Day Eleven

Sevilla

No sailing today but loading in Sevilla instead. In theory, this should allow ample time to explore the city. The reality is that it pours down heavily. So I spend the morning on the bridge instead. This is a good spot to watch the loading. And unlike the poor people actually doing the work, I stay dry.

After noon it finally stops raining and I head out for the city. The Captain provides me with a city map and a short introduction. Even though he advises to take a taxi, I forget to ask him to order one and so just start walking. He reckoned that it will take an hour on foot. Not bad, it is circa fourty-five minutes, actually.

Now, Sevilla really is a nice place. Rooted in the old days of the Moorish Spain, the architecture is an curious mixture of Arabian and Gothic styles, extended by whatever came later. At its heart there is a Gothic cathedral the size of small town. It takes almost ten minutes to walk around it. Indeed, it is the third largest Christian temple there is. Right next to it is the Reales Alcazares, the Royal palace. It was created by building a wall around a couple of palaces and adding a garden to it.

The ensemble is surrounded by an intact old town of tiny streets and no recognizable pattern whatsoever. I try to walk to the railway station to catch a glimps of the Spanish AVE high speed trains. Get utterly lost and turn up at the other end of the city. Try again and this time turn up at the cathedral again which is at another but equally wrong end. In between I have probably seen most of the inner city.

By now, night is starting to fall, I have sour feet, and no more interest in trainspotting. The task at hand is to find a taxi. Without getting too lost again, I find one and return to the ship.

Which is gone. Thank god, only about two hundred meters further up the pier, but it is enough for quite a shock. Her old space is now taken by the M/V Marina, the Norwegian ship that had our space in Rotterdam. Small world.