The Barber of Seville

Our AVE train after we got off

Mexican embassy

Most of the many parrots we saw were monk parakeets just like those in Brooklyn. There are 17 kinds. This is the rose ringed parrot in Maria Luisa Parque

costume museum

ceramics all over the city

Plaza de Espana

Each region had its own chair. The Barcelona, Sevilla, and Madrid chairs all full so I went for color

chosen to match my outfit. I always seem to be wearing this but I do have other clothes, really.

hubby

my favorite photo

Torre de Oro

Guandavir River  A path to the New World though now all silted up

Triana on the other side of the river

bullfighting ring

Back across the river. Lights turned on after we had some tapas

The Giralda, third largest cathedral in Europe

Steve watched the screen as our AVE train sped towards Sevilla. Top speed he observed was 195 mph. The landscape, mainly orange and olive groves, was boring. From the train station to our hotel was 1.3 miles

. I measured it on my watch to get some idea how long it would take when we took a day trip to Cordoba in a couple of days. Even though on the map, it looked like a straight path, the street's name changed every block, a problem we keep encountering. As Steve slipped into a El Cortes Ingles to get wine and water, I sat across the street with all our luggage on a barber shop's bench waiting. The barber (of Seville, Ha) came out to kick me off as he was closing for the day (Things shut down around 1 and don't open up until 5. So strange.)

Our hotel was nice but fairly far from anything interesting. I had stayed right in the middle in a cheap place years ago. Best feature of our room? Nespresso machine though they were stingy with the pods.

On to the closest attractions: Parque Marie Luisa an the Plaza Espana. The latter was the site of a Spanish exposition 100 years ago. We then walked along the river which now has a bike path instead of woody overgrowth partially hiding gypsy encampments. Across the bridge to a tower that I had visited years ago that had cheap, good food. No longer cheap and packed to the gills as was most of Triana, the ceramic district. We looked for food in the heart of the city. Dinner does not start until 10 pm but we found a charmless tapas place open. Food: so-so. But the lights came on on the street. On to the Giralda. On to the bull fighting ring. On the long walk home, a fair with amusement rides where we bought a huge stuffed with chocolate churro.