Day 14 Friday March 15th: That's a lot of Bull!
During the night we were accosted by a lone mosquito who loved to buzz around our ears. We had the window open yesterday afternoon so it must have decided to enter our suite and wait for nightfall. We awake a little after 08:00 to a beautiful sunny blue sky day in Cádiz. Not much noise here last night given there are no vehicles on the street below and thankfully no church bells from next door. Early on it is 12 degrees and will get to 23 degrees. Our destination of Sevilla shows a high of 26 degrees! I am wearing my shorts for certain today. Yeh! This may be my last day in shorts for a number of months. Lana has some anxiety about our car being in its street parking spot. For me 'breakfast of champions' with a surprise pastry Patis de Nata (Portugese egg tart we love and Lana bought as a surprise for us today) and a banana. Our parking is good until 10:21. Despite Lana's minor anxiety, our car is in its place on the street and all it cost was 1.00 Euro! After we have our three pieces of luggage in the trunk we think the car sags from the weight of the wine bottles!
We are at our vehicle a little after 10:00. We take our time on the freeway as it is only about a 90 minute drive. There is one toll booth before Sevilla and it cost 7.45 Euro which is by far the most we have ever paid for a toll in Europe. There is some spectacular farmland which includes the most red soil I have ever seen. There is blue sky all the way to Sevilla. We decide to drive to our hotel, check into the room and unload our luggage before going to drop off the car at the Budget Rental at the train station. We arrive at the hotel and there is no car entrance and no street parking. I park right on the sidewalk and Lana goes to check in using her elite status. There is a small underground parking garage beneath our AC Hotel Ciudad de Sevilla and you need to buzz at the entrance to activate the door.
The entrance is typical of Spain as it is very narrow and then you down a very narrow ramp into the parking lot. They have the requisite super narrow and short parking spots so another practice at parking a vehicle in a tight spot. We walk over to the elevator and find our room on the second floor. Lana has us in a Junior Suite and it is really nice and very modern. The only downside is the high speed internet isn't accepting the password the front desk gave us. Their regular wifi is very slow. I have to say that wherever we have stayed, the internet has been excellent (dependable and very fast).
We are back into the car and trying to find a gas station somewhere in route to the rental car so we can fill it up. Not many options and we try for one spot near a roundabout from Hell but can't reach it despite me making about 10 illegal and unethical turns. Nothing define chaos like a Spanish traffic circle filled with cars, scooters, buses, horse drawn carriages AND pedestrians LOL. Lana remembers the rental car guy telling us their was a BP gas station close to the train station so we decide to program that into the GPS unit. The streets here are a nightmare with the traffic. We do find the gas station and top it up costing us 22.17 Euros. We drive around the train station and return out rental car to spot #9 at 12:52. No damage to our car so a successful return and we now have no car to worry about--yayyyy!!!
We could walk back to our hotel or we could head towards the old town of Sevilla and do more exploring. It is such a beautiful and warm day here at 24 degrees. My last day in shorts. We stop for lunch at Bar Los Niños as we are hungry. Very casual joint and we grab a table on the sidewalk with the usual high chairs and a menu. We aren't expecting much but there are some good choices. We are good with the quality of the food and it comes quickly. Interesting that our complimentary bowl is five peanuts in the shell. What, no olives? We are sitting under a large beach type umbrella so Lana is happy. There is a gentle breeze...
After our lunch, we navigate using the hotel map into the old part of Sevilla--Lana is pretty good with reading a map thankfully. This is familiar territory (mostly) as we were there for the first four days our trip. In addition to using the physical map we use our iPhone Map apps. We had only a couple of places that we had not already visited so it was enjoyable from the easy going nature of the afternoon. We are in no rush to get anywhere and want to just explore. We decided to head to Las Setas de Seville. The incredible structures are known as the mushrooms of Sevilla. We arrive and it is huge and five levels. We go down to the bottom level where there are ruins of Roman times, but there is an entrance fee. We can see the excavations through the glass walls.
We find the route back to Cafe La Centuria as we will arrive slightly after 17:00 so churros will just start being served! We find a table outside and you order at a walk up window. We order a small bottle sparkling water and 4 1/2 churros with two cups of pure chocolate. The total cost = 6.50 Euro so a great deal. Their churros are freshly made and incredibly light, fluffy and almost hollow. They are delicious! We can see why they are rated so highly. In addition, they provide big packets of sugar with your cup of chocolate in case you want your chocolate even sweeter. Wow, these were great. After we finish Lana heads inside to take some videos of the process.
Peek-a-boo from the giant bull on the hill as we drive towards Sevilla. Lana took this photo as the car was speeding along!!
