LYNN’S SPAIN/MOROCCO
JOURNAL
Day 2, Friday, May 10
Travel Day to Sevilla, Walking Tour of Macarena District
We did not sleep well in the early part of the night because of the noise but found it quite quiet in the early morning. We awoke at 7:30 but had meant to get up earlier to get an early start for Sevilla. We had closed our wooden shutters to try to block out the noise—which also blocked out the light. Breakfast was continental but also included juice and cereal. We had a nice taxi driver who took us to the Plaza de Espana—he ran the meter and the fare was only 5 euros 40—he tried to give us back change for the 7 we gave him. We had a little trouble finding Hertz, but we got out of the city without mishap.
The ride down to Sevilla was maybe 4 hours. We stopped once for gas. Scenery was not notable—some mountains, including one very steep spot with formations a little like Castle Crags in Northern California, olive trees, bright yellow sunflowers, red poppies—we saw much the same in northern Morocco as well. On the map, I saw that the steep part included a pass called Desfiladero de Despenaperros. It was used through the ages by mule trains, traders, highwaymen, and armies to cross from La Mancha and Castilla to Andalusia. There was a lookout, but we were on the wrong side of the road to stop.
We managed to get off the highway (N-IV) into Sevilla—actually the road seemed to stop there (it does go on further south). We even found our hotel, La Muralla, in Macarena (northern part of Sevilla), but found no parking. I went in and found out there was a garage we could use down the street. The woman who met us speaks French so we got along. I think it was same woman who talked to me when I called and later to Fede when he called (her name was Gloria). Unfortunately, we never saw her again to confirm. We were just inside one of the few remaining sections of the old walls that used to surround all of Sevilla—hence the name of the hotel. I always felt like we were coming home to safety inside the walls for the four nights we stayed there.
The Old Wall
Hotel Muralla
We rested a while in our room and then left to explore Macarana. First stop was the Convento de Santa Paula, where we bought apple jam with mint from an old nun who showed us her picture in the Dorling Kindersley guidebook for Andalusia we carried everywhere. I was wondering what she was doing flipping through our guidebook! I could smell the smell of jam cooking as we walked toward the convent.
At the Convent Store
We took the walking tour around Macarena after, making sure to hit the 3 highlights: the convent, Iglesia de San Marcos, and Iglesia de San Pedro. Other highlights of the walk: watching a flamenco class for children (closest we got to seeing flamenco), seeing a procession called Cruz de Mayo, complete with drum and horn players, children walking with long candles, incense smoke coming from a censer which was swung back and forth by an altar boy, a float propelled by maybe a dozen people whose feet only were visable. It was wonderful to see. I thought it was a good way to spend the first evening, when we were perhaps too tired to tackle Sevilla itself.
Cruz de Mayo Procession
In fact, we were too tired even to walk downtown (Santa Cruz) for dinner, so we went to a nearby restaurant recommended by our hotelkeeper: Hermanos Gomez. Food was plentiful but not overly flavorful—plus we made the mistake of ordering the appetizers when asked. They turned out to be huge plates of shrimp and ham that cost $16 out of our 25-euro dinner. Not knowing Spanish put us at a big disadvantage. Philip described his entrée as similar to a plate of very salty chicken McNuggets.