Sevilla, Day 2 - where we walked 5 miles and climbed 35 flights

Breakfast for only 2 euros... we're such good travelers!
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We let ourselves sleep in this morning, which was wonderful - we got up and headed for breakfast, but it was already 10:45 and pretty late; we found a little outdoor cafe with toast, ham, coffe and juice all for two euros - another meal to impress Rachael Ray!

We visited the Plaza de Tores - but just the gift shop and the bathrooms since there were no bullfights that day and the tour was long and expensive.

Our double decker bus - saved us from all that walking!
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We headed to the Torre del Ore (the Gold Tower) which was built when the area was under Islamic Rule.

We got on the Sevilla Tour double-decker bus, and rode it around some enjoying the view and the breeze from the top, learning all about Sevilla and Spain.

We got off at the Plaza de Espana, site of the 1929 Expo - there is a beatiful courtyard with a huge, beautiful building with tiles representing each part of Spain.

We walked back to the bus, and rode around some more - we saw the "seedy" side of Sevilla, and the tacky "millenium" expansions from the 1992 expo.

At the Piazza de Espana, built for the 1929 expo.
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We finished the tour, and walked to Puerto de Jerez, where we at lunch at an AMAZING tapas bar (our secret: we bought a tapas cookbook with pictures so we knew what to order!!)  We had Toast with Goat Cheese and Honey (Jen and Abbey's favorite meal possibly ever), as well as Spanish Olives (which Jen hated), Cold Tomato and Garlic Soup, Stuffed Mushrooms and a Ham Creme with a Cream Sauce.

We tried to find the Cathedral but got lost - and ended up in a charming back district called Real Alcazar - where the wall from the old city surrounded small alleys and flowers overgrew the streets.

Our fantastic tapas lunch!
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We the found our way to the Cathedral, and went inside - it was beautiful!

We decided to climb the Giralda Tower for a view of the city... 35 flights later (of ramps, not stairs - tricky, tricky in flip-flops) we were glad we did - the view was beautiful!  We could see the entire city, including an overhead view of the Plaza de Toros, the bull-ring.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at an ourdoor market for some accessories - purses and belts!

We then checked out of our hostel and took a taxi to the airport, giving ourselves plenty of time before the flight so we didn't have another Jerez-RyanAir fiasco...

The beautiful view from the top of the cathedral tower! We could see the entire city... it was well worth the 35-flight climb!
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We got there 2 hours early, and the entire airport was dead - the Spair Air gate wasn't even open yet!  Everyone was still taking a siesta - but, the finally arrived, and we made our flight in plenty of time.

Pics: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jennirc@pacbell.net/album?.dir=/2eecre2&.src=ph&.tok=phU7P5EBsyI9v9Ge