Seville trip, June 12

[jinian]

About 1M photos behind the cut. As usual, little ones are links to big (often uncropped) ones.

Slept tons once I got into it.

I successfully bought a few days' breakfast at the grocery store: little yogurt cups, palmeras, peaches, cranberry granola bars. I'm pretty sure the palmeras had the MTOD, since I wound up eating almost all of them. Usage note: the bilingual hotel desk staff didn't know "grocery store" so I fell back on "food store;" they figured that out and replied with "supermarket."

Mom called the airline about our luggage. She was a lot more upset than I was, having broken her own rule about packing emergency underwear in a carry-on. (On the other hand, she had a toothbrush, which I didn't.) She found out, ha ha, the luggage was in Chicago after all! IF it arrived at the airport Tuesday, it would be delivered by Wednesday morning. She was not happy. They did say we could get 53 euros each reimbursement for toiletries and clothes, and Mom was unhappy enough that we had to go shopping.

The shopping center by the hotel was a little odd; it mostly had little boutique-type clothing and shoe shops, though that's also where the grocery store was. We found some shirts and pants in the largest store, where I correctly thought finding big clothes (Mom is six feet tall and built a little heavier than me) would at least be possible, but no underwear.

After changing clothes, we took a 1-hour riverboat tour on the Río Guadalquivir, which is navigable for the 90km between Seville and the ocean. We didn't see any shipping on it, but there were many rowing crews. One of the big distinctions of Seville is its bridges. My favorite was the Puente de Triana:



but the others are very cool as well.

The most famous is the Puente de Alamillo:


Puente Cristo de la Expiración:



Puente de Product Placement (The thing suspended between the towers is a guy from a beer logo.):



There were graffiti-style murals along the river wall, some very technically impressive:



and, on the Triana side, one remarkably strange statue. I haven't been able to find any information on it or its location on satellite photos. Clues from readers who feel like doing my homework for me are welcome.



One beautiful bell tower for which I lack provenance:



The cathedral was closed for an event, but we got this photo of an entrance:



We were accosted by a palmist errant, who handed Mom a sprig of hedging and extolled her kindness and mine, in addition to blessing our foreheads and claiming I'd have two babies. She also talked a lot about a surprise, which I at least was really hoping was NOT two babies, or even one. (Wasn't, good.) Mom tried to tip her a five, and she promptly demanded 20, while showing no inclination to give back the five. Mom gave her 20 -- no, no, 20 EACH. Mom gave her another 20! but then at least stopped understanding her demands for 80 total, since the palmist didn't know the English word for that. I understood but didn't know what to do, argh. Eventually we escaped, with a little fleece still remaining to us.

We wandered in the Parque María Luisa for the rest of the afternoon, enjoying the shade and trying to decipher the informative botanical signs. The Parque María Luisa was built for the 1929 Expo, not to be confused with the 1992 Expo, which was also held in Seville. The buildings belonging to different Spanish-speaking nations were so pretty and elaborate, and the Plaza de España is HUGE.
The Pabellón de Perú's crest seems to be a llama, some kind of tree, and a cornucopia of gold coins.



Here's the Costurero de la Reina (Queen's sewing room), a striking striped building that was visible from lots of places along the river. It's a tiny palace with beautiful details, and it's now a tourist office. It was built in the 1800s, well before the Expo, which confused the heck out of me just now while I was trying to find its name.

 

I don't think we took any of our own photos of the Becquer monument from the Park. He was a famous Sevillan poet, and his monument consisted of a beautiful big dawn-redwood tree with a regal statue of him surrounded by stabbed angels and swooning maidens.

We tried to photograph plants, but it was awfully windy that day. One very interesting one had long needles that were assembled of scales, like a cypress, which was very cool. (I explained to Mom with the aid of a pencil and paper that she did know what I was talking about.)

I also have no record of dinner. I do remember that when we got back to the hotel our luggage was there! Mom had thought about it enough to check with the front desk, which I hadn't, but she still attributed this event to the palmist's big surprise. She felt much better, and I was happy to see my bag too.

And, just for fun, here is a telecom chameleon:

Comments

[oyceter]

Oh! I love the bridges, especially the beer logo one!

[elynne.livejournal.com]

I find myself exceedingly curious (and somewhat alarmed) by the man-with-dog statue, especially with the inexplicable snake sticking out from one side.