Day 8 - One More Notch

Day 8 - Saturday in Seville - One More Notch

Today we woke up early,,,, well,,, early for us.  9:30 AM.  We were so happy to know our tour wasn't until 2 PM.  We went down for breakfast and enjoyed the buffet they had laid out.  After breakfast we hit the town to do some shopping.  First stop,,, Vodafone.  We had bought Katie a phone and it wasn't working so we got to enjoy some more quality time at the phone store.  After that we strolled from store to store.  There are no shortage of stores here in Seville.  Furthermore, the stores here aren't your typical "I see it everywhere" store,,, nor are they junk stores (some are).  It was a nice mix.

Around 1 we decided breakfast had worn off so we had to do it,,,,, we had to eat at McDonalds.  Just to compare it to the ones in the US.  I'm not sure if it's the case everywhere but this McDonalds was EXACTLY like the ones back home (not that we eat at McDonalds a lot).  After some more walking around we headed back to the hotel where we met our guide at 2 PM.  Speaking of the hotel,,,, this place is AWESOME.  It has the most unique elevator we've ever seen.  The elevator is kind of like an elevator you'd find in a private residence,,, you know, with the gate that closes before you go up or down.  The only difference is that in this elevator the gate closes for you and it's not a gate, it's three wood panels with mirrors.  I can't believe how well it functions (see the video if you're really interested to know more).

Our guide, Marianna, was very nice.  She took us around to some of her favorite shops and tapas restaurants while we made our way to the BIG church in the middle of town, the Seville Cathedral.  We learned that this church is the third largest in the world and it was easy to see why.  This place is HUGE.  Katie and I walked up the bell tower which happens to be the tallest building in town.  We could see to the four corners of Seville, it was spectacular.  After the Cathedral tour we toured an old palace called the Alcazar.  The Alcazar was pretty amazing but after four hours of touring we were done.

Katie and I said our goodbyes to Marianna and we headed for some tapas and cervezas.  We went to Marianna's favorite place in town and it turned out to be very good.  After a quick bite to eat we walked back to the hotel to get ready for a night on the town.  I realized, while getting dressed, I gave up a notch in my belt to the tapas gods.  No buena.  It's full-on diet starting Thursday night when we get home.

Before heading out I had about an hour long phone call, work related,,, and then it was go time.  We started at the hotel tapas bar and ordered a few drinks and a few tapas.  The food was ok but the bar tender was a little dry so we were ready to move on.  While we were there the sound coming from the other room was incredible.  We peeked our heads in to find a wedding taking place.  Those folks were having a ton of fun (we decided not to crash it though).

We took Marianna's advice and we decided to cross the river to see a different part of town.  We realized we crossed the wrong bridge so we walked up the other side of the river through a part of town that is obviously inhabited by the locals.  It seemed very poor yet there was a lot of happy, safe looking people around.  At one point we came upon a bunch of kids (keep in mind it's 9 PM at night) singing songs and playing games on the sidewalk.

We made our way to another one of Marianna's favorite tapas joints, Blanca Paloma (the White Dove).  The bar tender didn't speak a lick of English.  Thankfully Katie's Spanish has been improving by the day and we were able to communicate.  The bar tender ended up being a lot of fun as did the challenge of figuring out what we were ordering (neither of us wanted another Blood Sausage episode).  Each of the tapas we ordered were amazing,,, my favorite being the goat cheese with jam and nuts.

After that place we made our way back across the proper bridge and we walked through town looking for a fun place to hang out.  We finally found a dimly lit bar (they crank the lights in every venue here) and we hung out for a bit.  After a while we headed back to the hotel for a glass of wine before bed.  It was around mid-night when we showed up and our favorite bar tender was there again.  We chatted with her for about two hours,,,, closing time,,, and then headed to bed.  Tomorrow we head for Madrid,,,, high-speed train, here we come.

In case you missed it, here is the link to the pictures:
https://plus.google.com/photos/113169248147362226921/albums/5744418506085215281


-J