Seville, 2022

                      11 December 2022

A distant view of the cathedral and La Giralda, with the 
Inglesia Colegial del Divino Salvador (Collegiate Church of the Divine Savior) off to the left.

Well. We finally arrived! We made our first foray into the city at night, checking out the Christmas lights, spotting the well-lit Giralda and Cathedral; and stopping, finally, for our first caña (small draft beer) in Seville. I feel like we are finally really here!

Christmas lights with La Giralda .

And, it’s warm! When we left the temperatures in Montpelier, in the sunny south of France, were in the low 40s; here in Seville it’s in the high 60s. Wonderful! We’re so pleased.

 On the other hand, it is raining. And raining. And raining. But it’s warm! Apparently it’s been raining a lot. As the plane landed we saw flooded fields surrounding the airport. Walking to our new-to-us apartment we crossed streets that were partially flooded. But it’s warm!

Every time we come to Seville—and I think this is our fifth time—we stay in the same place, a cozy little apartment located in the old Jewish area called Barrio Santa Cruz. But this time we chose to stay somewhere else, just for a change. Just for central heating! We want to get away from those individual room heaters. Now we’re in a modern 7-story brick building, surrounded by other modern brick buildings. Not visually inspiring but we’ve got a spacious apartment, lots of light, and a view of the sky. And central heating!

Two things we always seem to do while here in Seville is buy footwear (see this earlier blog about Spanish boots), and visit the dentist. Our first year here we had our teeth cleaned by a young woman from Peru just getting her dental practice started, and we’ve been going back ever since.

And, it just so happens that the new place where we’re staying is near the dentist. Like, a half-block near. With reservations made well in advance, we strolled over on the morning after our arrival and re-acquainted ourselves with Dr. Laura.

Our apartment building and.. a shoe repair shop!

After our cleanings Paula was musing about our other habit. Did she need new boots? Or maybe just get the old ones re-heeled… Then we turned the corner and there, right on the ground floor of our apartment building, was a shoe repair place! (And just in case I wasn't sure what reparacion de calzaos meant, there was a picture of a shoe--and a key, because also available was duplicados de llaves).

We stepped into the shop, crowded with other customers. There was a large fellow in a white smock standing in front of a complex looking machine with grinding wheels and buffers. Paula asked, using pantomime and her best pidgin Spanish, How much to get these heels fixed? Next thing we knew Paula was offered a chair and the cobbler was slicing, cutting, grinding, gluing, and trimming. Ten minutes later her boots were good as new! 

The large fellow slicing, cutting, grinding, gluing, and trimming.

As we were paying (€10! about $11USD) I noticed a woman—the cobbler‘s wife?—at an industrial sewing machine fixing a strap on a ladies purse. It was big smiles all around, and we really wished we had more broken things to get fixed.

Twenty-five steps later we were standing in front of our sixth floor apartment door, marveling at what had just happened. Fastest case of “you want it, you got it” I’ve ever seen!

Well, after that first week the rain stopped, and we’ve been enjoying the magnificent weather. Our new lodgings are a bit further from the center, but make it easier to get to some areas we’ve rarely visited (too far then, plenty close now, from our new location!)

 

                 Christmas Lights

Every year we rush to the Plaza de San Francisco, one of the major squares downtown, to see what’s installed. One year it was an ice skating rink, one year three giant angels in lights, one year huge crowns. And this year…

 

Animation!

Animated light displays! Colors and images flowing across the surface of these giant hemispheres.

 

Colors! Note the figures on top...

The girouette (weather vane) on top of La Giralda; copies are mounted on the light domes.

Plus all the usual lights strung across the boulevards. 

Crowns along Calle Sierpes

Lights and the exquisite buildings along Av. de la Constitución.

The ever-popular Plaza del Salvador.

Oh my, but how time flies! This was written just when we arrived, and now we’re all packed up and ready to go back to the States—tomorrow it’s up early and on the plane. Once we’re in California maybe we can catch up on what we’ve missed…