A tale of two Cities

Saturday 31st January

Seville and Cordoba:

We left Cadiz by train on Thursday morning. We were surrounded in our carriage by SAS students, all very excited and planning the next few days. After a 2 hour journey we arrived in what we shall always now call the city of orange trees....Seville. They are everywhere; every little side street and square is lined with these loaded orange trees. We walked to our hotel which was very comfortable; our room overlooked a little square away from the tourist area so we could wach everyone going about their daily business; little boys playing soccer, George yelling instructions from the window which, thank goodness, they couldn't hear...but I could: 'Off side!' "GOAL!" 'Get it....go on run!' My daughters will know just what I mean!

In fact after exploring the stunningly beautiful Emperer's palace, which had once been a fort and was a wonderful mixture, as so many buildings are in Spain, of Moslem and Christian archictecture, and after having our main meal of the day in a restaurant, we ended up that evening having Tapas in a little local bar watching soccer on TV....Seville vs Valencia. Seville won and no one was more excited than George. The other patrons were rather restrained by comparison! As we left who should we spot sitting at the bar but about eight SAS students....and we thought we had escaped! They had found really cheap accomodation in a nearby hostel.

The Alcazar, the palace, was breathtaking in its beauty. Lacy carvings in pale stone surrounding Moorish arches in red and creamy white and all encircled by fountains, pools and wonderfully designed gardens with peacocks strolling majestically along the broad avenues.

The next day we set off, again by train, for Cordoba. Both cities by the way are situated on a river, the Rio Quadalquivir. We went immediately to the Information office in the station where we were given a map of the city and told which buses would take us into the old town. We hopped on to the first we saw and were there in 10 minutes. The old part of the city overlooks the river with narrow cobbled streets and mellow, golden walled buildings. We went first to the Cathedral of Cordoba, the Mezquita, a world heritage site, and the most interesting and unique of cathedrals. The Christians have claimed to be first on the site, then came the Moslems who built an enormous and unique mosque. There are hundreds of small arches as far as your eye can see in the dim light of hanging lamps; they are red brick and white in alternating colours and the separate chambers are huge. In fact it is one of the largest churches in the world. There is a stark beauty to this design which is intruded upon by the later Christian take-over which hung huge renaissance-type paintings and built opulent gold and silver ornamentation, crucifixes and tombs. (There are times when I think the Christian hierarchy just doesn't get it....the simplicity and unworldliness of the teachings of Jesus as opposed to the wealth poured into these places of worship..this was certainly one of those times. I also remember being in Barcelona years ago in another church where the trappings were opulant and the parishioners, pale elderly women in simple black dresses and head scaves, were obviously poor but deeply devout....and again I was disturbed by contrast.)

We explored the Jewish quarter and the Sephardic house; the Jews were expelled from Cordoba in 1492. They were told to leave or lose all rights and property. There were some beautiful paintings in the house, of Jewish women and I hope to insert some photos of them on this blog site.

We walked back to the train station after a huge, late lunch of soup, stewed goat and pineapple dessert (salty salty goat!). The train ride back to Seville took 45 minutes on a very fast smooth train. European trains are absolutely wonderful; frequent and very comfortable they are used by everyone.

We ate a snack supper in a very local bar/cafe not far from our hotel. The little proprietor, not used to tourists I suspect, rushed around making sure that everything was just right. He made us delicious sandwiches carved from the huge ham shoulders and legs that hang in so many Spanish bars. Accompanied of course by beer and red wine! Both George and I love to find places to eat where the locals do and here we did not bump into any SAS students.

We took a slow train back to Cadiz this morning and again shared our carriage with faculty and students from the ship. They had had a marvellous few days and we enjoyed hearing them compare experiences....what a fantastic education this is! We went immediately to a favourite (already?!) Cadiz restaurant for a tapas lunch of small fresh rolls stuffed with a variety of cheeses, chicken, tomatoes and tuna; delicious! Then back to the ship...a five minute walk. On the way I picked up a pair of runners made in Spain for Eu 15.00 ( I find I need thicker soles for all this walking) and a simple cotton skirt for Eu 10.00 which nicely matches some tops I have brought. From here it will become warmer: Seville was cool, Cordoba was cold and Cadiz is pleasant and warm by comparison.

G's turn on the computer.