Matt and Lisa's Adventures

3 January 2024

Another poor night of sleeping despite some melatonin supplements and trying all my sleep tricks. Thankfully, it was better than the previous night and I got at least a few hours of shut eye.

After packing up and checking out we ubered to the airport. It was a bit of a rush through the airport but then we sat on an airport bus for 20 mins as our flight was “suspended”. Eventually we did get going and it was an uneventful 45 minute flight to Seville.

We had planned on doing a walking tour but due to losing an hour with the time zone change (which were didn’t realise) we were too late for the morning tours. Strangely there weren’t tours scheduled for the afternoon. No idea why this is, but feels like an opportunity in the market for someone. We decided we would see either the cathedral or the Alcázar but found massive lines for both of theses. As we wandered around we found a tourist centre selling skip the line tickets but they were all sold out. I’m guessing being between New Years and the public holiday on the 6th of January the city was very busy with tourists. We ended up purchasing a guided tour of both the cathedral and Alcazar for the following day at a horrendous price but as these are the two big attractions of Seville we decided it was worth it.

We wandered our way along the riverbank. It was very pleasant and we did some people watching with lots of people enjoying the nice weather.

For lunch we found an upscale food court on the riverside and shared empanadas which was a yummy lunch. From there we crossed over the river and walked through the neighbourhood of Triana Este. There were lots of shops and more people watching to do. The area felt less tourist centric and more of the locals going about their day. We then crossed back across the river and walked through a park before checking out the Plaza de España. This was a large building and park area with some man made canals. Lots of people were enjoying the area and it was certainly impressive. It was built for the Ibero-Americas exhibition of 1929 – crazy that things like that were built for events and it’s still in use today. Clearly it has provided a very good return on the initial investment!

Lisa was hitting the wall so we headed back to the hotel to check in to our room. When we saw it we realised we had a problem. The bed was very small (calling it a double was being very generous) and the whole room was tiny. This was a problem with my sleep issues and Lisa being sick. We realised that if we slept there together neither of us was likely to get much sleep and I would almost certainly catch whatever Lisa had. We quickly booked a room in a hostel for me – three beds in the room but with a shared bathroom. It was only ten minutes walk from Lisa – through the winding streets. I went there to check in and it was ok but likely to give both of us a better nights sleep which was the key hope!

We went out for a 5pm drink to a nice outside bar that has seats out on the street. Lisa liked it as there were outdoor fires and she was able to warm up. For dinner we found a plaza with a number of different restaurants. The waiter wasn’t the friendliest but we had what Lisa declared to be “our best meal in Spain” – pulled pork brioches and potatoes with bravos sauce.

Then it was off to our separate hotels – which was a very weird feeling!

4 January 2024

Another night of poor sleep – only getting about three hours. However, I felt ok upon waking up and held up well across the day.

I headed to Lisa’s hotel for breakfast and a shower. The shower at my place was barely luke warm. Lisa’s shower was great but didn’t have a proper door so the water ended up all over the floor of the bathroom and even out into the bed room – such poor design, in my opinion worse than an exposed rangehood in the kitchen.

We had booked a walking tour for the morning and headed off for a Starbucks in advance. Starbucks people around the world (including the USA which is meant to be English speaking) have difficulty understanding Lisa and so the order was under “Tracey”.

We met our guide, Valentino, in a local plaza.

• The town hall was originally built for the wedding of a prince and princess. They ran out of time/money and therefore some of the outside decoration weren’t completed and haven’t been finished since. It wasn’t something I noticed immediately but once pointed out it becomes very obvious.
• We had noticed lots of orange trees throughout public areas in the city. These were literally everywhere we went. There are 44,000 orange trees in central Seville. We were told that the oranges are not good for eating as they are too bitter. In March/April the trees all bloom which produces a lot of smell
• The cathedral is massive and very impressive. It was built on the site of an old mosque that was destroyed in an earthquake. The old mosque walls and other aspects are still used – this gives the cathedral a half Christian, half Islamic feel. The massive tower was original the minaret of the mosque. When turned into a cathedral they just removed the minaret and added bells – good recycling!
• There are five different architectural styles in the cathedral which reflects the couple of hundred years it took to complete.
• The Archive of the Indies building holds all of the documents Spain has in relation to its colonies around the world. There are over eighty million documents. Our guide studied history and he was the first person to read some of the private letters in the collection – weird to be reading someone else’s private thoughts from hundreds of years ago
• The Ferdinand XIII hotel is very fancy and beautifully designed from the outside – room rates were too expensive for our budget!
• There is a massive building that was built as a tobacco factory. It must have housed thousands of labourers. It looked very ornate for a place of manual work. Over time the tobacco works was mechanised and the building was turned into a university. The opera Carmen was set in a tobacco factory and Seville has a lot of women named Carmen as a result!
• Finished at Placa de Espana. Even on second viewing this was a very large and intriguing building and monument. Because of its beautiful back drop it had been used in many movies including Lawrence of Arabia and Star Wars.

We walked back to town to find something for lunch but really struggled. We just wanted a cafe with cabinet food rather than a full sit down meal but that isn’t really what the Spanish do. After getting very frustrated we found an empanadas shop and had a couple each for lunch – which was delicious.

Then it was off for our afternoon tours. First up was the Alcazar. Our guide for both tours was Clara – a middle aged woman who was very knowledgeable but hard case. She cracked lots of jokes, gave people a hard time and was generally fun to be around. One American guy clearly did not enjoy this and Lisa enjoyed watching his frustration.

