The other night over tapas, Tomas told Susana and me that the marathon expo was too far to walk and that we should take the metro – it would be no more than 15 minutes.
I walked.
It wasn’t because I was cheap – it was because I’m a runner. And walking the city seemed like an opportunity to see other things along the way. And I didn’t have anything else on my agenda.
So I walked.
It took about an hour which didn’t seem too bad to me.
The expo was held at the Palacio Congresos y Exposiciones de Sevilla, also known as FIBES. How they got FIBES out of that name I’m not entirely clear on but a quick google search returns THIS:
The Conference and Exhibition Centre of Seville (Spanish: Palacio de Congresos y Exposiciones de Sevilla), usually referred to as FIBES or Fibes, is a conference and exhibition centre in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. The centre consists of two buildings, FIBES I and FIBES II, which are connected by a footbridge. – Wikipedia
When picking up my bib, after telling them my number and the volunteer finding the bib, she asked for my ID… and I pointed to my jacket. Worked ok.
The expo itself was your typical “come run our marathon” and “come buy the latest running gear” with the occasional “check out this snake oil… er, nutritional wonderfood!” I was adrift though as it was all in Spanish… as it should be. When vendors started talking to me and I said the one phrase in Spanish I’ve mastered, “Lo siento… mi espanol is muy mal. Has mas anos de estudiar.” [Translation… I *think*… “I’m sorry… my Spanish is terrible. It’s been many years since I studied.”] They would smile and take back whatever literature or demo they had handed me. The only one I really regretted was the Hop On Hop Off Bus pen and t-shirt. But that booth did tell me I could get a free ticket on the bus… not here but if I went to the main shop in the City Center. So that’s what I’ll do on Saturday.
Funny story – I bumped into Susana from my tapas tour. I was walking out and she was walking in. All we kept talking about were glory days – food gone in a wink of an eye.
We parted ways and I hoofed it back to the City Center to get my free Hop On Hope Off bus ticket. But first I wandered past the El Cid statue. I felt it lacked the chiseled gravitas of Chuck Heston.
It’s low season in Sevilla because I guess it’s currently their 2-3 weeks of winter. That means the morning is slightly brisk at 55 degrees Fahrenheit but when the sun rises it’s a very pleasant 70 degrees. It’s bright and cheery. And there aren’t a lot of tourists walking about (though still too many for my tastes… I guess I’m looking for more of a Post-Apocalypse kind of crowd). I made my way to the Plaza de España. Once again, we go to the internet:
The Plaza de España is a plaza in the Parque de María Luisa, in Seville, Spain, built in 1928 for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929. It is a landmark example of the Regionalism Architecture, mixing elements of the Baroque Revival, Renaissance Revival and Moorish Revival styles of Spanish architecture. – Wikipedia
Gosh, it was a wonder to behold. Again, with it being not so crowded, one could just… be… in the open plaza. There were boats you could rent to row around the roaring 20s designed lazy river. A flamenco exhibition busker team had set up a performance under one of the acoustically marvelous archways. Elsewhere a guy with a saxophone and a gal singer were crooning a medley that veered from “Beauty and the Beast” to “My Way.” Horse drawn carriages and SegWays circled the fountain. And I decided to sit a spell and read a book in the sun. It most assuredly did not suck (the place… it’s too early to tell on the book).
I felt a little guilty about siestaing with a book or a tv show instead of seeing more and more local sights. I texted my brother at dinner saying as much: “I’m both enjoying and not enjoying Sevilla. It would be more fun with somebody else but I’m a tough traveling companion. I’m feeling a little guilty not touring more as I’m sitting outside having gorged myself on more tapas, drinking another glass of wine which is cheaper than water and reading a book. But there’s only so much history you can absorb, ya know?”
And so why not go all in and slothful and gluttonous and cap the night with gelato? I even splurged, paying an extra euro for the two scoop cup. Belgian Chocolate and Kinder if you’re looking for the flavor profile:
Hey, look — a cartoon-y filter!
Man… I really need to start thinking about this race. I guess Sunday is still two days away… well, a day and a wake-up. I bet Susana is all set.