We are in the hotel EME Cathedral Mercer in Seville. I don't believe I've been so conflated about a boutique hotel as I am with this one. On the upside is its location to the Seville Cathedral -- smack dab right across the street. And, therefore, it's also a cobblestones throw away from all the eye candy, delicious aromas, and vibe that comes with such a monument. The hotel is a very interesting architectural renovation of several homes, palaces, whatever, now connected, plumbed and wired as one building. The staff are all super nice and helpful. That's the upside. The downside is that it has been designed by someone who knew they would never have to stay in it. As Mary said, "It's designed for from, not function". Where do I begin.., let's start with finding our room. From the small, unpreposing reception foyer, we were assigned a suited gentleman to guide us to our room. Eight paces brought us to an inner patio door at which he stopped, pointed to the right saying "elevator, up" and left us. Remember it is still pouring rain and the patio has no roof. We splashed our way to an inviting archway, over a little bridge, and lo and behold, there was an elevator. Once in the lift, and after a little uncoordinated card key waving and button pushing, we eventually got to our floor, or so we thought. Once out of the lift, we spent more than a few seconds deciphering what looked like random numbers and arrows painted on the walls (circa 4,000-7,000 BC). Resolving the direction of #214, we climbed three steps, entered another small atrium, did some turning, and climbed another ten steps passing another lift. Doors to rooms and additional Escher-esque staircases were all around us.
It took us a few secs more to figure out the room numbers were lit up in the thresholds. That, and the intriguing handle-not-handle on our door definately peaked interest as to what was inside. Hmm. Big bed, good, two bedside tables, good, balconette window facing another building's windows, charming (in the new world this would be annoying but in the old world it's charming). The loo and bidet (a.k.a., clothes-washing sink to most Americans) do have their own room with a door. All good. Then it gets weird. The sink is in the bedroom, half the shower is open to the bedroom, the end wall of the shower (right next to the room door) is made up of two floor to ceiling windows which open onto the atrium outside our door. The hotel has installed a roll down shade outside these windows but it is not light blocking. At night you can close the shutters to eliminate street light but light from the atrium hallway floods the room. Thank goodness I brought my eye mask.
Oh, and the temperature controls were not working and the only way to cool the room down was to open the street window which is above a bar. Charming. Storage, ablution, lighting, and HVAC issues aside, I did manage to get to nod off by tossing away the bedding and pretending I was sleeping in the tropics.
Morning teased us again with blue skies. Standing on our little balcony and looking right we get a lovely view of a sliver of the Cathedral and quiet, early streets.
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| Our street view |
Like those who sought the new world, we boldly navigated the vast unchartered (to us) hotel to find breakfast. Once again, one of our party tried to make his own coffee and got righteously schooled and sent back to his seat. Maybe if we wore lanyards with name badges they'd let us make our own. Hmm.
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In every hotel we've been, this is the standard toaster. It wins my personal award for being the fastest, most even toasting machine ever! It will also ignite a piece if bread faster than you can screw up trying to make you own espresso, so NEVER turn your back on it.
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| Unique windows everywhere |
This was our big day for cultural sightseeing. Today's local guide, Sandra, started us off with a stroll toward the Alcazar. I'd been curious about the ever present yellowish trim paint on so many Andalusian buildings. When I asked Sandra, she simply pointed down and said it's the color of our sand. Sure enough! I even scrolled back to our bullring photos in Ronda.
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| Lovely yellow sand and invincible boot |
Like the other beautiful palaces in alcazars, there is a blend of cultural history. More than the others, Seville's palace seems to celebrate coexistence of Islam, Judaism, and Catholicism, at least for a period fortunately preserved here.
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| Inside the Seville Alcazar |
Tripping hazards can be avoided by never moving your feet without first looking at them. It's harder than you think, especially when the builders delighted in adopting ramdom changes in floor heights at every opportunity. Water features are also available to fall into.
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| Table service |
Freed to our own time, we had a fabulous lunch at La Isla (thank you Peter and Mary). I had the best salad ever on this trip, consuming more lettuce than we've had in total so far! "Greens" are uncommon offerings on menus so it's a treat to find anything but a slice of iceberg for your ensalada.
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| Tuna on real LETTUCE! |
An hours feet-up rest back at the hotel and we are ready again to tour the Cathedral.
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| Awesome ceilings |
I'm sharing just a few images from the Cathedral. It is literally overwhelming visually and mentally. One is compelled to gaze at the ceilings but there is so much to see it is neck numbing.
One of my favorites is the tomb of Christopher Columbus carried by the four regions of Spain.
Then there are the organs (yes, multiple, this is just one!
Finally, as I was exiting, I saw a familiar face. Remember Ronda? This is another a
statue of St. Angela de la Cruz. She makes me calm and happy.
Good night.
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