I failed at setting my alarm for this morning. Mom luckily woke up at 10:20, looked at her watch, and then jumped out of bed because we had a tour we were meeting at 10:30 that morning. We quickly got dressed and ready to go then ran out the door. Our arrival was jut in time for the walking tour after their introductions. The guide, Concepción, was very good and knowledgeable about the city. We walked around parts we had walked yesterday and new areas we had not had time to explore yet. None of the maps they have here are exactly right and very few streets and names on them. There are lots of different squares roads and buildings that we just try to remember and then use the tall cathedral as a marker to find our ways back to places. It was a very good mix of the history, culture and information about the city and I’m really glad that we did it and got a feel for the place we will be staying for the next few days.
Very hungry at the end of the tour, we had about half an hour until the tour with the same guide for the cathedral/church started, Mom and I went off to find some quick food or tapas while Dad listened to a very good street musician playing the guitar and singing. The two of us stopped at a tapas place recommended by the guide as very quick, good, and a favorite of the locals. It was delicious! We got a small plate of a couple of bites of chicken in a wine sauce and a cake type thing with potatoes and cheese. Eating standing up at the bar in the traditional way was really a lot of fun. On the way out we bought an extra potato and cheese tapa for Dad supposing correctly that he hadn’t had time to find food yet.
Hurrying back to the meeting place for the cathedral tour, we saw a large portion of our previous tour group there. I was very glad that we had a guide for the church because there was so much in it that we would know very little about if it weren’t for her. A lot of it had been built or added on at different times, originally starting as a mosque then being converted into a very large and ornate church. Based on this, many different areas had very different decorations and styles of building and painting, but all was very detailed and beautiful, mainly baroque and renaissance. Christopher Columbus’s bones are even buried there, where he wanted them, after being buried at at least five different places or countries. Another great person buried there is Saint Ferdinand and his body can be viewed four times a year, and we missed by only a week.
After the tour we decided to climb the tall bell tower in the church that consisted of thirty-four ramps leading up but getting less steep as we went up. There were little windows all along the way up too so we get little glimpses of the city as we ascended. The view from the top was magnificent and definitely worth the short trek to get there. This city is such a wonderful place and it was great to get to see it from that angle.
For lunch we ate at a place near by and ordered five surprise tapas for a fixed low price. We didn’t know exactly what all of them were but they were again delicious. I don’t think I have had anything here yet that I did not thing was good.
Mom and I walked around a bit more after that and I bought some very pretty earrings in a 2 euro store- an excellent find. Dinner was at the favorite restaurant of the lady at the front desk with two people from our tour who were also staying in the same hotel as us surprisingly. It was a mom and son who just finished college and is starting a certification program here then will be teaching English or doing something similar for about a year here. While we were waiting for them two others from Vienna who were also in our tour group were looking at menus nearby so Dad went up to them and invited them to join us. It was a delightful meal for the seven of us.
Part way through dinner, about 9 pm after meeting about 8:30, the men left to go buy tickets to a show that night. We had no idea what the show would be, but they have a program where they have a music show in the gardens of the palace every night with a different group performing for only 4 euros so we all decided to go. It was medieval music on traditional instruments, all in Spanish, but I wasn’t trying very hard to understand everything they were saying.
Walking back to the hotel the city was alive at night with locals and quite fun to see all the sights and sounds around. A great first full day in the city.
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