We are at our vehicle a little after 10:00. We take our time on the freeway as it is only about a 90 minute drive. There is one toll booth before Sevilla and it cost 7.45 Euro which is by far the most we have ever paid for a toll in Europe. There is some spectacular farmland which includes the most red soil I have ever seen. There is blue sky all the way to Sevilla. We decide to drive to our hotel, check into the room and unload our luggage before going to drop off the car at the Budget Rental at the train station. We arrive at the hotel and there is no car entrance and no street parking. I park right on the sidewalk and Lana goes to check in using her elite status. There is a small underground parking garage beneath our AC Hotel Ciudad de Sevilla and you need to buzz at the entrance to activate the door.
The entrance is typical of Spain as it is very narrow and then you down a very narrow ramp into the parking lot. They have the requisite super narrow and short parking spots so another practice at parking a vehicle in a tight spot. We walk over to the elevator and find our room on the second floor. Lana has us in a Junior Suite and it is really nice and very modern. The only downside is the high speed internet isn't accepting the password the front desk gave us. Their regular wifi is very slow. I have to say that wherever we have stayed, the internet has been excellent (dependable and very fast).
We are back into the car and trying to find a gas station somewhere in route to the rental car so we can fill it up. Not many options and we try for one spot near a roundabout from Hell but can't reach it despite me making about 10 illegal and unethical turns. Nothing define chaos like a Spanish traffic circle filled with cars, scooters, buses, horse drawn carriages AND pedestrians LOL. Lana remembers the rental car guy telling us their was a BP gas station close to the train station so we decide to program that into the GPS unit. The streets here are a nightmare with the traffic. We do find the gas station and top it up costing us 22.17 Euros. We drive around the train station and return out rental car to spot #9 at 12:52. No damage to our car so a successful return and we now have no car to worry about--yayyyy!!!
AC Hotel Ciudad de Sevilla facade (online pic)
Yup, the bull on the hill from the distance--it is very large as you can see.
Da bull
We could walk back to our hotel or we could head towards the old town of Sevilla and do more exploring. It is such a beautiful and warm day here at 24 degrees. My last day in shorts. We stop for lunch at Bar Los Niños as we are hungry. Very casual joint and we grab a table on the sidewalk with the usual high chairs and a menu. We aren't expecting much but there are some good choices. We are good with the quality of the food and it comes quickly. Interesting that our complimentary bowl is five peanuts in the shell. What, no olives? We are sitting under a large beach type umbrella so Lana is happy. There is a gentle breeze...
Randy's order of Caña de Lomo Iberica (cured Iberian ham)
Lana's order of Mojama (cured salted dried tuna?)
Randy's order of Bacalao Ahumado (Montadillo sandwich of cod with a tomato condiment)
Funny chalkboard basically saying they have Snails for take out. Lana makes a joke and says it probably takes forever for the order to be ready given how slow snails are!! :)
These wall signs are in almost every establishment in Andalucia. We have no idea where the complaints would go to and what would happen? There is not a customer service attitude here except in hotels.
After our lunch, we navigate using the hotel map into the old part of Sevilla--Lana is pretty good with reading a map thankfully. This is familiar territory (mostly) as we were there for the first four days our trip. In addition to using the physical map we use our iPhone Map apps. We had only a couple of places that we had not already visited so it was enjoyable from the easy going nature of the afternoon. We are in no rush to get anywhere and want to just explore. We decided to head to Las Setas de Seville. The incredible structures are known as the mushrooms of Sevilla. We arrive and it is huge and five levels. We go down to the bottom level where there are ruins of Roman times, but there is an entrance fee. We can see the excavations through the glass walls.
This is a wooden model of the huge outside structure.
Picture outside of this fantastical wooden structure. Lana says it feels like walking underneath a giant waffle or peanut!!!
The roof of the structure. Beautiful although it doesn't blend with the historical buildings around it.
Lana gets her opportunity to get to Starbucks for a chai. Plus, she spends some time in Zara while I stand outside in the sun and enjoy people watching. We both have the urge for Churros and find a highly rated place La Centuria but they tell us that churros aren't served until 17:00. What the what?!??!!! We make some phone calls and check some other restaurant sites but every reputable and highly rated restaurant does NOT serve churros until 17:00. We have quite some time before that though. We decide to head to Plaza de Toros de Sevilla. Also, it is called Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla. This is the famous bullring of Sevilla.
Using Google Maps we arrive at the final spot identified yet there is nothing here except a hint that maybe something is behind? Lana has the idea to walk around the building and we find the entrance! We were in Ronda for their bullring, but thought to give this a visit as well. We got in line for quite a while before gaining entry. 13 Euros in total and I received a 3 Euro discount due to being 65. The system is that you join a scheduled guided tour that includes an audio guide for your particular language. Fortunately, we get to wait in a cool area inside. I figure there are about 35+ fellow tourists. The audio guides are really excellent! My notes:
- first started building in 1761 although it was not finally finished for 120 years -- do you see a pattern here with construction in Spain? :-)
- 15:50 start and we are finished at 16:30 so about a 40 minute experience
- there is an excellent art exhibit and museum exhibition
- in the art section there are some Goya prints/etchings
- there was a lot of style in the clothing of the matadors and others involved in the sporting spectacle
- there was an area where the participants waited first with a chapel (capilla) off to one side where they wold pray prior to entering the arena
- there is a lot of legal policies with the bullfighting
- about 12,000 spectators could fit inside
- bulls weighed around 500 kilos on average
- matadors had style, grace and athleticism
- the idea was for the matador to gain control of the bull's movements
- there is a narrow alley between the stands and then ring just in case the bull made it over the fence
- there are three formal phases to each bullfight
This was an excellent tour and audio guides. We really enjoyed ourselves and learned more about bullfighting. Neither of us would ever attend a bullfight, but it is good to know the history and the culture.
