1) There's nothing that gets you going like looking at your train ticket in your hotel room, discovering that your train leaves an hour earlier than expected, and that that's in one hour and 15 minutes. Whoosh! At least I was fully dressed and 95% packed. I made my seat on the train with 15 minutes to spare . . . but not without a couple meltdowns when Madrid metro technology didn't work as expected (read: at all). But a couple very nice and understanding metro employees got me where I needed to be.
2) The day was gray, and I had almost my first taste of rain in Spain*.
3) The cabby didn't quite know how to get to my hotel, and I was both enchanted and a little unnerved by the narrow streets, and even more unnerved when he stopped the cab, pointed, and said "Your hotel at the end of this street." We were at the wrong end of a one-way street. Hmm.
Best hotel room view yet.
3a) So I trundled on down, and into the most beautiful hotel of my journey so far, the Querencia D Seville, where the staff is remarkably engaged, fluent in English, welcoming, and helpful. And entering my fifth floor room, I was agog when I looked out my window and saw . . . a gigantic church! Yes indeed, I had been upgraded into a room with a view of the cathedral of Seville, an expansive architectural masterpiece with a prominent (and active) bell tower.
4) More excitement was to come. I had unsuccessfully tried to book a ticket online to the Real Alcazar, one of the most significant and beautiful landmarks of Seville, and had resigned myself to missing it. But the front desk managed to secure me a ticket for that afternoon. My stay in Seville was looking up.
The cathedral at street level.
5) Stepping out, the energy of Seville caught me, different from both Barcelona and Madrid. I attribute this to the location of the hotel, truly in the heart of everything with the cathedral a block away, and the Real Alcazar just a skip after that.
One of the poor horsies in the plaza between the cathedral and the Alcazar.
5a) Part of the Seville energy is horse-drawn carriages for the tourists. They, and their aroma, made themselves felt. I just felt awful for those horses, even with blinders on, surrounded by all that traffic. And it was so hot.
5b) Another is the gypsy women offering sprigs of rosemary, but really only interested in your money. I had my first encounter with one right outside the cathedral when I stopped to take a picture, but I just waved my hand NO and went my way.
The entrance to the Alcazar. Of course the lion makes me think of Reggie, the lion on the Dymoke coat of arms at Scrivelsby.
6) The Alcazar is a royal palace that, even though it is still the official royal residence whenever the King and Queen come to Seville, looks every year as old as the centuries it's been here. I took a chance that they might admit me earlier than my ticket time, and I was right. I didn't feel like being tied to an audioguide, and just wandered the palace gardens and courtyards, taking in all the low marble fountains, channels of water, and rooms of decayed Moorish splendor.
I think this was in the Hall of Justice. I am redecorating my entire house to have shallow marble fountains in the center of every room.
6a) The palace is known for its beautiful and characteristic tile, and they even had a special exhibition of historic tile in a set of upstairs chambers.
They did not have replicas of those pots in the gift shop. More’s the pity.
7) But even more, the gardens of the Alcazar captivated me with the spirit of the Romance of Old Spain. Cypresses, poplars, a beautiful rose garden, even a maze, and one of the only surviving water organs (which was not operating while I was there). I found myself snapping all sorts of photos of these things, as well as tile insets, statuary, and gorgeous ceramic vases for plants.
Within the maze.
7a) Coming out of the maze (I didn't penetrate it very far), I noticed a scraggly peahen darting into one of the bushes. Later a peacock startled me by flying down from a tree; it had molted recently, as most of its splendid tail feathers weren't with him. I saw a couple other peacocks in the gardens, one of which was being gently provoked by a young teen boy with a pair of earbuds. I knew better, and gave them both a wide berth.
Taunted Peacock with Legs of Taunter.
8) We had some rain, too! Not unwelcome. I sheltered in an archway near a large rectangular fountain with many others.
9) To start the evening, I retreated to the hotel's spacious and almost empty roofdeck for a drink. This deck is retained only for hotel guests. We had some more rain sweep in there, too! Most refreshing.
Rain’s comin’ in!
9a) I then took the recommendation of a Boston friend to find the rooftop bar of a fashionable boutique hotel practically on the cathedral. It took some doing -- the entrance was not apparent to me -- but my goodness, what an active scene! And every seat and stool briskly managed, although the service made me wonder if I was being forgotten. I was seated at a bar directly looking over to the cathedral and the bell tower, and I laughed when I saw the word engraved at its top: FORTISSIMA. 'Cause that's how I like it, baby! I've said more than once that when the time comes for my funeral, I want the music so loud that there's nothing left of the church but a heap of smoking rubble smudged with the moisture of bitter tears. At least the bell tower in Seville gets that.
9a.1) Eventually I got a bracing and delightful gin and tonic in an enormous goblet, and fell into conversation with a Nice Young Couple from London sitting next to me — probably my first English conversation since I arrived in Spain. They, too, had just arrived in Seville, and were actually staying in that little hotel.
FORTISSIMA!
10) The day wrapped with dinner on the second floor terrace of my own hotel, and a sound sleep. After such a hectic start, Seville was turning out perfectly.
The exuberance of Alcazar tile!
*singing "The rain in Spain kept following the train."