Well, we made it. Barely. For the first time in our travels, we actually RAN from gate to gate this morning in Madrid to catch our flight to Sevilla. Oddly, the flight from Chicago to Madrid landed only 14 minutes late and the gate agent told us we'd missed the flight (although it wasn't scheduled to depart for another 30 minutes) and we would be rescheduled on the next available flight...at 6:30 tonight). That wasn't going to work for us, so she told us we could try RUNNING, but we still wouldn't make it. We love a challenge...so, off we ran--shades of OJ (without the murder of an ex-wife and her male companion). I'm not talking a mild fast walk/jog. I'm talking full bore racing--the likes of which the two of us haven't done in decades. The first hurdle--passport control. We were the first two passengers from our flight to arrive and not a soul was ahead of us...we were through in less than 10 seconds. That was followed by a race to the tram that would take us to the next terminal. We were crestfallen at the sound of the 'doors are closing' chimes. Fortunately, another tram would arrive in 4 minutes. That was four minutes for the sweat to begin soaking through the clothes that we'd been in for a day. At the departure terminal we had to, of course, go through screening again. They were champs. After that, a bolt to the departure gate (as always, the furthest from where we were). We arrive at the gate and the door is closed. The plane is there, but they've marked 'departed' on the screen. I don't know if it was the sight of two sweating guys near sixty or the fear of having to listen to more of my horrid Spanish, but they opened the gate door and the jet door. We'd made it. Sure, we suffered the inevitable eye-rolls from those already seated, but they seemed to have pity on the two guys who appeared to have just stepped out of a sauna--both toting too much luggage.
We've only taken a cursory walk around the 'hood and had a light bite. We're in Santa Cruz(the old Jewish quarter) at a charming little hotel. The view from the room balcony makes it seem like the cathedral is on top of us. I'll post some pics later (after a well-earned siesta).
The cathedral and La Giralda
Sure, the carriages are charming. Imagine the clomping hours on end.
Gorgeous!
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