Seville had an interesting history with different groups conquering it and each bringing their own aspects to the city that have then been incorporated over time. The two biggest influences were the Romans and the Muslims.

• The Alcazar is the palace in Seville for the Spanish royal family. Because of the river Seville had Spain’s only inland port which was very valuable for the country and made the city important.
• The royal family still stays at the Alcazar when they are in Seville, but this doesn’t happen often any more
• Clara was disparaging about the current royal family. She said that people over 50 who remember Franco still liked the royals but younger people don’t. There have also been scandals around affairs and tax. She said the queen is an idiot!
• The Alcazar is made up of several palaces and a trading hall that had been built over hundreds of years. There is also a massive garden – it didn’t appear that large from the outside but inside it is massive.
• It had a real feeling of grandiosity and a proper palace. Lisa compared it to Pena palace and said this was better in every way
• The Islamic room is the oldest. It had plaster decorations high up on the walls which was very nice. There was a fountain in the middle which helped keep the room cool, an early form of air conditioning. This is very important as Seville gets very hot in the summer. It can be consistently over forty degrees!
• Next was the house of trade which was built so that merchants could have somewhere to discuss business. Particularly important because of the commerce generated from the colonies
• There was a large painting of the death of King Ferdinand. Clara said that kings needed to be born and die in public. Even today the prime minister needs to attend royal births so that they can confirm there is no funny business going on
• The Royal family are not meant to show emotions. Instead they pay women to cry on their behalf. This still happens and Clara said she was contemplating that as an additional income source
• Next stop was another palace – this one Christian but built in an Islamic style. It was very impressive with the plaster decorations, lots of different tiles and ornate rooms.
• There was a room with wooden carvings that was used for royal receptions. We were told there were sixteen hidden faces carved in the room and if you find all of them then it guarantee you would get married. Clara pointed out two of them to us and they were so feel hidden it works be very difficult to find the remaining fourteen
• The tour finished up and we wandered the gardens for a few minutes but then had to rush to make our second tour

The next tour was the Seville cathedral.

• It is the largest cathedral in the world. Saint Peters in Rome is larger but that is technically a basilica rather than a cathedral.
• There was a massive silver altar with amazing sculptures. It used to be three times larger but the church/city sells various pieces when it needs money
• Rich families could purchase private chapels when the cathedral was under construction. They obviously hoped this would give them a better chance of getting into heaven. These chapels can’t be resold and the family must do the upkeep. If necessary they can hand the chapel back to the church
• Lots of our people are buried under the the cathedral in unmarked graves. Like the rich they wanted to improve their chances of getting into heaven
• In the baptism room there was a massive painting which had been stolen four times. The last time was in the 1950s when it was found at a New York art dealer. It had been cut up and each piece rolled in order to smuggle it
• There was the grave of one of Christopher Columbus’s sons. He was very tall and when they opened his grave recently they found him hunched over in the casket. Not a position that would help with getting the eternal rest
• There is also the grave of Christopher Columbus himself. Clara said they have 300 grams of him. His body and grave were fought over between different cities as it is an exciting but bizarre tourist attraction. Columbus had asked to be buried in America but that wasn’t possible and he also didn’t want to be buried underground which is why he has a raised grave
• The cathedral had the first finished oval room in the world. Technically very complex to design/build especially the oval ceiling. Another oval room in Rome was started earlier but the Seville one was finished first
• There was the grave of what Clara called a “bad person”. She refused to say his name as that would keep that person’s memory alive when she believed it should be forgotten

After the tour there was the option to climb the tower, but we declined. We headed back to Lisa’s hotel to have a rest and recuperate for our final activity of the day.

Last year we had been to a Barcelona football game and for Christmas my parents got us tickets to a Seville game against Athletic Club from Bilbao. We ubered to the area early in the hope of getting dinner beforehand but we were a bit late and everywhere was busy. We ended up having dinner at a restaurant in a massive department store – hamburgers which were ok, but very basic.

It was pouring with rain when we arrived at the game and we spent the first half standing. At half time we managed to steal someone’s seats that they had dried off which was a bit more comfortable. They never came back for them in any case!

The weather put a damper on our enjoyment of the game but still lots of fun.

• The ultra fans supporting Seville chanted and sang all game long. No idea what they were saying but they gave the game an amazing atmosphere
• We had the away fans just along from us in their own section that had plastic dividers to keep then away from the home fans. They were passionately chanting and singing too but they were helplessly outnumbered by home fans.
• Athletic club got the first goal mid way through the first half after a great header. Their fans went nuts while the rest of the stadium was silenced
• Seville got back into the game in the second half and created a few chances but weren’t very good at converting them
• In about the 75th minute Athletic Club grabbed a second. It was a bit soft – a cross floated in that wasn’t cleared effectively so someone poked it home at the back post. This killed off the game
• We left a few minutes early so that we could beat the crowd out of the stadium and get an Uber home
• We had great views from our position and it was a fantastic stadium. Well designed and built

Overall Seville thoughts

• Beautiful city but more touristy than I had imagined it would be
• My cousin Ben lives here but our timing was bad as he was in New Zealand for Christmas. I missed him in Whakatane by a few hours and he didn’t arrived home until the day after we had left
• The streets in the city were hard to navigate and I have no idea how people managed before google/apple maps! The old city reminded us of Venice which was also narrow and hard to get around. I walked between the two hotels probably eight times and didn’t take the same route twice
• Cars driving through there narrow streets was very impressive to see
• The city had three UNESCO World heritage sites (cathedral, Alcazar and Archive of the Indies) in a few meters – which is pretty unique
• We had a tough time here between my sleep issues and Lisa being sick.