Friday, March 12 started with breakfast at the "Cafe Y Te" for 1500 ptas. We had 2 cafes, one con leche and one con chocolate and 2 fruit pizzas. We decided to take the Metro to Atocha Station and then walk the short distance to Retiro Park. We bought 10 rides for 660 ptas and successfully navigated our first subway rides ever!

We had a pleasant walk to Retiro Park. Something strange but nice: the stoplights 'chirp' you across the street, when the light turns green a chirruping sound starts, when the light is about to turn red the chirruping gets faster and faster! It sure gets everyone across on time!

We walked back to Puerto del Sol and from there to the Plaza Mayor where we had paella at a sidewalk cafe for lunch. Madrid is really laid out very well for walking. If you get lost, people are nice about giving directions. The paella was our first and with una cana and soda came to only 2250 ptas, much less than our 'fortune'.

Retiro Park is lovely, many of the trees are trimmed as topiaries and there are many fountains and flowers everywhere.
After lunch we walked down the streets where El Rastro flea market is held on Sundays. Not much goes on during the week. It's siesta time; we went back to our hotel.
An old gypsy asked to read my palm and we were taken again! She originally asked for, "una peopina, su decider", which means, "a tip, you decide". Well, she took my hand to read my palm and held a sprig of laurel against it (for luck) and told me the usual about good luck, happy marriage, life, etc., then she asked for the caballero's mano, or Dick's hand. Now it got good, she told us we were very much in love (true), had 6 kids (true) and had been married 25 years (off by 1). Not bad, but now came her price, she wanted 1000 ptas per hand! I gave her 3000 ptas and told her that was enough, she had said I could decide hadn't she? I also got her photo.
Saturday, March 13, we took the AVE to Sevilla. We ate breakfast at the Atocha Station for 645 ptas. The train travels at 165 mph and the trip takes exactly 2 hrs 20 min. They show movies during the trip. You are going so fast that to try to point out something of interest is impossible, by the time you get their attention-it's gone! Still, it was a pleasant trip with lots to see.

We took a taxi to the Hostel Arias, the cabby wasn't sure of it's location and had to radio his base for directions and then left us in the cab as he searched for it down the narrow street (alley) it was on. He than tripped the meter to a much higher figure and so lost any tip he might have thought he had coming! After checking into the Arias (5500 ptas) its time to explore Sevilla, get some cash and eat lunch, not necessarily in that order. The manager directed us to the nearest ATMs and we were off. We were only around the corner from all of the main sights, and later we found a short cut.
We had the" Menu of the Day at the Mason de Pulpo for 1875 ptas for a 4-course meal including wine and tapas. Dick had veal with French fries and a small beer (cana) and Diane had Caldo Tarasco, salad, wine and girones, which I think were barnacles! They were very, very fishy and slightly rubbery in texture-they were edible. Would I order them again? NO.

We walked to the cathedral; it's the 3rd largest cathedral in the world! It's across from The Alhambra. We decided to visit both on Sunday when the Cathedral and its bell tower, The Giraldia both have free admission. I bought my sister Vicky a piece of Lladro porcelain for her 55th birthday in April. It was 1500 ptas less than the same piece in Madrid.

On the way back to our hotel I showed off my excellent sense of direction (the one I inherited from my mother) and got us thoroughly lost for about one-half hour! It was raining of course. We found a lovely garden and took pictures of each other standing in the huge roots of the trees! I have no idea where we were and we never found that particular spot again. We finally found the hotel again and had our siesta!  
The Tablao was held at a dance hall called Los Gallos, or The Roosters, the cast had five female and one male dancer and four male singers and two guitarists. The price of admission (3500 ptas each) included one drink. The show lasted two hours and was excellent!
We are going to a Flamenco Show tonight, it is called a Flamenco Tablao. We decided to walk the route while it was still light out so we wouldn't get too lost after dark. The Tablao is located in the old Jewish Quarter and the streets are narrow and twisty. It seems that the Cathedral and Alcazar are much closer to our hotel than we thought! All we have to do is turn left instead of right and they are less than three blocks away. We did the tapa thing all of the way to the Tablao, sherry, cheese, olives, etc. We also walked down to the river to the Tower de Oro in the afternoon. This river is where Columbus left for his voyage to the New World.

The two young Japanese gentlemen sitting next to me really enjoyed themselves. We talked before the show began, they were very pleasant young men, one had just received his engineering degree and they were celebrating with a trip to Spain. The other wants to be an architect in the Gaudi School. They had also had the mustard trick played on them, but they lost several thousand ptas! We made it home just fine!

Sunday, we ate breakfast across from the Cathedral for 875 ptas for three cafe con leches and two pan tostados. I took a picture of the Carlson Wagonlit Travel Agency to show our agent, Tawnya when we get home. She surely can work anywhere in the world. While we were eating breakfast the police towed a few illegally parked cars. They hoist the back wheels on a dolly, hitch up the front and off they go! Two gentlemen came out of the Cathedral and argued but their car went anyhow!
We walked up the Giraldia Tower, what a climb! What a view! This is an orange grove in the center of the courtyard.
We toured the Cathedral after breakfast. It is enormous! The main altar contains over 4000 pounds of gold looted from the New World! We walked up the Giraldia Tower, what a climb! What a view! It doesn't have stairs, except for the last 15 feet; it has ramps, much easier than stairs! Supposedly it was possible to ride two horses side by side all the way up! Why anyone would want to do this, I have no idea; I would think it impossible or at least very difficult to turn them around to go back down. 

Lunch cost a total of 2200 ptas, we both had paella for a first course, Dick had pork chops, mushrooms and fries and I had chicken with mayonnaise sauce and fries and wine, of course. Now we tackle The Alhambra! It cost 700 ptas each, beautiful. I think I took four rolls of film!

We had tapas for dinner-they were the best so far. At a Marisco Bar (seafood) I had some type of deviled egg that was soooo good. We went back to the Meson de Pulpo and had some excellent tapas there, also, but no more barnacles! The cost was 775 and 825 ptas respectively.

We spent part of the day walking along the river, watching the Spanish lovers sitting twined everywhere, necking. Dick loves the girl watching I hear a lot of "Uff-da" which means that he has seen another Spanish beauty in skin-tight jeans walking by. The rains came again and we went back to our hotel for a siesta.

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