Goodbye Lisboa (well yes, I think I should call it by the name those who live there call it. Maybe. When I remember.), hello …

SEVILLA!

We had a car scheduled to pick us up at 5:00 AM for our 7:25 flight, since we just weren’t sure what the airport was like or how early we should be there. I think we could have arrived maybe 30 minutes later, but I love being early so I was happy to wake, quickly dress, and get our car. (We packed all but pjs and toiletries the night before so the packing was quite speedy). I only shot one photo on the drive … just had to get something of the graffiti mostly just to post something from the morning and nothing else was interesting on the drive.

We had had the opportunity to bid on an upgrade for our TAP flight and we went for it, because it would allow us to do all carryon. Had we not upgraded our packs would have had to be checked, and we are not all that excited about waiting for luggage (we DID check the packs on our Lufthansa flight, only to notice people were bringing their larger bags on the plane despite the carryon specifications that would have nixed them … oh well). Because we got the upgrade we also were able to use the lounge. It was quiet, close to empty, and we could grab breakfast there.

And then the flight. It was funny: there were six seats in the “executive area” and only Dan and I were there. The flight was SO short, but still they served us breakfast (first closing the curtain so everyone in the economy section were separated from the two of us. I have uncomfortable feelings about that, but so it goes. (But how crazy that we get the lounge, where we can grab breakfast, and THEN we also get the breakfast on the plane.)

And suddenly we are in Sevilla. A driver met us at the airport (costly, but we did find out we needed him!), and he got us nearly to our lodging. He stopped the car at a dead end and said, “Now we walk.” He grabbed one of my bags and headed out … alley … alley … narrow alley … I highly doubt we’d have found our wonderful lodging without him! We will definitely have to drop a pin to get back here. But it’s rather magical … very private … very pretty, too

We assumed we’d have to leave luggage and return since it was only a bit after 10:00, but no, the man who met us at the hotel said our room was actually ready. IF we’d had the room I signed up for, though, we would have had to wait.

Why did we not get the room I reserved, you ask? (I knew you’d ask that!)

WELLLLLL … apparently when I filled out the form to check in ahead of time (two days ago it arrived in an email) I put my birthdate down wrong. I have NO clue how it happened, but I said I was born in 1928! When the guy saw my age he said he thought, “I can’t possibly make her go to the first floor!” so he upgraded our room to the ground floor for free. Honestly! When he saw me he laughed. But hey, I look pretty darn good for a 95 year old, right? He said he’s going to have to try that when he travels — to see if he gets an upgrade if he makes himself pretty darn old. Heh. I promise I won’t do this deliberately, but I’m grateful for the beautiful room. And I’m not a person who normally does baths, but I think I just might have to give this one a go!

Right outside our door is the eating area where breakfast is served (which we did not purchase (I just can’t see spending €14 for breakfast), but we have a coupon for a free coffee there or some such thing, and I’ll bet we enjoy an afternoon drink at some point. The second image below is looking at the door to our room.

Dan is resting up — waking up so early kind of knocked us out a bit — and I’m not sure what we have in store for today, but I can tell you it is supposed to be killer hot. The prediction is 105° at 6:00 PM. And there is bad air here, too. I suspect this city is an “early in the morning” and “later in the evening” kind of place for venturing out a lot, but tomorrow we have a 10:00 ticket for Alcázar of Seville, and a 3:00 ticket for the Catedral de Sevilla. I did read that the church will be on the cooler (temperature, that is) side even in the afternoon … here’s hoping!

But now off we go … it’s 11:38 and we know that it’s only going to get hotter. Maybe I’ll take a video of how we get back to this place and share it. Time will tell.

Not proof reading this … excuse any mistakes!