Day 46 - Sevilla

It is getting pretty hot, today we saw thermometers in the street indicating 39 C. And our Sevilla friends tell us the the heat is just starting.  At least tomorrow is our last day here.

We are becoming regulars at the corner bar.  The barman now knows our breakfast and he calls it screaming: one orange juice, cafe con leche, infusion de manzanilla, una media con York (this means a small ham sandwich) and uno completo con mantequilla  (a big toasted bun with butter).

The tour of today took us through downtown by the cathedral to Plaza de España.  There was a police ceremony with parade, mounted police, gun salute, flag raising, the works.  The plaza is surrounded in one side by a 1920s building covered in tiles.  Beautiful. It has a series of picture tiles from hidtorical events on each of the major cities in Spain. There must be close to 50 of this pictures around the plaza.

The park Maria Luisa is next to the plaza. It is a huge park, a giant island of green in the city.  It is surprising how much cooler it feels in the trees shade.  We crossed the park to get to the museums. 

First we visited the museum of   "Artes y  costumbres populares". They have all kinds of things that were common objects in the houses of Andalucia in the time of my grandparents. There was a group of Spanish seniors and they were talking about the things they recognized and remember. I also saw many things that I had seen in my grandfather's home.

When we finished that museum we just had to cross a small plaza to the museum of archeology. The museum is dedicated to local archealogy of Andalucia. Very interesting, starts with the bronze age and ends with items from the Roman era.

We had bought bocadillos from our friend Puri, the owner of the convenience store by the hotel. So with our bocadillo, a can of pop and some fruit we had a picnic in a nice shaded area in the park. When we finished it was past 2 pm and very hot.

We came back to the hotel again through downtown. It took us around 45 minutes, it is at least 4km. And then we took refuge from the heat in our air conditioned room.

At around 7:30 pm we came out for air and looking for food. It was still very hot but we found a table on the shade by the corner bar. We had to wait until 8 pm (Spanish people eat very late). But we had our fill with tapas.

On the way back, we stopped to say hello to Puri and she had more presents for us. Andalucia caps. One for each. They are so nice. Her husband Felipe arrived and we chatted with him for a while. He is more than ready to go and walk on el Camino and Puri wants to go with him.

Now in bed, getting ready for tomorrow, our last day in Sevilla.

St. Isidore of Sevilla is the patron saint of this city. He was a charitable and learned man, he wrote many books including an encyclopedia which was used several centuries. He is also the patron saint of computer scientists and the internet. St. Isidore pray for us.