~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Life Afloat ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~: Sevilla, Spain -- the City

Saturday, April 19, 2025

Sevilla, Spain -- the City

Sevilla, in southern Spain, was our next stop. It's home to the headquarters of the Fundación that owns El Galeon, so that alone was reason for us to visit. But there was so, so much more, as we would soon learn. We had planned a day to visit their office and museum, another day to the ancient town of Cordoba, and yet another half-day to learn about tile.

We took a high-speed train across the country from Barcelona (300 km/hour, wow). Much cheaper and more environmental than flying, and when you discount the time in airport security, etc, not that much longer and far more interesting!

After 3 months on the Galeon, I was pretty sure my Spanish would be good enough to get us on the right train. I needn't have worried -- there were signs everywhere. (It's much easier for me to handle written vs spoken Spanish as I can take my time.) And anyway there were plenty of English-speakers.

This view, from the train between Barcelona and Madrid, reminds me a lot of western Colorado. Any settlers from Spain who reached the area would have felt right at home … until around November when the snow began…

But my confidence in my Spanish may have been premature. Sometimes there’s a downside to “partial” Spanish -- I think people assume we understand more than we actually do, because we speak the language somewhat they assume we know cultural things also. I think we can innocently do awkward or rude things that way. So far the only one I’m definitely aware of was a mixup in trying to order tapas that weren’t on the happy hour special price menu, and being baffled at the higher price and the waiter's apparent annoyance with us, but that was a situation relatively easy to sort. As for the train, it's possible that we may not have been in the correct line getting off the train, and somehow ended up with a group of people who were directed to the emergency exit from the Sevilla train station, thereby almost missing the driver who was waiting inside the station where we should have exited to take us to our hotel. We essentially had to almost “sneak” back into the station to find him still waiting patiently…) But we finally arrived at what ultimately became one of my favourite of Syd’s hotel recommendations, the hotel "Casa De La Plata" ("House of Silver").

Cheers! To Sevilla! My friend Lizzy said I should post this photo in a Facebook group called "drinks with a view." I didn't, but we did find ourselves on the rooftop of our hotel almost every evening at dusk to wind down the day.

Random street close to our hotel. Hints of the Moorish influence in this part of the country.

another street ...

Zooming in on part of the view from the rooftop.

And for contrast, equally close to our hotel, this very modern sculptural structure, nicknamed "The Mushroom" was an easy landmark often referenced by people giving us directions.

We did a lot of walking! The streets were laid out in a bit of a hodgepodge; maybe following old alleys, or aligned with the river, but we found it easy to get lost. We stumbled into the shopping district, where it became clear how much better dressed people would be than in the US, based on the number of gowns on display in the windows, both in traditional ruffly styles and sleeker modern ones.

Here too, we finally admitted defeat after collecting the massive amount of nautical souvenirs in Whitby. We were going to need an extra suitcase to go home. The very patient shopkeeper spoke no English, but still managed to help us select one. It did take some effort for her to explain, and me to be sure I understood: TSA-compliant locks (different from Euro ones); that Euro carryon bag dimensions were smaller than US ones (and to translate from centimeters to inches); differing levels of impact resistance, and the benefits of double wheels vs singles.