Author: marionvermazen

It is Carnaval in Cádiz!! Our train this morning from Sevilla was packed. We walked through the crowds through the town to our Parador.

After checking in we went out people watching. What fun! the costumes were varied and over the top. We saw everything from suicide bombers, to Harry Potter to Nuns.

We stopped at a little bar near the shore and had paella.

Part of the Cádiz Carnaval is a ironic comedy singing competition. We watched several of the groups on floats doing their comical dances and songs.

For dinner we ate in the Parador. I had fish and octopus.

For desert Brian had chocolate with tangerine custard and sorbet.

Bonnie and I had crepes.

And Duke had a pastry with ice cream.

Our room has a wall of glass doors that open up to the patio. We opened the doors and played cards overlooking the Atlantic this afternoon.

This morning after breakfast of coffee and pastries we went on a walking tour of Sevilla.

In the fourteen and fifteen hundreds Seville was a very wealthy city because all the riches from the American colonies came through here.

After our tour we did some shopping.

And had a snack.

Because it is Saturday there were lots and lots of people out socializing.

After a rest we did some more wandering around enjoying Seville and eating. The first picture is fried asparagus and the second is goat cheese and berries.

There is quite a bull fighting tradition here. Many of the bars have bulls’ heads on the walls each with a plaque about the bull.

We are in Sevilla! This morning we took the high speed train from Madrid to Sevilla. It took two and a half hours to go about 250 miles.

This afternoon Brian and Bonnie toured the Sevilla cathedral. Duke and I have seen it before. We booked a Flamenco show for tonight and walked around enjoying the weather which is warmer than Madrid. We also visited the beautiful Archives of the Indies Building.

For dinner we had tapas before and again after the flamenco show.

Today for our second day in Madrid we spent several hours exploring the National Archaeological Museum. It has wonderful displays about the cultures in The Iberian Peninsula from prehistoric to the present. There was so much amazing stuff it was hard to pick favorites. I liked the Roman mosaics.

And the Visigoth hoards.

We went to Museo de Jamon for bread, cheese, and ham for lunch and had tapas at a few different places for dinner.

Duke and I thought we were over our jet lag so didn’t set an alarm last night. We were awake during the night then didn’t wake up until Bonnie and Brian knocked on our door at the agreed on time of 9am! They came back a bit later and we were ready to go.

Our first stop this morning was the Royal Palace. It turns out the inside is closed to the public today and tomorrow but today is the full ceremonial changing of the guard which they only have once a month! Coincidentally we are here on the right day. The temperature was only about forty degrees but the sun was shining and it was a great show!

Afterwards we warmed up with chocolate and churros.

This afternoon Bonnie and Brian went to the Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Museum (We visited it last year) and we went to the Sorolla Museum. Joaquin Sorolla was a late Impressionist Spanish painter The museum is in his home. We really enjoyed both the setting and the light filled paintings.

We ate dinner at what is supposed to be the oldest restaurant in Europe, Sobrino del Botin. We had a fun meal. I had roast suckling pig, Brian had roast lamb and Duke and Bonnie had beef. Our reservation was at ten so it was a long day. But it was a really fun day!