We started the day, on Tuesday, at the Royal Alcazar. This 1000 year old palace and gardens has been used and reused throughout the years. The gardens were interesting, with a small maze in the center. One hallway in one of the buildings had massive tapestries hanging from ceiling to floor. I made the mistake of asking a guard where the bathrooms were, in Spanish. He replied in Spanish, which was not very useful to me!
In the afternoon, it was time for the surprise planned for Miles: a two hour Segway tour. We were shown around most of the city on Segways. I had never used one before, and it was surprisingly easy to use and quite mobile.
After dinner, we finished the day with a quick trip to the local archaeological museum, which ended up being free. It wasn't massive, but it did have some interesting exhibits.
This morning, we immediately went to the final attraction of Seville, the cathedral. It is apparently the third largest church in the world, and the largest Gothic style. It held Christopher Columbus' tomb. I did some quick google research on him, and apparently he was a scumbag who tortured his own people when he was governor. I'm glad he got commemorated as he so clearly deserved to be. We climbed up the tower, and were greeted with nice views of the city from behind the safety of many, many guard rails.
Miles has been drawing up a storm on his sketchpad, with some really beautiful creations. Stephanie had the idea that Miles might enjoy sketching some real vistas, so we went back to the Plaza de Espana, to bird island, where there are obviously a lot of birds. He got a bit frustrated with trying to draw based on real life, but we did enjoy seeing the swans and having him feed the birds bread.
Seville is the first city of the trip, since Lisbon was only visited on the outskirts while staying a hotel across from the airport. While it is a cute city, with quite a few interesting things to see, I just dont feel riveted when in a city. Maybe it is because I grew up so close to New York City. Honestly though, I was never too interested in New York City either. I went to concerts there occasionally, went to a few museums, saw a few plays, but I never had a draw of going into the city just for the city. What I feel about smaller locations is that they are more personal, and therefore, I feel more connected to those experiences. Even though their attractions have plenty of tourists visiting, it is much easier to catch a place all to yourself and give you that illusion of exploration. Being in Sintra and Obidos at night was magical. Here, I just feel like I'm one of an infinite amount of tourists trying to see the same points of interest, every day. Maybe my disinterest in cities, including apparently, historical cities, stems from more than that, but this is the conclusion I have come to after spending time thinking about it over the last few days.
Tonight, we will be relaxing and then taking a walk through a few more shops in town. Tomorrow, in the early afternoon, we board a train for Granada. We aren't scheduled to arrive until around 3, and then have to take a taxi to our hotel. The weather this trip has been fantastic overall, staying mostly from 65 to 75. In Granada, it is supposed to drop to a high of 50 and a low of 30. For a Floridian, this will be a struggle. I brought a winter coat for Miles, since it is smaller than an adult jacket. I only have layers for myself. Luckily, I did bring warm hats and gloves!
I am uploading all of the pictures that I have taken over the last few days to - https://www.flickr.com/gp/13109399@N07/UX5U8R
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