August 6. Seville

The ride was very nice. We covered over 300km is less than three hours. The girls were practically perfect.

We had pretty low expectations considering Spain’s poor economic state. We also did not build up huge hopes for Best Western. AS they say in SNL “lowered expectations.” So far everything was great. Hotel is maybe a few blocks away for the busy town life. We parked in the underground elevator garage of the hotel. We did not get into the room until late in the evening but once we did we saw that room is very large, it is actually a triple, and clean.

The city is much cleaner then Lisbon. We saw only one alcoholic and one snorter (at the playground). And the smell is incomparably better. There are fewer run down buildings, and generally everything seems to be in better shape. Finally, the food is much much better.

We wondered whether it would make sense to stay here for the summer rather than in Lisbon and the answer is still no. Even though some roofs in the old town streets are covered with sheets to give the streets below some shade, it is still very hot as soon as you get out of shade even at 8pm. And we got the sense that today was a relatively cool day with barely a few digits above 30 Celsius.

First girls and I unwound from the trip at the local bakery shop with some pastries and cappuccino. Dan unwound in his favorite way as well.

Next we went into Cathedral, the third largest Christian church in the world. It has a multitude of chapels. A feast for the eyes though after a while you slow down on digesting of the information. Some of the particularly memorable areas are the central chapel with virgin statue and some five year old wooden carving with facial expressions like they’ve come from today. In some ways the humankind really did not get that far in that time. There is also a tomb of Christopher Columbus. Georgia said it is was a bad thing because he caused deaths of all those Indians. Indirectly yes. But if not for him, five, ten, fifty years later there would be someone else. Possibly with even better weapons and more deadly diseases. Discovery of something new sometimes goes through the horrible abuse process until people figure out what to make of this new knowledge.

Anyway, there was also beautiful oval Renaissance chapel with some parts copied over from Michelangelo’s. Spatially it was a weird place to be – it felt somehow wrong. Finally, we really enjoyed the climb up the tower. It was the first tower that had inclined walkways suitable for a stroller. But we did not want to wake up Georgia and so we took turns. Georgia up with both Dan and I. 

Next we went to the royal palace and garden. Both are great. Other than Dan being knocked off the stairs with the stroller by the girl who was running down, there was no particular incidents. Dan scraped his elbow but otherwise he and Isabella were OK.

Kids got so used to the portable potty that they hardly ever think about declaring that they have to go – right now, whenever the moment strikes. Yesterday we spoke with Georgia and asked her to give us a little warning. It is one thing to set up the potty in a middle of the street for a two year old, doing that for a six year old can be a bit uncomfortable. So today, in the garden she said, very calmly that she has to go. And it is number two. We asked when. She said in a minute. I know the king does not come here a lot but I was not ready to set up the potty in the royal garden surrounded by the tourists. It was kind of funny after the mad rash through the park to find the bathroom. 

Another funny moment was when we got inside the maze made out of some tall bushes and got stuck with the stroller. We tried to find the exit this way and that, and kids started to get nervous. So we had to get out using some brute force, entertaining the people around.

Next we took a stroll around Santa Cruz neighborhood. The clean, well lit buildings, even in the narrowest of passageways are a treat. We saw the famous backyard that inspired Washington Irving. Only it was locked up. Dan took a picture by sticking the camera through the bars above the gate. Did not inspire us. Maybe they invited him in for a drink and that did the trick.

After a passable tapas and paella dinner (Georgia tried everything, Isabella bit into every bread bun on the table) we walked along Paseo De Las Delicias along the river to Parque Maria Louisa and took some many pictures near the beautiful Palace there.

After that we walked home via excellent Avenue de Constitution along the way. It was wide and filled with people. Families were strolling with strollers, people were having dinner, rollerbladers and so on. In addition, there were services going on at the Cathedral and they were allowing people in for free. We glanced inside and saw some tourists taking advantage of the opportunity. 

We saw not one, not two, but three Starbucks stores and a Dunkin Donuts all within the sight distance of each other. Nothing can beat coffee served in twelve once cup.  

Spain used to be famous for its four-five hour lunch. Stores would just suddenly close at noon or 1pm until the dinner time. Streets would go dead and only bewildered looking tourists would be walking around in heat and asking why. That’s how it was in 1999. Nowadays it looks like Spain has started the shift toward the global standard of the working hours. So far it looks like there is completely random pattern of opening and closing stores, not in any way resembling the posted hours. But in the end you get some stores open throughout the day and others in the morning and evening. That means so far, it is the best of all worlds.

Almost forgot. Garbage cans are very modern – they look like mini-incinerators. You put your garbage in, close the door and turn the handle, and then when you open it again – the chamber is empty. Very cool! We tried a few times to make sure.