Pushy People and Old Things

The blog starts here!

Welcome to the first installment of OUR blog. Ali decided it was time for me to step and write about some of our activities. I can distill it down to a few sentences

1. we are seeing stuff in foreign countries
2. we are walking a lot
3. we are not getting used to eating dinner at 10:30 at night

I know that's pretty simple, but it really is what is going on. 

We just got back from Sevilla and it was very nice.  We spent time today (7 hours) wandering around the old city and particularly the Alcazar - a UNESCO World Heritage Site that is apparently the most visited complexes in the world.  Like the Cordoba mosque, this too has influences from the Arabic period, late middle ages and right through to the Renaissance, Baroque and XIX century.  There, we saw the tomb of Christopher Columbus and climbed the bell tower for a view of the city. 

The Alcazar of Sevilla 

We also checked out the country's Archives of the Indies which had an exhibit on the discovery of the New World. Here we saw the original maps of the newly discovered South and Central America, journal entries and letters of authority - Ali was thrilled to see Bartolome de las Casas' General History of the Indies from the 16th Century. 

A short walk took us to the Plaza de Espana and Louisa Maria Park where the 1929 World Fair was held.  But more importantly, it was used in the Star Wars films in exterior shots of the city of Theed on the planet Naboo.  Awesome.We eventually had a nice lunch and some gelatto (at half the price we paid in Marbella) followed by a lot more walking.

Louisa Maria Park

Plaza de Espana

The main form of tourist transportation in Old Town

Perhaps my favorite part of the day was seeing the 7 moods of Ali all within one hour.  That was incredible!

Mood #7. Pissed off.

I think we are finally starting to accept - or at least recognize - some of the cultural differences. One that took me by surprise is how pushy people are in lines, and as we discovered today some seem to think they aren't going to stand in one - no matter what. During our wait to get into the Cathedral an older man (70+) was frantically pushing people and desperate to get his ticket...of course once he was in there was no rush. Sigh...I guess in Canada we are conditioned to stay in line, say please and thank you, and smile at people when talking to them.

We also finally figured out the train system here, which is a big relief, especially because we have some longer trips coming up.

Ok. That's it from me.  We're settling in for our first movie night.  Note - last night we walked 3 km to the other side of town where no tourist ever walks to go to the only cinema.  Unfortunately, there were no movies playing in English.  So, home movie on the mini laptop it is.

Next week we will travel to Madrid! woot.