Okay, so before I start - an update on the group situation. We appear to have formed two factions, the annoying, and the annoyed. Day 4 and we have all picked a side. Was chatting to a guy from Australia today who told me that he realized on Day 1 of this tour that the upcoming 21 day tour he and his brother have may have been a mistake. A few pieces of advice for my fellow travelers. 1) you look silly taking all your photos on an iPad, 2) Fluffy grey Ugg boots are not shoes, they are slippers and 3) stay out of my pictures!!!
Yesterday morning we hopped on the coach and hit the road for Seville. The first stop was in Puerto Lapice, which is famous for being the place where Don Quixote was dubbed a knight.
From there we moved on to Cordoba. The main stop there was a cathedral, which was inside mosque. Yup, you read that right. The "Arabs" who came to the area (mainly Egyptian) in the 10th century built the mosque. When the Muslims left town, the Christians took over the mosque, and built a cathedral at its center. The result is the most spectacular church I have ever seen. It looks kinda Egyptian, kinda Turkish, on the outside, and so very western Europe on the inside. We were all a little blown away.
It was then back on the bus to Seville. The hotel is plain weird. There are mirrors EVERYWHERE. You also have to do this weird (and high inefficient) thing with the lifts where you you select the floor you want on a panel, it then tells you what lift to get in (no buttons in the lift). One floor per lift, hence it can take a while if you have a bus load of people trying to get to their rooms at the same time. Anyway, we headed off last night to dinner, completed with flamenco dancers, and the performance of a few numbers from Carmen (which is set in Seville).
This morning had a very awesome start. We hit all the old Expo buildings (Saville hosted in 1992). The Spanish building was amazing.
Does it look familiar? It is Naboo!!! If you are not a Star Wars fan then you might recognize it from other movies past and present, if not, then go see Sascha Baron Cohen's new movie The Dictator. This site is his "palace".
From there, it was on the the world's third biggest cathedral. Christopher Columbus is buried there.
Then it was time for a stroll around Seville. Of course, being May 1st, that meant we found a protest march. When someone asked our guide what they were protesting (duh), she replied "standard and poors". If you get the joke, you are a step ahead of two thirds of my tour group...
Of course because the sun is out, the likelihood that I will catch rickets has decreased dramatically. And being in Seville, the home of the orange, one would hope I can avoid scurvy too..
And as a parting thought, are you bored with your sangria coming in a normal bottle? I have a solution for you...
Yesterday morning we hopped on the coach and hit the road for Seville. The first stop was in Puerto Lapice, which is famous for being the place where Don Quixote was dubbed a knight.
From there we moved on to Cordoba. The main stop there was a cathedral, which was inside mosque. Yup, you read that right. The "Arabs" who came to the area (mainly Egyptian) in the 10th century built the mosque. When the Muslims left town, the Christians took over the mosque, and built a cathedral at its center. The result is the most spectacular church I have ever seen. It looks kinda Egyptian, kinda Turkish, on the outside, and so very western Europe on the inside. We were all a little blown away.
This morning had a very awesome start. We hit all the old Expo buildings (Saville hosted in 1992). The Spanish building was amazing.
We then hit the royal (summer) palace.
From there, it was on the the world's third biggest cathedral. Christopher Columbus is buried there.
Then it was time for a stroll around Seville. Of course, being May 1st, that meant we found a protest march. When someone asked our guide what they were protesting (duh), she replied "standard and poors". If you get the joke, you are a step ahead of two thirds of my tour group...
Of course because the sun is out, the likelihood that I will catch rickets has decreased dramatically. And being in Seville, the home of the orange, one would hope I can avoid scurvy too..
And as a parting thought, are you bored with your sangria coming in a normal bottle? I have a solution for you...
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