After a minor (almost big) ordeal, I am in Lisbon. It has taken me three hours to find a place with internet access. This is an old city. As far as I can tell (and this isn't a bad thing), there isn't a Starbucks in the whole town. Plus, I've only seen one, ONE McDonalds! For some reason, I find this extraordinary. Trying to find an internet-capable cafe here has been like trying to findThe robustness of public transportation in Europe has not been exaggerated. I was able to take a train from Madrid to Sevilla (distance approximately 330mi) round-trip for less than it would cost to take the Acela from NYC to D.C.(225mi) and in less time. That's a damned shame, America.
The train ride was quite pleasant. There was even a movie, Flash of Genius with Greg Kinnear. I didn’t listen but how many scenes can one take of Greg Kinnear looking forlornly at cars passing by using his "intermittent windshield wipers"-idea the Big Three purloined from him? The answer: one. The plot makes for a great wikipedia entry, but a feature length film? Not so much. But I digress.
I arrived in Sevilla after a smooth two-and-a half hour train ride. I spent an hour wandering around what I assumed to be the city's residential area. I hadn’t bothered doing much recon. That would have been antithetical to the spirit of "winging it". Plus if I found myself pressed for time, I could always ask somebody.
The dedication to public transportation including the accommodation of cyclists, is admirable. I can see NYC adopting some of these measures. We’ve already increased the amount of bike lanes back home. Now if Bloomberg can resurrect congestion pricing and the MTA can pull itself from the brink of insolvency, we might continue to see progress. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of cars on the streets here. Mostly compacts, with a few mid-size sedans peppered throughout. What I don’t see are SUVs. Not a one. Not even so much as a Range Rover.
After wandering a bit I came across a bridge/overpass at the apex of which I could see what looked like a minaret. I kept walking and eventually came to the tourist section of Sevilla. A mix of cobblestone streets and narrow alleyways spread out before me. Negotiating the windy passageways was fascinating, because people actually lived there. There were all kinds tell-tale signs like laundry hanging from clotheslines, open windows and what I assumed were "For Rent"-signs. The neighborhood was chocked full of restaurants and souvenir shops literally around every corner. It was a perfectly balmy day; high sixties, low seventies maybe. Turns out I came at the best time of year.
I eventually stumbled upon Catedral de Santa María de la Sede. The level of detail is impressive to say the least. Unfortunately, I couldn't go inside due to renovations being done. On a side note, I allowed myself to get hustled out of a few euros by some gypsies selling palm readings. I didn't feel too bad, because I had spent so little on my trip so far. Plus, she had really poor dental health, so maybe my handful of euros will help correct that. 
The other buildings were as impressive as I head been lead to believe. A seamless mix of Islamic, Christian and Spanish architecture. However, and this seems to happen often with me, I wasn’t blown away. I blame this squarely on the continued improvements in photography and the ubiquity of great photography on the internet. Even if I haven’t sought them out, I have seen these pictures or images quite similar literally thousands of times.
Imagine traveling in the late 1700’s or early nineteenth century. All you had was word of mouth. Descriptions were all orally communicated. Obviously I wouldn’t want to be traveling in the nineteenth century (my people did quite a bit of it back then; all one-way), but I envy the sense of discovery travelers must have felt. All that’s gone now.
It seems as if almost everything on Earth, even at the depths of the ocean, has been photographed a million times and those images disseminated and viewed exponentially. This has been a blessing for the millions of people who are unable or unwilling to seek out these places in person, but it has been a curse for those with any sense of adventure (perhaps this overstates the case--it’s been a curse for me, inveterate internet surfer that I am).
My emotional response to seeing the "exotic" borders on anhedonic. I feel like if I were able to travel in space and see like Jupiter up close, I'd say, "Yeah, that's Jupiter. Just like those Hubbell pics. Yup...can we go home now?" Oh don't be such a jaded bastard, you prick--I have to remind myself.
So I don’t fancy being a photo-documenting turista so much. If I had my druthers, I'd delve into a bit of urban anthropology. I would rather sit at a café and engage the locals about politics and world events, but my inability to speak the language pretty much seals off that avenue. I want to take Spanish when I return to the states. I want to at least be able to use more than the handful of Spanish words I learned in my formative years watching Sesame Street (Big Bird taught me how to ask for water in espanol: “Agua, por favor”). End digression...
Looking at some of the other places in Andalucia, I realize I could spend an entire season here and see something new each day. I’d love to visit Granada, Malaga, Cordoba and Cadiz, not to mention Bilbao or Pamplona up north. And everything's so easy to get to...
2 comments:
no food notes? what, did you prepare 50 pb&j's before you left?
There's a pretty brilliant old essay by Walter Benjamin, "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" you should read about how the ease of reproducing images has transformed our relationship to art. I'll stick it in your hands when you get back.
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