I was pretty excited to go to a country where I could actually speak the language - or at least that was the idea. I was determined to speak no English while in Spain and almost managed to. Of course, Pingle thought I knew every single word on every single menu and I was good enough to ask questions like "do you have this as a high-heel in mauve in a size 37 1/2?" Of course, I couldn't handle complicated stuff, but overall - not so bad. It's all in the brain somewhere and I think stumbling through French on a daily basis is good practice for not caring that you sound like an idiot.
We did lots more walking around on Saturday evening. Matter of fact, after some shopping on Saturday and Paella for lunch we took a Spanish-sized siesta from about 2-5:30pm. Pingle was all raring to go back out and I warned her - it's TOO early - it's still hot out. But there we were again, back out in the heat, ducking under every shade we could find. Luckily, in Seville they put up shades almost everywhere - like the one below.
In a plaza not far from our hotel we saw a wedding party just leaving the church. It must have been close to 100 degrees and there were the bride and groom, dressed to the nines, standing at the top of the church stairs in the sun waiting patiently as their friends seranaded them with endless song. Their coach waited nearby - the horses looked annoyed and hot.
We made our way to Santa Cruz, the original heart of old Seville. It reminded me a lot of Venice - tightly packed colorful stone housing with alleys so narrow that the sun couldn't force its way in. To walk in those alleys is to experience natural air conditioning - they had to be 20 degrees cooler if not more.
In Santa Cruz we also hit snack paydirt - a place that specializes in churros and hot chocolate called Calenteria.
If you've never had a churro - I feel sorry for you. Not the nasty ones you get in the local fair in the USA, but ones like these. Deep fried dough - dropped into boiling oil only after you order them, tossed in sugar and dipped into a cup of hot, melted chocolate. Yes, this is something worth going to Spain for. I think we ended up coming here 2 or maybe 3 times.
Heading back towards our neck of the woods, near the Giralda, we plotted and mapped out our escape from the sun. We scraped along walls and took turns that brought us further away from our destination, but that was ok, we weren't scorched. Of course, after many blocks of feeling smart in the shade, our chess moves ran out. We had to cross a large open square with no shade and walk along another block that was blazingly hot. I cannot imagine being out in the Seville sun for longer than a few minutes. It brings into absolute clarity the sanity of the afternoon siesta - I will never doubt its logic again.
Just a few hours asleep, out of the heat, under the rumble of air conditioning and you're a new person. You might even pose on the staircase of your suite, flash a peace sign and grin a big smile. At least, that's the effect on some of us....
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