Seville Day 14 - Europe 2023
June 7
This day started as many do at home. CrossFit! We headed out at 8:30 for the 9:15 class. It took 23 minutes to walk there, and we need to warm up.
All went well there, other than realizing, like a door to the face, that we haven’t worked out for nearly three weeks.
We were so thirsty and hungry, we bought a Fanta as soon as we could, then breakfast items.
The city was in the midst of preparation for the next day’s celebrating of Corpus Christi, so beauty and gild were appearing all around.
Homes and government buildings were adorned, but also shops had religious displays. This is the largest local holiday for Seville, so it’s a big deal.
Tour guide Esther had told us the bull ring museum was free on Wednesday afternoons, so that was the plan for an outing, but when we got there it turned out everyone else also knew it was free on Wednesday afternoons.
We decided a few tapas were needed to sustain us for the afternoon.
I ordered gazpacho on a whim at our first tapas outing, and I was hooked! So fresh, a little bite from garlic and pepper, smooth and healthy. My eventual goal is to find the most delicious gazpacho in all of Spain.
We did realize the ones we tried in Seville were all equally delicious, and we wondered if there was one grand recipe Aunt Isabel came up with a century ago that everyone uses.
After our tapas stop, back to the bull ring and now we were able to walk right in.
I went to a bull fight in Madrid on my first trip to Spain. I was conflicted about going, but I loved it. It was beautiful and intense and majestic. The swell of the crowd, the hope that the bull drops quickly, saving pain, and bringing glory to the matador.
I can remember all those feelings, and I know they were true at the time, but I’m shocked I ever felt that way. I could not go again.
They still hold bullfights every weekend starting in April through the summer, except in August when it is too hot. As we walked the museum, I tried to think of an equivalent activity that happens in the U.S. to help Yessa understand this cultural phenomenon that means so much in Spain. I suggested football, but Buds negated that idea.
The museum was beautifully presented and it is amazing to sit in the ring and imagine it filled with people cheering.
This article gives an understanding of a little of the pageantry and majesty of the bull fight, and the intimacy of dressing the bull fighter.
After we explored the entire arena, we headed off on our grand walk by the river in the linear park Buds and I had walked over many times.
It was a beautiful night to be out together, exploring new parts of town.
We saw joggers, bikers, parents with kids, kids on skateboards, picnickers, dogs, dogs, and more dogs. There were several boats on the river, and we saw people skulling on the river every time we were over by it. Some of the parts of the path were old, but many were new.
After walking a couple miles, we veered into the neighborhood of San Lorenzo where the Korean restaurant, Kim’s Bap, beckoned. The reviews were outstanding, and Yessa had read not to expect the staff to speak much English. I got to impress with my minimal Spanish skills, and we managed to understand and be understood.
Then a long, meandering walk home through lively plazas, watching children run and play while adults dined and laughed.
In both Portugal and Spain, I noticed much more comfort with physical contact between people of all ages and genders. People holding hands, brushing shoulders, two-cheek-kisses. Seeing friends gathered around a table, some faces wrinkled, some smooth, laughing, smoking, emoting. I love it. (Not the smoking, but the rest.)
It was a beautiful day. And a lot of steps.
