My last two days in Spain were in Sevilla and in/near Jerez de la Frontera. Both were good. As is true for every village and city I’ve seen on this trip, I could have easily spent a good more time exploring and learning in each (well, not so much Taba Heights Resort – one night there was enough).
Sevilla, especially, would have warranted more time. I got in some good roaming time around the old city, and then almost made the mistake of skipping the Cathedral. I was thinking, “What’s one more big church? Seen one, seen ‘em all.” But since it’s such a landmark I figured I’d give it a quick visit. As I walked there, I mentally began writing a post explaining why I wasn’t so impressed, and comparing it to our Nat’l Cathedral in DC. I was going to write about how our Cathedral is free from the bloodstained religious history, and how we’ve got some pretty dang cool details like the moon rock stained-glass and the Darth Vader gargoyle.
Then I walked into Sevilla’s Cathedral. I was dumbstruck. I literally couldn’t close my mouth with using my hand to push my jaw back up. This doesn’t diminish my loyalty to ours in DC, but, honestly, Sevilla’s Cathedral kicks our flying buttresses all over the floor. It’s such a combination of gigantism, intricate detail, and a pervasive, powerful sense of history.
There were a number of other such sites in Sevilla that I’d have visited if I had the time, but I was there for just one evening and the next morning. I left around noon for Jerez de Frontera, which I explored on foot that evening, and then the next morning I drove to Cadiz, where I picked up Nat and Rod. After nearly three weeks of travel alone, it was pretty terrific indeed to meet up with some of my closest loved ones. We drove a bit to the north to Sanlucar de Barrameda, where we spent several lovely and fun hours touring a sherry bodega and eating lunch on the coast of the Gulf of Cadiz (off the Atlantic Ocean), then we headed south to Algeciras where we spent the night before crossing into Morocco by ferry the next morning.
I hope to write more about my time in Spain next week (and I’m still mentally composing posts about Jerusalem, Cairo and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict).
Nat & Rod were such a sight for sore eyes that I snapped a photo as soon as I saw them. (-:
Here’s one of the pics from the picturesque bodega:
Here I am, just about to board the ferry to cross the Strait of Gibraltar into Morocco.
