Day 11: Thursday April 26 2007, Cadiz, Spain
Noon position: 36 degrees 32.057' N latitude, 006 degrees 17.485' W longitude (docked at Cadiz, Spain)
Bob: We were scheduled to take a bus to Seville for a do-it-yourself type of tour, so we finished breakfast quickly and headed forward to the Pacifica Theater that was the assembly point for all the tours. Unfortunately, the ship was not cleared for disembarking for well over an hour, so we left about noon and didn't arrive in Seville, which is about 120 kilometers North of Cadiz, until 1:40 p.m. The tour official told us to be back by 4:30 p.m., but that gave us only about two and a half hours rather than the three and a half hours that had been promised in the brochure. Since the ship was not scheduled to depart until 8:30 p.m. that evening, we asked to delay our departure from Seville so that we would have the full three and a half hours, but she was adamant about getting the bus back by 6 p.m. |
Monika: We had booked the "Seville on your own" tour since it gave us the opportunity to see things at our own speed. The tour description said that we would have 31/2 hours in Seville, which, I figured, should be enough to see the Alcazar and the cathedral and maybe walk a little in the old town. We were supposed to leave at 10:30 and got to the Pacifica Theater on time. It was very crowded since half the ship, it seemed, was signed up for one tour or another. The staff handed out bus numbers fir the first few tours and not much more happened for quite some time. It seemed that Immigration or customs took their own sweet time clearing the ship. So we waited and waited. It was after 11 when they finally cleared us and the first bustours left. We were taken somewhat aback when the next tour they announced was the Walking Tour of Cadiz. But we waited patiently. After all, we figured, the ship did not leave until 9PM so there was still plenty of time for a 7 hour tour. Others were not as sanguine and started to demand to know, why our tour had not been called. Their rather loud complaining got results and our tour was called and quickly hustled downstairs. I was still not worried when we left around 12:00. However, I was getting upset when our guide told us in very broken English that we would get into Seville around 1:30 and had to leave at 4:15 since we had to be back by 6. This really did not make much sense. We did not get into Seville until 1:40, since the streets were crowded with beautifully decorated horse drawn carriages there for a festival. Our guide finally gave us a very grudging extension until 4:30. That still left us with less than 3 hours for the sightseeing. Her directions also had not been very understandable, one Spanish speaking woman helped translate, but they did give us a map for Seville. |
Bob: Knowing we were short of time, we hustled off to see our highest priority site, the Real Alcazar, or Royal Palace. We used the GPS and a city map of Seville to find the entrance and it was a good thing we had both because we didn't see any kind of sign directing us to it either on the side streets or main streets we were walking on. That was our first experience of the lack of directional signs that we were to experience time and again during our visit to Spain. We finally found the entrance in a small plaza just in back of the big cathedral. The Alcazar is a Moorish-inspired palace built by the kings of Spain on top of the remains of two old Moorish palaces. About one half of the Alcazar is a connected series of buildings while the remaining half is a huge outdoor garden area. We bought the English audio-tour devices and enjoyed the commentary at each of 18 selected spots in the palace. If you ever get to the Alcazar, and I would highly recommend it, make sure you have enough time to leisurely examine and really appreciate each unique aspect of the buildings, in particular the floors, the walls, the doors, and the ceilings. |
Monika: Our first priority was the "Real Alcazar", a palace built just after Spain had been reclaimed from the Moors and therefore showing a heavy influence of Moorish culture. The palace was just gorgeous with beautiful and intricate stonework and mosaics on the floor, walls, doors, and ceilings. The best thing to do was to sit down in each room or courtyard and just drink it all in. |
Bob:
We often take floors for granted because, after all, we just walk on them. But the floors in the Alcazar were special. Some of the floors were inlaid mosaics and in one room I found the exact center of the room by the center point for a circular pattern of tiles on the floor. Other rooms had fountains or pools in the center of the floor, which must have been very restful indeed in the heat of the Spanish summer.
The walls of the Alcazar ranged from mosaic tile patterns in a Moorish fashion to intricately carved patterns. Some ceramic designs were quite large, however, and depicted recognizable human beings, which would certainly not be found in Moorish art. Some walls were also decorated with paintings of Spanish kings or queens, as well as absolutely huge tapestries that depicted events in Spanish history. Our audio tour translated some of the sayings engraved on the walls, and we were both surprised at how often "Allah" was mentioned as a deity, especially when you consider that the palace was built by staunchly Catholic kings.
Bob: The exterior spaces in the Alcazar were also quite beautiful. One atrium in particular had a long, narrow pool of water leading up to a set of graceful archways in a colonnade, and the total effect was gorgeous. Right outside the buildings was a huge formal garden area with fountains, pools, gazebos, and sculptured plants of many different varieties. The palace wall surrounds that garden area, and that is part of the reason the Alcazar looks so large on a map. To enjoy the gardens, you really should sit down and rest beside some of the pools or fountains there for a while, so make sure to schedule enough time to do that if you ever visit. More flowers would almost certainly be blooming in the summertime, but the crowds would probably make it much harder to leisurely enjoy the palace or to relax in the gardens. Even being there in a "shoulder" season, I found that photography was impossible whenever the tour groups came by; I had to wait until they passed and the room emptied out before I could get good pictures.
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Monika: We had rented the audios and enjoyed the explanations of the history of each room. Between looking, listening, taking pictures, and just marveling at the details over 2 hours had passed so that we had only little time for the extensive formal gardens and none at all for the cathedral. |
Bob: Knowing that we were running out of time, we did not take the time to climb up to the second floor balconies of some of the buildings, so I can't report on that. But we liked the Alcazar so much that we would certainly like to see it again if we are ever in the area. We did make it back to the bus on time and were driven back across the plains to Cadiz where we reboarded the ship. After a quick dinner, I composed a formal complaint about getting shortchanged on our time in Seville and submitted it to the Royal Caribbean tour desk onboard the ship. |
Monika: We did walk slowly back to the bus, taking pictures, to get at least a little feel for Seville. Definitely a place we want to come back to. |
Bob: We didn't set sail until well after 9:00 p.m., as it turned out, and since I saw an ambulance and Emergency Medical Technicians entering the ship I inferred that someone on board had a medical emergency. Given that there are 2000 passengers and most are retirees, I guess the incidence of medical problems should not be too surprising. Dusk fell over Cadiz as we worked our way out of the harbor and sailed eastward towards the Straits of Gibraltar. I tried to stay up to see that, but failed and just conked out for the night. Dave later reported that we had passed Gibraltar at 3:00 a.m., so I'm just as glad that I didn't try to stay awake long enough to see it. |
Monika: Back on the bus everyone agreed that we needed to officially complain to RCI about the unnecessarily shortened tour. So after we had arrived and had a bite to eat we went up to the exploration desk were we met a few of our fellow tourmates. We all got our official complaint forms that Bob filled out detailing our reasons for our complaint. RCI did respond before we got off the ship giving us a 15% credit of the cost of the tour. |
| Prolog | Map of Cruise | Map of Spain | Epilog |
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