Amy
100+ Posts
We flew Boston-MadridSeville on Iberia PremiumEconomy. Twelve hours in transit in a N95 mask isn’t the most comfortable, but after a while I didn’t notice it much. Most people in the airports were masked to some extent, although I did see some noses, tiny cloth masks, and bare faces sitting next to long emptied coffee cups. Our flight to Madrid was half empty, but the short connection to Seville was packed.
In Andalusia the outdoor mask mandate was lifted the week we arrived. Everyone masks indoors. Outside it seemed to be 50-50, with us and most of the older folks continuing to mask on the street. Most people are wearing kn95’s or n95’s or a surgical mask. Very few foreign tourists right now in Seville, we saw more in Granada at the Alhambra. Spain’s vaccination rate of adults is very high, but lags in children. The case rates are going down, but Covid still lurks.
Many restaurants have outdoor tables, most with heat lamps. We mostly ate lunches outdoors, would only eat inside if seated at an open window and with decent distancing. Dinners at the apartment. Restaurants in Andalusia are no longer asking to see vaccination proof before entering, but were our first few days. Many are jam packed inside, we avoided those and were stringent about masking everywhere when near people. All taxis we’ve taken had masked drivers who had windows open.
Most sites require pre ticketing, so we did more focused pre planning than usual for sightseeing. At this time it’s easy to get tickets for major sites the day before.
We stayed in a very comfortable apartment in Seville, about a 10 minute walk north of the Cathedral. Lively residential neighborhood, convenient and safe. We did the usual things— the immense cathedral, the Alcazar, wandering the Triana neighborhood, the Fine Arts Museum, the enchanting Palacio de La Contesa de Lebrija, Plaza de Espana, the markets, wandering the barrio Santa Cruz. Also did a really fun tapas tour with Shawn of Azahar Tapas Tours. https://azahar-sevilla.com/sevilletapas/
Since our apartment came with parking, we rented a car instead of our previous plan of taking trains. We drove to the lovely seaside town of Cadiz to visit friends who are buying an apartment there, it’s a charming place. We drove to Cordoba, walked around and visited the Alcazar for the mosaics and garden. We took back roads to get to Granada, through beautiful hills of millions of olive trees.
In Granada we stayed in an apartment with a view of the cathedral. Since it was a weekend, Granada was very lively, and yes noisy. We enjoyed just walking around, popping into bars here and there for a drink and free tapa. We spent a very long time at the Nasrid Palaces at the Alhambra, a highlight for me.
Since getting a Covid test in Granada on a Sunday for our Monday flight home could have been problematic, we bought Qured antigen tests where they send you an antigen test kit you do while one of their video proctors observes. You then take a photo of the test strip with your passport and details, and upload it within 20 minutes for certification. No issues at the airports for our flights home, just an extra checkin in Madrid for Covid paperwork.
We are going to isolate for three days, then test to make sure we didn’t bring home an extra souvenir from the flight.
