March 27, 2015


Looking out the window as we approach our berth in Cadiz, Spain.

Captain, she’ll be fully automated by the time we dock.

Congratulations, Mr. Scott.  You’ve closed the barn door after the horse has come home.

We had breakfast delivered to our stateroom at 6:30, and we are now preparing to join the throng in the Vista Lounge in 30 minutes to board the bus and toodle off to Seville.

As Arnold said: “I’ll be back!”

And here we are!

Wonderful time in Seville today.  We rode a bus for 90 minutes with a lovely Spanish girl giving us the lowdown on what we were seeing, history and such.  She is a very accomplished tour guide, studying to get greater certification.  Very nice.  She took us to Plaza de Jerez and turned us loose, telling us to be back at 2:30.  Bonnie and I went first to Starbucks because there is no public potty in Seville, other than at the Guatemalan Embassy.  I got a Caramel Machiatto and we took care of business and then headed out.

We went to the Cathedral of Seville where we paid 4 euros each to get in.  The 4 euros is the discounted price for pensioners.  We showed the ticket lady our drivers licenses and saved 5 euros each.  It is a beautiful church, dedicated on December 23, 1248.  It started out as a mosque, but when the Christians took the city, they took the church as well and remodeled it.  It is the largest Gothic cathedral in the world, and the third largest church in Christendom, behind St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s.  Many of the rooms are barred by, well, bars, but you can stick your nose and or your camera through, and I got a lot of beautiful pictures.  The church is the headquarters for the Seville Archdiocese and the Archbishop frequently conducts Mass there.  It would be wonderful to hear their pipe organ – it is enormous.

We saw the coffin of Christopher Columbus.  Actually, it is the coffin of part of Christopher Columbus.  Emma, our guide, told us that Columbus is buried in a half dozen Spanish cities.  Someone at the cathedral explained that they had done DNA tests and determined it is part of old Chris.

We also saw the place where the 18 survivors of Magellan’s round the world cruise  (Magellan was not one of the survivors) came for repentance and confession when they got back three years after they left home.  We posed for a picture there, but our volunteer camera person jiggled the phone.  Oh well.

After a couple hours we found a sidewalk café – the Bodequita – where we had lunch.  Two very cold Coca Colas served in glass bottles, the way Coke should be served, and something we think was a pizza.  It had ham and mozzarella cheese and a fantastic crust that was more like bread.  Delicioso!

Then it was back to Starbucks for free WiFi and we wandered up and down the main street, Constitution Avenue, for an hour or so before meet the group, boarding the bus and napping back to the ship.

Oh, at Starbucks a couple were ordering and the man was obviously confused by the sizes.  Starbucks has invented their own – it’s not small, medium, and large.  It’s tall, grande, and venti.  She explained to her gentleman friend, “Bolshoi.”  Well, I chatted with her a few minutes.  She is from Moscow and knew where Samara was when I called it by its communist name, Kuibychev.  Pretty neat.

A great day.

Tomorrow’s stop is Malaga, Spain where we will go out on our own and look for some nude beaches (ask Luke).

Tonight’s entertainment was a comedy magician and it was a great show. He pointed to the balcony on the third deck and said, “Hey, it’s the muppets!”  A guest with long hair stood up and did a perfect “Animal” imitation.  Hilarious.

And now we are back in Stateroom 1115 sipping ginger ale and contemplating bedtime.

TTFN