Los Barrios de Sevilla...

We made it to Seville this afternoon, slightly delayed by our flight from Madrid. The Madrid airport is fairly new, fitting squarely in a style I'd call "European Modern". It's hard to describe -- as was famously said "You'll know it when you see it." (Not that it's bad, it's just a very distinct style...)

With the preponderence of historical buildings, I expected Seville to be something like the Old City of Jerusalem, but it seems to have a very fluid blending of the old and new. It's definitely not as metropolitan as Paris, even if it is a city of 700,000.

Our hotel, Hotel Doña Maria, is right in the shadow of La Giralda, the bell tower of the Cathedral, dating back to the 12th Century. You can see the picture I just took from the terrace of our hotel. As I write this I can hear the bells reverberating above us. Seven rings of the bell, 7pm. I'd probably be asleep now, but an early Spanish dinner doesn't start until 8...

Earlier today, we walked the alleyways of Barrio de Santa Cruz, leading from streets lined with orange trees filled with fruit. Some corridors are only three feet wide, seeming deadends that open into small plazas with gurgling fountains and intricate tile benches. Here's Sudha sitting on one.

Oh, I brought out my big camera and it didn't even power up. We found a friendly camera repair shop in the Barrio and dropped it off to see if it can be fixed. (We'll see how friendly when/if they still have my camera tomorrow. Though it was liberating walking around unencumbered by a camera or even a bag! So for now, Sudha is the camerawoman. Though of course all pics in this blog are courtesy of the Droid (aka R2D2!).

Now to find a place to eat. I'm looking for Serrano ham or anguillas... as long as they have platos vegeterianos for Sudha!

Buenos noches!