7.5 weeks before this trip, I took a plastic toy snake named Steve with me to Indianapolis to send my nephew pictures of his adventures traveling since I was missing a birthday party.
5 weeks before this trip, I impulse bought super cheap tickets to Madrid while totally paying attention in class like a good student.
So, Steve and I are off to Spain because why not?
Travel and Cordoba
We’re a little delirious from what is apparently almost 24 hours of being awake/travel (about 6 of which in an airport involved writing a paper for class). So, time for you to be subjected to all of it, too. But then Steve spent the better part of two days his adventures in Córdoba.
Waiting for Uber to take us to the airport.
Description: Selfie of William with a red plastic toy snake sitting on his shoulder.
Looking out the window on Flight 1 when we got upgraded to an exit row.
Description: a red plastic toy snake sitting on a khaki-panted knee in front of an airplane window.
Waiting for the plane to get arrive at the gate in Charlotte.
Description: a red plastic toy snake sitting on the window sill overlooking an airport plane loading zone.
Steve really wanted his complementary ginger ale and cookies.
Description: a red plastic toy snake sitting in the cup holder of an airplane seat back tray.
Not happy about the mass of people waiting to board the transatlantic flight
Description: a red plastic toy snake sitting on a sketchy dry skin looking hand in front of a crowd of people in an airport
Steve was very concerned about our flight progress.
Description: a red plastic toy snake sitting on that sketchy palm again, staring at an airplane seat back flight tracker.
They actually let us in the country
Description: selfie of William with a red plastic toy snake on his shoulder, making a slightly self-assured duck face in amazement at how easy getting through border control was.
Steve is unsure about train travel
Description: a red plastic toy snake sitting on that sketchy palm looking at the Renfe train they’re about to get on in Atocha, headed south.
Steve was happy about our seats, until some guy with a ticket came and stole his.
Description: a red plastic toy snake sitting on a grey train seat.
Steve was wondering just when the train would leave the station.
Description: a red plastic toy snake propped on a train window sill by two fingers, looking across the platform at another train that is also just sitting there
Steve needed to rest in the park after getting off the train.
Description: a red plastic toy snake rests on the top corner of a semi-circular concrete bench that is along its length covered in blue and white tiles.
Steve enjoyed the Court of Oranges.
Description: a red plastic toy snake nestled in the leaves and fruit of an orange tree.
Steve was very respectful in Mezquita and did not go anywhere except my shoulder. We both did shed tears at finally getting to visit, though.
Description: a red plastic toy snake sitting on William’s shoulder with the red and white arches of Mezquita in the background
Steve stopped to smell the roses in the Alcazar gardens after sleeping in my pocket through the whole building
Description: a red plastic toy snake curled on a black metal trellis next to red rose blooms
Steve was barely functional by noon when he enjoyed his first café con leche in country.
Description: a red plastic toy snake looming over a cup of café con leche.
Steve was very interested in the documentary screening in the Roman theatre foundations in the Archeological Museum of Cordoba.
Description: a red plastic toy snake sits on a railing above dimly lit stone foundations in an archeological site with a bright video screen in the background.
Steve wanted to have his picture taken with Romulus.
Description: a red plastic toy snake sitting on the carved folds of cloth in the outfit of a marble statue of Romulus, sans the statue’s original head, arms, or legs.
Steve was mad that he was relegated to the bread at lunch and none of the tortilla or salad.
Description: a red plastic toy snake sitting in a woven basket next to the remaining end piece of a small piece of bed and utensils in their wrapper.
Sevilla
Steve spent far too long wandering through the Cathedral and Royal Alcázar in Seville – he took so many pictures my phone died and he’s lucky I remembered the 3/4 mile walk back to the hostel.
Steve thought the statue of Ferdinand III was a bit much for a saint.
Description: a red plastic toy snake sitting on top of a chain next to a post, looking up at a large equestrian statue on a tall column.
Steve was a little scared to get too close to the edge while looking at the Seville skyline from the top of Giralda.
Description: a red plastic toy snake in the immediate foreground on a stone sill with a blurred skyline view of a city far below.
Apparently Steve has a thing for bells?
Description: a red plastic toy snake sitting on William’s left shoulder with a series of bells in the air above them suspended along a walkway at the top of a tower.
Steve likes some exterior Gothic decoration as much as I do.
