Cadiz and the Seville Cathedral

March 20

Good evening, everyone. The rain stopped yesterday (Sunday) afternoon, so we headed to Cadiz for a few hours. It’s only about 30 minutes from our flat so it was an easy trip. We visited the Cathedral then walked along the Atlantic most of the way around the city center. Being Sunday afternoon there wasn’t much open, but we really didn’t feel like sightseeing anyway. It was just nice to go out and walk in the sunshine.

Beach about 2 blocks from our flat in Puerto De Santa Maria
Main square Cadiz
Main altar Cadiz Cathedral
Crypt in the basement of the Cathedral
Wax death mask of St. Patricia
On our walk around the city center; Cathedral in the background.
Rough Atlantic seas
Large city park; very pretty

Our first stop today (Monday) was to the Navy base to mail a box of goodies home. It actually took longer to get our base pass than it did to get through the post office, so we were on the road to Seville by 11am. It was an easy drive, so we were here by 12:30. Peter said he was feeling “snake bit” after trying to get out of Granada last week and didn’t want any part of driving into another city. So, we’re staying a little outside of town in a Hilton Garden Inn. We checked in early, got our food into the refrigerator and grabbed a cab for the city center. The hotel has a shuttle, but it only leaves at certain times, and we missed the last morning shuttle but arranged for it to pick us up to come back.

Torre del Ora

We had the cab drop us at the Torre del Oro (Tower of Gold) which is right on the River Guadalquivir. We don’t usually climb to the top of things, but this was only about five stories, so it wasn’t too bad. The view was nice, but a very large group of school kids followed us up, so we didn’t stay too long.

River Guadalquivir from the top of the Tower

After that we headed to the Cathedral as it was only open until 3:30 and it was already 1:30. To tell the truth neither one of us enjoyed it that much. Part of the problem is that we have totally reached our saturation point for Cathedrals. Luckily this is our last one until we get to France next week, so we’ve got a bit of a break. It was also very crowded which took some of the enjoyment out of our visit. It’s a big church but there were people everywhere, some very aggressive about getting their photos. Lastly, while every Cathedral has had iron grates closing off the side chapels, this was the only one that had super tall gates which actually prevented us from enjoying the chapels. Even the choir section was closed off which was a first. Not only was the main altar behind a huge iron grate, but it had also so much gold that it was actually difficult to make out any of the individual carvings on the altar piece. In this Cathedral the audio guide was an extra charge, so we decided to walk around without it.

Seville Cathedral
Gothic Architecture
Painting in the Baptistry
Main altar piece
Painting by Goya
Pretty square

Unfortunately, by the time we finished in the Cathedral the sun was totally gone. But it wasn’t raining so we decided to walk around the old town. Of course, we walked in the wrong direction and ended up in a totally different part of town. It was still a nice walk but, on our way, back the rain started. We ducked into a restaurant for an early dinner but nothing on the menu appealed to us, so we just had a dessert and headed back out in the rain. By this time, it was 4:30 and our shuttle wasn’t until 6:30. We had no intention of walking around in the rain for another two hours, so we jumped in a cab instead. After resting in the room, we headed down to the hotel restaurant for dinner.

Tomorrow is supposed to be mostly sunny with only a 10% chance of rain. Of course, it wasn’t supposed to rain today either but we’re hoping for the best. Twenty days of rain out of 21 days of travel is more than enough for one vacation. So, keep your fingers crossed. Talk with you soon. Love from two rain-weary travelers.

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