Back from Seville

Christmas 2023 in Seville: as wonderful as ever.

 What have we been doing in the two months since we got back from Seville? Oh, not much! Mostly just waiting for the winter to fade away… which it has, mostly. We’re seeing more of the sun, but we’ve still got some cold, overcast days. 

Soon, though, we’ll be away from here, and off to someplace where the weather is very different: Norway! (Oh, it’s going to look so warm here in contrast!)

But first: what about Seville?

We were happy to go, and very excited to arrive and experience the wonder and beauty of that magnificent city. Re-visiting the by-now familiar streets and squares, seeing our favorite buildings, and, of course, drinking that first caña, the cold bubbly tickling the throat as the liquid slides down… All wonderful!

Ah, nothing like that first sip of beer!

An old-school tavern where we enjoyed a pause during a long walk through Seville.

No matter how often we see La Giralda, the bell tower of the cathedral, it's always a joy to find it again.

A joyful Christmas along Av de la Constitución.

We were very pleased to see our old friends (and family!) again. Karen and Rich once more hosted their fabulous Christmas dinner. It was particularly satisfying to see all the “kids,” the daughters and sons of their adult friends, now graduated from high school into university and “real” jobs. 

The real treat, though, was spending time with our daughter, Nina, and her sevillano husband, Riki! (While they currently live in Los Angeles--the one in California--they come to Seville every year to visit Riki's family).

Nina and Riki.

And those fabulous Christmas lights, always a joy, were as good this year as ever. Here's a quick slide show with some Seville highlights:

 But Seville was packed. It’s clear the so-called “revenge travel”—tourists making up for travel lost to the COVID years—has not ended.

A very crowded Plaza de España. Still astonishing, even packed with people!

Yet, right nearby, the Parque de Maria Luisa was surprisingly empty.

A pond in the park, near C. de los Patos (yes, Duck Street!)

A cute building in Maria Luisa Park showing heavy Moorish influence.

But as the days went on and the streets remained packed we grew weary of the constant crush of people. New Years came and went; at first we relished the thought of joining the crowds at Plaza Nueva for the midnight countdown, gulping down the grapes at midnight with each strike of the clock. The plan was to accompany Riki’s brother and sister and their families, as we did pre-COVID. But… that didn’t happen. People were sick; other’s couldn’t make it. We contented ourselves with going up on the roof of our building and watching over the city at midnight. Oh and we ate our 12 grapes and made our wishes for 2024.

No, not the view from our rooftop; Christmas angels in front of Palacio de San Telmo, a regional government building.

 We did meet Riki’s family for a special treat, though: a night along the river for a special event, a “Sound and Light” show that took the concept to a new level.

Such shows are quite popular in France. The ones we've seen are quite impressive, consisting of high-quality video projected onto public buildings, accompanied by music and dialog.  But this show on the Guadalquivir River in Seville accelerated the concept:  this extravaganza used the river itself as a projection screen! Here’s a video of the show, which apparently presents a history of Seville.

Click here for the video

Ah, but Spain far behind us! We’re looking forward now to Norway.

Yes, Norway in March. Not exactly full-on winter, but certainly not summer, as it was the last time we were there. Why March? Because we’re going there to see the Northern Lights. And while the Aurora Borealis occurs all year, it can only be seen at night (Duh!). And March seems to be a good balance between the chill of a full-on winter night and the never-dark day of the midnight sun. To maximize our exposure to the night sky while minimizing discomfort we have chosen to travel by boat; specifically, a marine ferry cruise up the west coast of Norway and back.

Here you can read about our previous trip to Norway  in June of 2018 

 Much of our time since our return from Spain has been spent preparing for Norway. Clothes have been a concern. We found some good winter things at Human, our favorite thrift store in Seville. Local stores rounded out our cold-weather wardrobe. We don’t really know what we’ll need in Norway. But we want to be ready for whatever happens!

The cold weather gear, ready for the suitcase. Still to be added: all the regular clothes, like pants, shirts, socks, underwear...

We'll be arriving in Bergen, Norway, in mid-March. We'll have much more to say then!