We successfully met the rest of the Craddock/Chow/Patnaude clan at the Atocha Train Station at 11:00am on Sunday morning. We picked up our tickets and rested in the lounge until our train was ready to depart.
Lounging in the lounge.
The train ride was really beautiful and comfortable. We were in the first class cars, and were served a nice meal consisting of gazpacho, and tea sandwiches. The views from the car were lovely - lots of mountains and olive trees.
The AVE
2.5 hours later, we arrived at the station in Seville. We took 3 taxis to our hotel, which, by the way, is incredible. The hotel is made of buildings which were previously used for family and guests of the royal family. The rooms are very cool, and each one is unique. One of my favorite parts of our room is that it has a small piece of furniture which has books in both English and Spanish. To my surprise and delight, we found that our book shelf had a copy of "Tales of the City"! I felt right at home, and am enjoying rereading it :)
Tales of the City! The best way to make me feel right at home!
Another great surprise is that hotel has a rooftop pool which was the perfect way for us to spend our first afternoon here in Seville. It was a great way for all of us to enjoy the hot sun, and refresh ourselves from a long journey.
the rooftop pool
Yesterday, (Monday) we had a quick breakfast of churros y chocolate, then started out at the Cathedral and the Giralda, a bell tower which we climbed up 34 floors to the top. There were windows overlooking the city on each level.
Churros y chocolate
The Giralda
After lunch and a short siesta, we walked to the Plaza de España, which was originally built for the 1929 World Expo, and was initially built to be temporary. They've refurbished it over the years.
The Plaza de España
We then took a sunset boat tour along the river, then back to our barrio for a wonderful dinner, including gazpacho, paella, gambas ajillo and a nice fried cod.
So far, today (Tuesday), we ate breakfast, then went straight to the Alcazar - the Royal palace. It was fantastico and reminded us of the Alhambra in Granada. We ate a bit of lunch then went to La Maestranza - the bullring - for a tour.
The Alcazar
La Maestranza - The Bullring
Which brings us to this very minute :)
We were walking back to our hotel to enjoy a quick siesta, and walked by this very nice (and air-conditioned) internet cafe.
We're really enjoying spending time with both families, and are very thankful for Adrianne's expertise of Seville and the Spanish language.
Tomorrow, we split up the group. Henry & Barb, and Kathy & Adrianne will leave for Granada, while Richard, Dick and Trina stay in Seville for one more day before leaving for Madrid on Thursday afternoon.
I'll try to post some pictures once we get home again, but we wanted to get some of the details down before we forget!
hasta luego.
No comments:
Post a Comment