Sevilla."

After checking out from our wonderful hotel on the Puerta del Sol, we had an easy cross town subway ride to get to Madrid's Atocha train station. After a pleasant train ride to Sevilla from Madrid (love train travel!), we suddenly found ourselves in a much warmer climate.

Caught the bus from the Sevilla train station to a point that we thought would be easy walking distance into the central part of the city and the old historic neighborhood, the Barrio Santa Cruz, where our hotel, the El Rey Moro, was located. As it turned out, it was not so easy.

The walk from the bus stop turned into a very long walk when we entered the labyrinth like streets and alleys of the Barrio Santa Cruz. We hoped we could keep the cathedral and its impressive bell tower, La Giralda, in constant sight as our compass, but as we entered the tangled and winding street plan of Santa Cruz, we could only see what was on the side of us and the end of the street (where it turned yet another corner) in front of us. We later found that the streets of the Barrio Santa Cruz usually rendered any GPS unusable.

Sure that we had circled the same area several times and must be close, we asked a waiter standing out on the street, "Donde El Rey Moro?" He said that it was right here, pointing to the restaurant. He led us through the restaurant and right into the garden filled courtyard of the hotel. It was as if we had landed in a garden paradise.

After cleaning up, we had tapas in the courtyard from our hotel's restaurant, discovering salmonrejo, a thicker, creamier Andalucian cousin of gazpacho. This one had a beet base, and it was absolutely lucious!

That evening, we strolled the busy streets and alleys for paseo (evening walk) and topped off the night with helados (pistachio is my favorite).

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