Seville, Sept 19 2011

Small color apartments and homes flanked both sides of the river

Monday began with a plan in my mind. I had an agenda to complete by the end of the day and most of it included just walking down the narrow streets of the Santa Cruz neighborhood, strolling into a wine store, snacking on things here and there. It was a tough agenda to follow but we managed ;)  We started with a cruise on the Guadalquivir river, which runs through the city and meets the Atlantic at the city of Sanlucar de Barrameda. The tour gave us a nice overview of the various monuments in the city starting from Torre Del Oro (The golden tower). We basked in the sun and the breeze as the boat took us across the multiple bridges that flanked the banks of the river, trying to bring the two sides together. There were folks basking in the sun on one of the banks, playing with their dogs as they tossed their ball into the river and the dogs raced to bring it back, there were health conscious folk who were running along the river in the hot mid day sun, even someone swimming in the river along the bank...I am not sure how far they went but they seemed very confident. One has to be very confident of their capability to swim long distance to even attempt that, it is so safe in a pool cause you can always go to an end if you are tired and hold on, what does one do in a river.....and am sure there was alot of wildlife in the river, as we saw turtles, some fish splashing the surface, etc. The banks were also lined with a few men fishing either for pleasure or for lunch. All of this on a Monday afternoon was a great sight, cause there was no pressure of time associated with it. Things were slow and the only thing to do is to sit back and breathe.

After the cruise, we began walking the streets towards the Cathedral. I tried to figure it out on a map and soon figured out, it does not matter, just pick a street and walk towards it. The towers could be seen from afar and you could not be mistaken. Just pick a street in that direction and start walking. As we progressed we stopped to look at a queer statue...and woah! It was Mozart, leaning over a book, holding a violin in the other hand. I was ecstatic that a place would have his statue just like that....We walked and passed some cute stores, the streets began to show their character with colorful balconies, with plants and flowers, yellow and orange and white and blue colored doors. The streets were all stone paved. We had a gorgeous building in front with art on its walls....just like that. The paintings were in blue color like ink on cream colored walls. We did not know the significance of it but appreciated it nonetheless.

Mozart

We were about to get to the cathedral when a lady just stops my way and hands me some twigs of rosemary. In my mind I said...awesome free herbs! Well not really, she begins talking about futura and begins reading my palm, out of the blue, with interspersed words which sounded like Santa Maria. Soon she was done and expected me to pay. Well I didnt understand anything she said so no pay. Watch out for these folks when you travel cause you are what they are looking for. Reading my palm...yeah right!

Statue outside the Cathedral's entrance

Anyhow we got to the cathedral to discover a looong line. But the entrance itself was so gorgeous we did not mind the line at all. The outside of the cathedral has in detail carvings of different motifs, faces, statues, very intricate and the inside was even more awesome. I was speechless and entranced by the size of it. The huge pillars reminded me of the LOTR scene in the Mines of Moria with massive pillars. I was almost sure they must have shot it here. The center of the cathedral which housed the main idol, I think, was surrounded by many different statues and depictions of Jesus and Mary. The center was all gold and ornate with design and sculpture, the likes of which I have never seen. After breathing in that atmosphere for a while, we headed to the Giralda tower. 34 ramps, ladies and gentlemen.....34!

From the top of Giralda tower

We climbed and climbed and climbed....until we reached the top which housed the bells of the cathedral. There were almost 10 of them of varying sizes, and there were windows on each side of the tower. The view of Seville from the tower was breathtaking.

We headed down after a while to the orange courtyard. The whole place is strewn with citrus trees, and apparently when they bloom the air is filled with the smell of orange blossoms. I am sure that gives the place a whole different atmosphere. The courtyard had many trees and an interesting irrigation system built into the flooring itself. There were channels which connected every tree to every other tree such that if one watered at one end long enough, eventually all trees would get watered. Nice idea, I thought.

We headed out of the cathedral to just walk around and shop. The shops are queer and each one is equally inviting. Especially the ones with ceramics in them. Finally we sat ourselves at a Tapas bar, and I had the first taste of true cold gazpacho while my friends enjoyed some wine. I wanted to save up for the Tapas tour.

Herbs hung from the ceiling at a Tapas Bar

The Tapas tour took us to 3 different places, where we could try one tapa and one drink. The white wine was gorgeous and barely had any after taste, which I like alot. Tapa is like an appetizer so it is in small quantity and these Tapas bars are everywhere. So you can order anything small and eat and move on and eat again a little later. Each place we stopped at had an interesting decor. Most places hang herbs or garlic and probably use it in their cuisine when it is dry enough. There is no to go concept nor do you see alot of plastic ware. Things are simple and basic and beautiful. The final place we stopped at is famous for its desserts, so much so that they even served a dessert wine, which was sweeeeet! I mean it was like drinking honey, seriously. The wine was red and thick, it stuck to the wine glass when you twirled it. We had some charming company of some folks who had come for the conference which made drinking that wine down more of a competition. The dessert itself was really good and not as sweet. I generally have become a bit reserved and come off as a not so Yeyy kind of person, but after 3 glasses of wine, I was loquacious alright! We had also passed a guitar store which had the prettiest guitars I have ever seen. They had work done on the front in gold and silver, and I bet it was priced well too!

After a busy day of no work, it was time to head back home and crash, just to wake up the next day for some more adventure in this city of Seville!