KDs Adventures: Sevilla Day 1 - The Cathedral, Flamenco ... and poop

We made it to Sevilla without incident. Getting to the hotel went rather smoothly, but there was no clearly marked parking at first drive by and no place to stop... we ended up circling a few times until we found a parkade across the street (go figure). We did our best to keep our cool (me driving, Mark navigating), but given our earlier day we were a bit grouchy. It probably didn't help that Mark was more used to driving and I was more used to navigating and our roles were reversed... but it did give us a good opportunity to see things from the "other side".

The hotel we ended up booking was *right* in the centre of the shopping district and very close to the old town. By far it was the best located place we stayed. As a result the room wasn't as large as others, but it had everything we needed and was clean so we weren't complaining. The hotel didn't have free parking, but they had negotiated half off with the underground parkade across the street so it ended up being a spectacular deal.

We were all getting a bit tired and traveled out. We particularly noticed it in Emily at the end of Jerez so we decided to take it easier. We were there for 2 full days and 4 nights. We picked 3 things we wanted to do in order of importance: Cathedral (it was the must see in the guidebook, the biggest in the world), Alcazar and Flameco show. We wanted to take it easy and try to ensure Emily got some good napping/sleeping in. In the end it was worth it... we had a great time in Sevilla and we are on our way to our last major city (Cordoba) feeling well rested and ready for the last part of our journey before we head home.

We had a plan for our first day worked out in advance. We had picked out a place that was recommended in the book for Flameco shows, that had earlier shows (7PM) but you needed to get tickets early. We decided to head there first and then to the cathedral. After breakfast at a great cafe near the hotel and me having to change the first poopy diaper of the day and put her into her spare outfit as the Spanish diapers didn't do the job.

Sidebar on changing diapers: As many people indicated most of Spain is not designed for changing babies. It is really rather ironic when you consider that they take their kids everywhere... so I am not exactly sure how that works. In the end, when we did need to use a public washroom I usually got stuck with the dirty work. Some women's washrooms (although very few) had a change table, some had a space on the counter that I could make work and others I had to use the floor. Mark claimed (and for the few I could see into he was right) that the men's washrooms were usually rather disgusting. Mark owes me LOTS of poopy diaper changes when we get back to Canada.

We found the Flameco show place without incident, but were surprised when we were told we couldn't bring our baby! This was the first time this had happened during the trip. Slightly disappointed we headed to the Cathedral. The Cathedral is Sevilla is MASSIVE. It was a touch expensive (8.50 Euro), but I would say it is worth it. We started the tour with what was almost the highlight, Emily had her second poop of the day. Only this time (first time in all of Europe) the MENS washrooms had a baby change table. I sat outside on a nice bench reading about the upcoming things we'd see in the cathedral while Mark did the dirty work. We learnt another good lesson at this point in the trip... consider taking two backup outfits for Emily. Not only did Mark have to change her, he also had to do some laundry in the washroom. He did a pretty good job though... I wouldn't have spent that much time using soap and the hand dryer to get the outfit clean (you can tell which of the two of Emily's parents canNOT stand being the least bit dirty - this was demonstrated in the airport in Turkey when one of the poopy diapers leaked and the tinyest bit got on Mark's shirt... after changing Emily Mark headed off the bathroom to get it out (I suggested he just used a wipe, but he refused)... Mark came back looking like he had won a wet t-shirt contest).

The highlight of the cathedral for me was seeing Christopher Columbus tomb. His remains have been transported to a number of places including Cuba before being located in the Sevilla Cathedral.

Christopher Columbus' Tomb

Emily and Dad with the Minaret converted to a bell tower in the background

The view from the bell tower

After the Cathedral we decided to take a walk by the river and to check out a second place about a Flamenco show. You bought the tickets at a bar across the street and they said bringing our baby wouldn't be an issue. We headed back to the hotel for a rest before coming back for the show.

Emily ended up having lots of good naps that day so we felt OK about taking her to the Flamenco show. We headed out and managed to get there 15 min early (as opposed to our usual 5 min late). We found a good spot close to the door so we were ready to run out in case she lost it. The show included an opening piano piece, traditional Spanish guitar, singing and flamenco. It was amazing. Definitely one of the highlights for both of us for the trip. Emily was a superstar. She started "talking" during the guitar piece so I quickly darted off with her to the wash room... it worked out well because she had pooped AGAIN!!! After that she just watched the entire show quietly. The Flameco was a bit surprising because of the noise, but she just stared at the dancers with her giant blue eyes.