Due to the train incident and the rain on the previous day, our 2nd day in Seville was packed! We woke up bright and early and yep...it was pouring. We headed downstairs for a quick breakfast, put on the remaining dry clothes we had in our possession, and headed out. Now let me start by saying that Larry had the brilliant idea to only pack in carry ons for this trip. That way we didn't have to stress about our luggage being lost, we avoided paying the ridiculous fees that non-Southwest airlines charge to check bags, and we would have a manageable amount of stuff to haul through trains, planes, and subways. All of that to say I only packed 2 pair of shoes (last time I flew to Birmingham I took 7...) and sadly my "comfy all day walking" shoes were drenched; which meant wearing my "cute but only comfy for 3 hours" shoes. We were gone for much much longer than 3 hours. I now have renamed them the "shoes of death" a term stolen from my sister who shares my attraction to fairly painful footwear.
Ok, so our first stop was the Real Alcazar. Parts of it were originally built as part of a Moorish Palace in the 10th centruy and then the Christian monarchs, Alfonso X and Pedro I employed Moorish craftsmen to build the Real Alcazar of Seville in the 14th century. It was incredibly beautiful and intricate. The pictures really do not capture the detail of this palace.
My view the entire walk there :)
The gardens were beautiful!
Yay for Real Alcazar!
Next, we went straight to The Cathedral of Seville which is the largest cathedral in Spain and the third largest in the world! It was huge and super gaudy, but pretty in it's own way. We couldn't use a flash in there so most of our pictures didn't turn out so great.
Christopher Columbus's grave is in this Cathedral...quite the monument
There is a tower in the cathedral that you can go up into. Oh how I wished I wasn't wearing those shoes! It was a ramp that went up about 35 flights. Going up was fine, but going down sure did not feel good. It was beautiful though
After we left the cathedral we grabbed a ham and cheese sandwich, rested a while, and then headed out towards to Plaza of Spain. It was pouring...The rain in Spain does not fall only in the planes! The Plaza of Spain was enormous and beautiful. It was also empty due to the downpour. It was kind of fun to experience it all to ourselves. Tired of looking at pictures yet? :)
So my feet started hurting back around Columbus and now they were REALLY hurting as it was about 4pm and we had been walking since 9:30am... We stopped for a glass of wine hoping that would help. It didn't. When I stood up it felt like my feet were on fire. We hobbled home for a quick break. Because of the luggage thing I mentioned earlier and the insane amount of rain we desperately needed to do laundry. We asked the concierge lady if she knew of a place and she said she did. We packed everything we could fit in my red tote bag, I put the shoes of death back on, and we headed out...again. We finally found the place and it was a dry cleaners. They did offer wash and fold services but they were going to charge us 30 euro! That is $45 for a tiny load of laundry. We declined that charming offer and headed back to the B&B. After much research online and another chat with the concierge we found a coin operated laundry place. Well, we got there at 7:30 and it was closing at 8. The owner said we could come back and pick everything up in the morning at 10. That wouldn't work because our train left for Granada at 11. After much discussion (all in Spanish) he offered to let us leave the laundry, he would wash it, and bring it to our hotel (which he had never heard of) by 9. Our clothes were so nasty that I agreed. What could he possibly gain from stealing our gross clothes. We told him we would pay him when he delivered the clothes. So we went back to the B&B to wait for him to come. We waited until 9:30...By that time we were a bit nervous, Larry walked the streets looking for the dude. He finally showed up. Yay! Our clothes were nice and clean and dry~! The concierge saw me smell the clothes and she definitely looked at me like I was crazy and asked if everything was ok. .. :)
Ok, I never got to the pie, but I have a final tomorrow and am super tired so I will continue this tomorrow maybe. Buenas Noches!
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