Dad meets me for Tapas and Tango

Cathedral
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Monday morning I get on the bus for my 4 hour ride to Seville.  I of course choose the only seat that doesn’t recline, but no one sat next to me the whole time – so it was ok.  There are windmills everywhere and green plush grass, palm trees and mountains as your backdrop on one side and the water on the other.  I wish I had stayed in Tavira another night. I arrive Seville, and at first glance I’m in the first real “civilized” city for days.  I hate to say that I almost did a back flip at the site of a Starbucks.  Is that gross or what??....!!!

Sevilla downtown
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It has a similar feel to Portugal with the winding alleyways and maze of streets, shops, cafes and street vendors, but on a much more classy, expensive, thousand people on scooters, construction everywhere feel.  The buildings are amazing.  I find the hotel and take a nap to wait for Dad.  He finds the hotel after driving around for “a while” and we hit the ground to explore…. We walk until our feet hurt got super lost for hours yet stumbled on a great Tapas place for dinner.  I was due some fantastic food!! Got a pretty good night sleep considering our hotel is in the city square and quite noisy.  Today we saw it all.  Cathedral (3rd largest church in the world) So that means after Rome I’ll have seen #1 and #3 goodie for me…. Is there a prize??

Alcazar Palace
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It really was spectacular and bonus was there is typically a charge to go in but we just followed other people in and there was mass going on in Latin… That was pretty cool to see too.  Then we went on to tour the Alcazar, still a working royal palace with unbelievable gardens and fountains and more gardens.  I imagined being invited to a masquared (spelling?) ball to dance the Flamenco.  It was beautiful.  And then walked around the Jewish Quarters of Seville, very artsy and sunny with music playing from the vendors and many cafes.  I've had 3 servings of croissants just today...

We had a big lunch of paella (not superb) and then took a drive around as we felt like we had seen all that was to be seen. And then another great Tapas place for light dinner tonight -  Good day – Tomorrow we drive to Granada and tour the Alhambra.

Dad and I have mad an agreement that he pays for the hotels - I pay for the food but we stay at a place that at least has internet - so I'm happy for the moment  Which is a good thing :)