Description: a red plastic toy snake in the dark foreground wrapped around diamond-shaped safety screen on a balcony overlooking windows and rooftop crenellations of a Gothic church.
Steve was heard to mutter such things as “colonizer”, “brigand”, and “bad at math lazy geographer” upon sighting Columbus’ tomb.
Description: a red plastic toy snake in a scaly dry looking hand in the foreground looking up at a tomb held by 4 human statues.
Steve loves him some Gothic ribbed vaults.
Description: a red plastic toy snake blurry in a hand in the foreground with a Gothic ribbed vault aisle receding into the background.
Apparently orange trees outside of historic buildings are one of Steve’s favorite places to rest.
Description: a red plastic toy snake hanging on a limb stump of an orange tree with clusters of oranges in the middle ground and the façade of the Seville Cathedral in the background.
Steve found the ducks in the Alcazar gardens a bit much for him, but definitely better than the peacocks.
Description: a red plastic toy snake sitting on top of a hedge with a decorative grotto in a fountain in the background with some ducks in and around the water on the right.
Steve got lost in the maze garden and had to be rescued.
Description: a red plastic toy snake sitting on a hedge bush leading down an aisle in a hedge maze.
Steve had to take a break on the sill while tried walking in the Galería de los Grutescos.
Description: a red plastic toy snake sitting on a sill immediately in front of some blue border tiles and overlooking linear gardens with receding lines of tall, shaped evergreens.
Apparently Steve is a fan of tapestries of battles, like the capture of Tunis.
Description: a red plastic toy snake sitting on a shoulder in front of the tapestry of the shelling and capture of La Goulette.
Steve thought the Hall of Ambassadors was pretty fancy (he was right, at least as far as the decoration went.)
Description: a red plastic toy snake sitting on William’s shoulder in front of richly decorated carved mosaic walls. A balcony is in the upper center of the photo.
Gibraltar
Steve insisted we make it to Gibraltar, both for the phone of walking across the border that the Spanish hate and to sit at the top of the Rock and imagine the naval battle scenes from Master and Commander. He survived near motion sickness on a bus curving along the coastal hills to make it there, and while he did hike the Rock, the monkeys concerned him at points.
Steve was ready for this bus trip to La Linea so we could walk across the border to Gibraltar.
Description: a red plastic toy snake on a bus window will with blurred busses in the background.
Steve thought the Cadizian countryside was pretty but his stomach was a little queasy at this point, which only got worse once we hit the hills on the coast.
Description: a red plastic toy snake on a bus sill window looking out over the highway in the foreground, rolling fields in the middle ground, and small foothills for the approaching mountains in the background.
Steve got his first look at the Rock.
Description: a red plastic toy snake looking across a parking lot at the Rock of Gibraltar in the background.
Steve patiently waiting for the hostel owners who are siestaing to get back.
Description: a red plastic toy snake sitting on a patio table looking at a locked front door.
Steve cannot resist climbing a good tower, and the Moorish Tower gave good views of Gibraltar city.
Description: a red toy plastic snake sitting on a concrete wall overlooking the Gibraltar city and the Bay of Algeciras.
On spotting his first Barbary macaque, Steve couldn’t decide whether this one was a sentry watching for Spanish invasion or a philosopher monkey.
Description: a red toy plastic snake sitting on a diagonal stone wall stretch with a Barbary macaque in the left background with the blue water of the Bay of Algeciras blending in with the sky on the right.
Steve made it to the summit of the Rock.
Description: a red toy plastic snake sitting on top of a rock looking on the Straight of Gibraltar with a green tree shrub in the middle ground.
Getting ready to hike down the Mediterranean steps, Steve made jokes about how these two macaques may have been good at picking bugs but were terrible sentries.
Description: a red toy plastic snake looking over the Mediterranean on a rock with two golden macaques checking each other for bugs on the left.
Despite eating so many fish and chips after the hike yesterday, Steve insisted on a full English breakfast this morning.
Description: a red toy plastic snake sitting on a black table next to a cup of tea on one side and a plate with toast, eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, potatoes, sausages, and beans on another side.
Granada
Some of us took naps, but Steve insisted on watching the Granadan provincial countryside roll by.
Description: a red toy plastic snake sitting on a train window sill with blurred lines of olive tree seen in the background.