5.15.2019

Our port of Cadiz and tour to Seville was a busy day.  We took an excursion called “Seville on your own”.  As the title indicates the excursion just delivered us to Seville and returned us to the ship in Cadiz about 5 hours later.  It was an hour and a half each way so an eight-hour day.  Plus, the late start due to Ramadan yesterday.

We had pre purchased tickets for the two big attractions in Seville: The Cathedral and the Alcazar, the Royal Palace.  The Cathedral, the third largest in the world, was amazingly beautiful.  We took lots of pictures as usual.

We had a set time 11:30 for entry to the Cathedral. We were able to pass the terribly long ticket line.  But we had not known how long it took to get to Seville, and had made our appointment for 9:30 for the Alcazar.  We got there at about 12:30 and the guard would not let us in because we missed the appointment time.  So we stepped to the side to decide what to do next.  A woman of authority came by and saw the airline tag on our walker that said “Handicapped”.  She entered our ticket number into her handheld computer to verify that the tickets hadn’t been used yet and led us past the guard that had refused us entry!  Totally great.  The Alcazar, the palace itself, was a bit of a letdown after the Cathedral. 

After those two visits we had lunch in the Jewish Quarter and went up to the shopping district.  Hunting, as usual, for a Christmas ornament and postcards.  Which we did find.  So it was a good day.

Tomorrow is Spanish port called Malaga.  We’ll post after that.

Colleen and John

5.15.2019 update from Casablanca addendum

Casablanca has the worst drivers ever.  Casablanca has the swervingest drivers ever.  Casablanca has the horn tootingest drivers ever.  It was truly amazing that we didn’t see multiple accidents. 

The ship left Casablanca late and thus arrived late in Cadiz for Seville.  The dock workers were observing Ramadan, the Muslim holiday and didn’t start untying the ship when the Captain expected.  You would think that the cruise line would have, could have, should have known that this would happen.

John & Colleen