After a gruelling 18 hours of travel, we have arrived! 3 flights, several hours of airport hanging, a tram, a bus and two taxis later…
Juan Antonio greeted us on the street outside our apartment. He led us up 4 flights of stairs and into our new home. Marble floors. 10′ ceilings. A rooftop, geranium filled, sunny terrace overlooking the city of Seville. A view of the highest cathedral steeple. Windows with inside shutters. A spiral staircase. A second floor 14′ dome ceiling framed with rafters and several lookout dome windows.
First impressions: “boys, did you know that you are staying in what used to be a castle?” Let’s just say the look on Nick’s face said it all:)
We can hear the hustle and bustle of working people going about their daily routines. We can hear the hoots and hollers from the many cafe bars throughout the day (and the night!). We are in a very large city and it feels very different from home.
Olivia and I rose early (yawn) on our first official day in Spain and we went out to explore the city while the boys slept in. These are some of my first impressions:
- Parents pushing empty strollers moving quickly through the streets (perhaps heading to work after walking their kids to school/daycare?)
- Everyone bundled up in scarves and down jackets (it was about 10 degrees celsius this morning – winter!)
- Delivery vans blocking the narrow cobbled streets.
- The local market slowly beginning to bustle (fish, smoked, cured and salted meats, cheese and more cheese, olives, churros, fruit, vegetables, fresh bread, tapas, flowers…)
- We were told that the market price was the same, or less, than the grocery stores.
- Every other shop seems to be a cafe bar here. Coffee in the morning and beer/wine and tapas in the afternoon and evenings. Ingenious!
- Dog poo on the cobbled sidewalks.
- No grass to be seen but the streets are lined with orange trees.
- Extraordinary architecture – decorative motifs on every rooftop
- Many people still smoke here – especially women
- Playgrounds in the middle of the piazza’s – and several cafe-bar seating areas right next to them for the parents and all their extended families!
Tapas Bar & playground behind
This morning I placed my first market order – Diez fresa (10 of the biggest, juiciest strawberries I’ve ever seen) and cuatro naranja (4 oranges). Dos euro todo (2 euros). Dos baguetinas – still warm from the oven.
I did not do my Spanish homework before this trip. I have a good grasp of French and I have some very basic Italian – my Spanish comes out in a combination of all three (French, Italian and English) shall we say FrItaGlish? Frustrating. I have set myself the task of learning several Spanish phrases and new words every day.
Today Nick learned the word “castillo” – castle. We all drew and wrote about our first impressions this afternoon. Nick drew a castle after our visit to the “murallo de la Macarena” (see image below from his journal).
We are all adjusting. Change, new and the unknown is always a challenge – more challenging for some of us than others. We are negotiating and we will continue to negotiate. This was only day one… we have 25 more days here to work it out and to adjust!
It's About the Ride 