two backpacks and a diaper bag

Saturday, May 28th. Sevilla. According to Sean, I got really lazy yesterday morning. In my view, I was getting stuff done. I was just doing it in bed. I got us tickets to a Flamenco show, responded to a friend asking for recommendations in Prague, Vienna, and Budapest, replied to some work emails, and read some news about the world. I could have gotten up and grabbed some breakfast, but Arthur was asleep and I was enjoying the slow start.

We finally got out of the house past noon. Yeah, it was quite late. We started by walking down to Sevilla Cathedral. From the outside, the bell tower looked so grand. The carvings were just marvelous. We debated whether or not we should go inside. We decided to walk around the outside of the whole cathedral first. When we finished making our round, we finally waited in line for tickets.

But then, the guard saw us with the stroller and told us to go to use the wheelchair-access line. She said we shouldn’t wait under the sun. “It’s too hot for the baby,” she said.

So, once again, it’s a perk of having a baby. Sure, we have to put up with his cries and diaper change and sleep habits, but all that for a few skip-the-line privileges? Well worth it.

I’m being sarcastic, of course Arthur has had a pretty bad sleep these past couple of nights. The longest stretch was three hours, and that happened only once in the course of the 12-hour sleep. Most of the time he would only have 2 hours of sleep, which means I have to get up to put him back to sleep. I feel like a zombie most of the time. I can’t remember the smallest things, and sometimes I am incoherent. Even writing this blog makes me think really hard about what had happened. If we didn’t take pictures, I would totally forget the events for the day.

Anyway, we went through all the way to the ticket office. After a slight hiccup with a double transaction on my card, we finally got the tickets.

The cathedral itself was super impressive. The Gothic carvings and the grand ceiling were so detailed. Everywhere we turned, we were so impressed with what we saw. Even the “small” chapels on the sides were impressive.

We got to a mausoleum and wondered whose it was.

It turned out to be Christopher Columbus. Yup, the guy who “discovered” America. In 1492, Colombus sailed the ocean blue.

We didn’t realize we were going to spend so much time in the Cathedral but everything was just so beautiful!

And then we went up to the top of the tower. I’m glad they didn’t charge a separate fee to get to the top. As long as you have the tickets to the Cathedral, you can climb up to the top.

We left our stroller at the entrance to the tower, and walked up. It was a slope up to the top. You make 34 turns around the clock tower itself to get to the top, and then there was a single set of stairs to get to the viewing point. We overheard someone said that the reason why it was a slope up was because back in the day, the caretaker could ride their horse up to the top. Fair enough.

We got a great view of Sevilla from the top.

After the tower, we continued walking around the cathedral, and then we sat in the garden to care for Arthur. We fed him, changed him, and put him to sleep.

When Arthur was finally asleep, we left the cathedral and made our way to Real Alcazar.

The surrounding area around the cathedral was very lively. There were so many people around. People laughing, trams passing by, horse-drawn carriages tapping along, bicycle bells ringing, musicians busking. It was a cheerful concert of street sounds. Quite lovely.

Along the way to the Alcazar, we stopped by Haagen Dazs for some milkshakes, and a souvenir store for some bandanas.

We passed by the university and a garden. And after a while, we couldn’t find the entrance to the Alcazar. We turned left and then another left, through small cobblestone alleyways. Then we found the exit to the Alcazar. I went in and asked where the entrance was. The guard said we had to go out of the square, turn left, and make another left.

As we exited the square, we were back in the Cathedral square. We’ve gone one big round! Sean then found out that heremaps gave two locations “Real Alcazar” and “Royal Alcazar.” We should have gone to the latter.

Anyhow, we finally found the entrance and we saw how long the ticket line was. Too long. But there was a separate entrance for those who bought tickets online. We decided that we were going to buy tickets online for tomorrow instead.

So we sat on the square, fed Arthur, and watched the world around us.

And then we got a message from Illona, my sister. She has landed in Sevilla and she was on her way to us. It was going to take her 15 minutes.

We went back to the apartment. She arrived around the same time as we did. Yay!

Illona will join us for the remaining of our journey.

After Illona settled in, we went out to print our bus tickets to Portugal, then we went to the market and the bakery. Then we went back home.

We cooked, caught up with each other’s lives, and called it a night.

This morning, we left the house just before noon. Our first stop was Plaza de Espana.

It seemed like such a long walk. Along the way, we saw a protest. Not sure what it was about. They were mostly old people.

Plaza de Espana was a grand place.

After spending some time walking around the Plaza, we made our way to Real Alcazar. This time, we knew how to get there, and we had bought tickets online.

The inside of the Royal Residence reminded me of Morocco. The tiles, the carvings, geometrical shapes, the fountains, the garden. So intricate and beautiful. The palace was built in Mudejar and Gothic styles.

We even went inside the maze garden. We totally underestimated it. “How hard could it be?” I thought. Well, hard. It was more difficult than I thought it would be.

We didn’t finish the maze. We ended up going back the way we came in.

After the Alcazar, we went to a restaurant on the main street right by the cathedral. Tapas, sangria, paella. So much good food! We had 8 tapas dishes, 2 jugs of sangria, and 1 large paella. All for 51euro.

I totally forgot to take a picture of our meal and the surroundings!

From here, we made our way to the Flamenco Museum for our 5pm show.

Unfortunately, photos or videos were not allowed. The performance was spectacular, though. The place was small and intimate.

When they first started, Arthur let out a loud cry. I think he got scared. The music was melancholic at first, and the tapping was quite loud. Good thing there was some space in the back for us to stand and soothe him. We were able to watch the entire performance. It was only an hour long.

After the performance, we walked around the museum. It was all right. I think we were all just too tired. It was a long day and it was hot. And we did a lot of walking.

We went home after this and started packing. We have to leave house really early in the morning tomorrow.