Sevilla Bullring facade.
An entrance to the bullring. They organize their bullrings for April and September each year.
Great poster. Both Lana and I are siding with the bulls here!!
Famous oil painting from about 200 years ago of the Sevilla arena.
The bulls race out from these gates towards the matador.
This bullring is known for its Baroque style.
The sandy floor is rock hard but not too slippery. One fellow from our tour took a large handful of dirt from the ring and put it in a plastic bag.
Poster outside the arena advertising the 2019 calendar.
We find the route back to Cafe La Centuria as we will arrive slightly after 17:00 so churros will just start being served! We find a table outside and you order at a walk up window. We order a small bottle sparkling water and 4 1/2 churros with two cups of pure chocolate. The total cost = 6.50 Euro so a great deal. Their churros are freshly made and incredibly light, fluffy and almost hollow. They are delicious! We can see why they are rated so highly. In addition, they provide big packets of sugar with your cup of chocolate in case you want your chocolate even sweeter. Wow, these were great. After we finish Lana heads inside to take some videos of the process.
Cafe La Centuria as Randy makes a beeline for the place to grab one of the last outdoor tables available.
Lana spent time taking videos of the churro making process and it is interesting. First the oil in the pot gets stirred to create a vortex, then the dough is dropped in the oil and creates a coil as it gets swirled and cooked in the hot oil. This is what gives the churro's their particular curved shape.
Two cups of chocolate for dipping your churros.
Churro making equipment.The metal cone on the right holds the churro batter. The metal L-shaped arm is where the batter comes out and drops directly into the oil. The two round wooden sticks are used to stir the oil and then the batter as it the churro cooks are one giant swirl. Then the sticks are used to flip the swirl over to ensure the batter cooks on the other side.
By having our churros at 17:00 we are adapting to the Spanish food culture of having a "snack" to tide us over for about four hours before going out for a later dinner. Well, it was a good start but we decided to look for dinner and then head back to our hotel. We both loved the first place we ate at in Sevilla the Taverna Álvaro Peregil. Their website indicates they are open although that does NOT mean their kitchen is necessarily open. We take the chance as it is kinda on the way to our hotel. It is a bit of a walk and the iPhone app loses track of where we are when we are walking between the high buildings along narrow streets. We do come across the restaurant around 18:00 and grab the last table outside on the sidewalk. The server confirms their kitchen just opened! He brings us an english menu which kind of takes the challenge out of figuring out the menu. We've gotten much better are deciphering food in Spanish :)
We are in no rush and continue to enjoy the fantastic weather. Despite the fact we are in the shade it is still warm. The sidewalk is busy with pedestrians and some vehicle traffic and of course the horse/carriages. I order "uno copa vino blanco secco" and Lana orders her customary Tinto de Verano. Yes this casual place continues to serve great food at very reasonable prices. Our total bill = 14.90 inclusive of a beer. So cheap and so good!
One task Lana completes during our dinner time is to check both of us in for the flight tomorrow and the flight home on Sunday. She can do this from her iPhone. Both of us have our seats and are officially checked in.
Order of Potatoes Marinated with tuna (kind of like our version of potato salad?) 2.70 Euro
Fried eggs with potatoes and chorizo.
Sevilla classic: Pringá sandwich which is pulled beef. Delicious!!
We check our app and it indicates about a 35 minutes to walk to our Hotel. Again, no rush as we follow the walking directions and we are quickly out of the old town towards areas we have explored previously. We walk through the huge park. Despite the sun starting to set it is still so warm. We make it back to our Hotel and organize a taxi pickup for 11:00 tomorrow for the airport.
The professional luggage organizer (Lana) decides we should pack tonight to ensure our luggage is ready and we have maximized our space in the three bags. She is a true pro. Also, we need to ensure we have room for the four (4) wine bottles we are picking up from our German friends in Wiesbaden tomorrow night. We have our travel scale ready to guarantee we will be under Lana's weight maximum of 23 kgs per bag and allowed three bags.
We have enjoyed great day in Andalucia region of southern Spain. This is our last real day in Spain as we are on a flight to Frankfurt in the early afternoon. For certain we will miss the culture, food, wine, weather and lifestyle here. It is past 23:00 so we should try getting some sleep.
DAILY STATS: 18,400 steps 14 kms 8 floors
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