The day started off early -- catch the bus at 6:30 AM. As we approached the bus we could feel that we were being transported to a different place. As we entered the bus, it was filled -- with 40 Italians seeking to find the heart of Spain in Seville. Since we did not speak Italian, it was hard to discern whether their comments were positive or negative -- but as we soon learned, they thought the bus was for "them" -- and no one else. Well, the American Tomba Tour was about to change that.
The bus sped out from the Marriott resort and headed down the road to Seville -- or so we thought. Several more stops and we are up to 50 people on the the bus -- the 40 Italians, 2 Americans, 1 Canadian (Aye), 4 Germans, 1 Columbian (Spanish/English speaking) and 2 Argentinians. So , we now had 20% leverage with the Italians.
So the tour guide proceeded to provide us "information updates" -- in -- you guessed it -- Italian, Spanish, German and an occasional smattering of "English". Joan and I then realized, that today was our day! -- we did not need Rosetta Stone -- we did not need language lessons -- we would pick up 3 languages in one day. Brilliant! Sort of.
We stopped about 1.5 hours into the trip for a "road break" and we spoke with Annabelle, the tour guide. We asked her about the "Italians". She grimaced. She said the Italians thought they had booked a "private" tour for their group only and as we and the other "non-Italians" joined the group, they proceeded to get their "Irish" up -- so the "words" on the bus were not kind and the Italians were not happy -- so what do you do with a group of irate Italians -- you ignore them, kinda.
We arrived in Seville at 11:15 AM -- note the time delta -- 4.5 hours of solid language lessons. Boy were we getting good.
The tour took us on a panoramic tour of the city sights by bus -- stopping at Plaza de Espana (they have a Plaza De Espana in every Spanish city) and finally dropping us off for a walking tour through Santa Cruz (the old Jewish quarter) and a visit to Santa Maria -- the 3rd largest Catholic Cathedral in the world behind St Peter's Basilica in Rome and St Paul's in London.
As we walked through the city, we were serenaded by a Spanish guitarist and we noticed a "lot" of women dressed in traditional Flamenco dresses, so we inquired. Well, luck have it, we were in Seville during a national holiday and festival of Flamenco! Take a look at the pictures. A video will be posted shortly.
Once we completed the "Tour of Seville", we got back on the "Little Italy" bus and headed back to Marbella. Minutes turned into hours and hours turned into days. It seemed like we were stuck in a time warp, and not a good one. Eventually, the tour came to an end and we never thought we would be so glad to say "Arrivedercci Seville".
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