EXOTERIC - Information Worth Sharing: ex·o·ter·ic
-adj
1. Not confined to an inner circle of disciples or initiates.
2. Comprehensible to or suited to the public; popular.
3. Of or relating to the outside; external.

I left San Diego on time. Fortunately, I wasn't flying on an American Airlines MD-80. My United Airlines flight was full and I had a middle seat near the back of the plane. We got to Chicago on time and then I did the long walk from Terminal 1 all the way to the end of Terminal 3. It has to be over a mile. Thankfully I had about a 3 hour layover, so no hurry. The Iberia flight to Madrid was late getting to the gate, and we took off over an hour late. My connecting flight in Madrid to Seville had only a hour layover, so I there was no way that I was going to make that flight.

The flight across to Madrid was pretty bumpy at times. I really tried to sleep on the flight, but my body was still on Pacific time and I really wasn't tired. I did manage to sleep a few hours. The flight wasn't very full and I had more room to stretch out.

The new international terminal in Madrid is huge. Another long walk to immigration and customs, 20 minutes to get through customs, then downstairs to catch an underground train to the domestic terminal. At the domestic terminal I had to go through another security check of my bags, then I started walking to the nearest Iberia customer service station to get checked in on the later flight to Seville. The flight's gate wasn't assigned yet when I got the boarding pass, so I had no idea which end of the terminal to head. They ended up putting the plane at the complete opposite end of the terminal, so I had to make another long walk. The Madrid terminal is one long building. This flight was also late taking off, but it was a quick 45 minute flight.

At the Seville airport I managed to find an ATM and get some Euros in order to get a taxi to the hotel. The hotel is fairly close to the airport and is right across the street from the convention center. Once at the hotel I unpacked and crashed for a couple of hours.

After I woke up I decided to get outside and walk around and try to help get my body on European time. I ended up finding the train station just a couple of blocks from the hotel, so I bought a ticket and took the train into the city. Seville has a big festival every April after Easter and it was in full swing on this Saturday evening. Lots of ladies and girls dressed up in their traditional dresses. I walked down to the Maria Luisa Park and had a good stroll through the beautiful gardens and the Plaza de Espana. I took lots of pictures and ended up down by the Cathedral and the Real Alcazar. Both were closed since it was getting late. The old city center of Seville is gorgeous.

Museo de Artes Y Costumbres Populares

Plaza de Espana

Catedral and Real Alcazar wall on right.

I was really getting hungry by this time (my last meal was on an airplane), so I had dinner at a small cafe and then walked back to the train station. Got back to the hotel at around 11:30pm.