Sevilla

November 21, 2021

Last night we went out for dinner at a Spanish hour. After leaving the cathedral, we were still wet and stopped in a warm tapas bar on our way back to our apartment. We hadn't had anything since our shared pastry in Alcala and Al was ravenous. Having a sizeable snack at 6 meant we could make it until 9 before our stomach alarms went off.

Then we had a challenge agreeing on where to go. Places that are empty while others are full sent a bad signal to me while places that are too full don't appeal to Al and might not have a table free anyway. We ended up at a bit of a dive but it was okay. I prefer the restaurants in smaller towns. Not so many decisions and generally a better quality:price ratio.

Seen on our restaurant ramble. I like it.

Today I wanted to see the Alcázar. Like I had for the cathedral, I tried to book tickets online. And like my experience yesterday, I was unable to complete the transaction at the last step. I tried 3 times, twice with my credit card and once with Al's from a different bank. It seems that none of our premium credit cards are secure enough for Seville's online ticket systems. When we gave up and went to the in-person ticket office, there was a long line of other purchasers, all with smartphones in their hands. I'll bet that most, if not all, of them had also tried to buy online.

We did some more sightseeing in the morning since we hadn't had the opportunity yesterday, really, thanks to the downpour.

The calèches in the Plaza del Triunfo were much busier today.

We went for lunch before our 3 pm admission time at a little bar/restaurant near the main tourist area. Mistake one. Mistake two was ordering the menu del dia, which, while priced right, wasn't very good. This is the third time we've struck out on this, each time in a tourist-oriented restaurant in a big city. We should have known by now!

But the Alcázar was definitely worth visiting. Such grandeur! It would have been nice to visit the upper floor as well, but no tickets were available today. Either somebody's in residence, they aren't letting anyone in during the pandemic, or all of today's tickets were sold out.

A few photos from our visit which I'll caption at a later date, maybe.