Seville

Well. Even on vacation you have bad days. In a word, Seville was a bust. We drove into yet another busy city and spent more than a couple of hours trying to find public parking. And we have a Garmin.

Finally parked and began hiking across town to the cathedral. About an hour later we finally arrived to find that it was closed for the Duchess of Alba’s funeral. There were crowds and paparazzi trying to get a glimpse of someone famous. We took a couple of pictures, stopped at a corner café and plotted our next endeavor—finding the tile shops across the river. Refreshed, we found our way to the ceramic district…only to find all but two of the shops closed for siesta. I was hoping to get tiles for our guest bath remodel. It just didn’t happen. 18 days together 24/7. Wee bit frazzled. We were done with Seville.

So it was back to(ward) Madrid. The land was fertile farmland. We saw sheep, cotton, more olive trees and vineyards. Stopped in Bailén at Hotel Zodiaco. A side note: Bailén was the site of Napoleon’s first defeat. In its heydey, Zodiaco was luxurious. Now it is a bit tired, but so were we. It sheltered and fed us well.