Over the course of the night, it was hard to get comfortable in a different bed, with Ben snoring beside me. I was happy I brought my ear plugs with me. I had to get up three time to pee in the middle of the night. It was annoying. Early that morning, I heard Ray get up and leave to get gas for our trip to Spain. I eventually got up around 8:30, took a quick shower in their tiny shower, got dressed and then packed up the stuff I thought I would need for the short trip. Ben soon followed suit.
Brenda started making breakfast and I helped her with the toast. She made scrambled eggs with bacon bits and cheese. I finished the toast, peeled an orange and got out one of my yogurts I had purchased the night before to eat with breakfast. I have gotten so used to eating yogurt with my breakfast after changing my diet four years ago.
We dished up and ate at the dining room table. We chatted about the upcoming trip while eating some delicious food. Food is better in Europe. We helped Brenda clean up and put stuff away. We all made sure we had our stuff ready to take down to the car. We loaded it up the best we could for four people in a compact car, got in and headed to the highway east towards Spain. I never thought my first time to Spain was going to be in our friend's car.
Along the way we chatted about a plethora of topics. It was fun to chat about the things that have gone on in our lives since the last time we hung out with them, which was over a year ago. We watched the landscape change as we got closer to the border of Portugal and Spain. It took us about 2.5 hours to get to the border where we drove over a bridge across the Rio Guadiana. The border between Portugal and Spain was not guarded by border control or border crossing nor did we have to stop and show anyone our passport. I was not used to this. We also went an hour ahead when we crossed over into Spain. We were now 9 hours ahead of home.
When we got into Seville, we got turned around on the freeways because of the roundabouts and Ray's GPS was not liking them and would direct us to the wrong lane. After some discussions and figuring out where to go, we finally were on the correct route to Hotel Ilunion. We parked, went inside and checked in. We had a heck of a time trying to find our rooms. It was confusing because they used blocks instead of floors to organize the hotel layout.
We got settled in and noticed our hotel in Spain had a bidet. I wrote in my journal for a little bit while Ray figured out an Uber to get us down to the Plaza.
We got our Uber appointment and went down to the lobby to wait for them. I noticed that Mexican Spanish, Spain Spanish and Portuguese are similar but definitely not the same. I was able to read some of the signs. Ray got a notification that our driver changed and that they were almost to the hotel to pick us up. We went outside so we would be seen by the driver. A gal in a black car rolled up and we verified our info with her, and she took us down to the Plaza. It took about 15-20 minutes through a little bit of traffic. She dropped us off at the cul-de-sac in front of the gates to the Plaza. We thanked her for the ride and went inside.
We oriented ourselves and noticed a park, named Maria Luisa, next to the Plaza. I checked my geocaching app and saw there was a geocache less than 100 feet from where we were standing. Of course, we went to grab it. Ben ended up finding Lejos y entre los Arboles (GCA6AUA). We got our names on it and put it back without causing attention to ourselves.
We spent the next hour or so exploring the Plaza.
Plaza de Espana is a grand, semi-circular plaza built for the 1929 Ibero-American Exposition, showcasing a mix of Spanish Renaissance, Baroque Revival and Moorish Revival architecture with intricate tilework, canals and bridges.
Designed by Anibal Gonzalez, it features 48 tiles alcoves representing Spain's provinces, a central fountain and a canal where visitors can rent rowboats, all located within Maria Luisa Park. The plaza is a major landmark, used for events, filming and is known for its studding visuals and cultural significance. Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and Star Wars: Episode II (2002) were filmed at the plaza.
We found a virtual cache, Plaza de Espana (GC890WG), two earthcaches, Marmol en la Plaza de Espana (GCAEH94) and Fosiles en la Plaza de Espana (GCAERQB). Then we spent some time working on the five waypoint Adventure Lab throughout the adjacent park. We had to translate the information from Portuguese into English so we could answer them on our phones.
It was about that time - when we started getting hungry. We left the Plaza to go search for some food. There weren't any places close enough or had gluten free food. Most of the restaurants in the immediate area were expensive. We did find a place behind the university but ultimately decided it wasn't a good choice for Ben. It was typical bar food - too bready. We really didn't want to make him sick.
Collectively, we decided to hail an Uber back to the hotel. A guy picked us up in front of the museum and took us back to our hotel on the hill. It didn't take long to get back. Once we got back inside of the hotel, we asked when dinner was going to be served at the restaurant. She said 8:00 p.m., but never said we needed to have reservations. We waited in the lobby like fools. Once the clock reached 8, we walked over to the restaurant, and we were told we needed reservations. Why didn't the front desk clerk tell us that?
So, we had to order something from Uber eats - the closest, open restaurant was a Mexican restaurant not too far from the hotel. Most Mexican food is generally gluten free, so we were safe. I got a burrito, Ben got nachos, Ray got a quesadilla and Brenda also got nachos. While we waited for our food, which seemed like forever because we were hungry, we found out the bar served food. Why didn't the front desk clerk suggest that when we asked about food? We will never know.
We went back to our rooms and waiting for our food to be delivered. About a half hour later, it was delivered and it was subpar. At least it was food because we were starving.
We watched 5 on 5 soccer on the TV while we ate. We checked in with Trish for a little bit and let her know how we were doing in Spain. Ben took an hour-long bath and then I got cleaned up. I worked on my post and finished up my journal entry for the day. We chatted with Brenda and Ray about the next day's activities and when we were leaving in the morning.
We went to bed just before midnight. I still couldn't believe we were in Spain!
Next Adventure: Honeymoon: Euro Trip - Day 6
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