I got wheels

I picked up my bike today. It is a cute folding bike that I can take on buses and trains with me. I got a great deal. In Amsterdam I paid 24 Euros for a week (and they charged me a late fee because I thought a week was Monday to Monday). Here I am paying 90 Euros for a month and a half. It's about 2 Euros per day. Not bad.

I rode my bike through the crazy winding streets of the old city until I found Plaza Espana and then I rode around and checked out some of the sites I saw yesterday from the tour bus. There is a nice park there, but unfortunately, they do not allow bikes. There are some bike paths and when there aren't any, I rode on the street or the sidewalk. I got caught in a maze of pedestrian shopping streets that I don't think I was supposed to be on, but no one said anything. I found everyone, drivers and pedestrians to be very respectful (other cyclists were a slightly different story, but still no major problems).

I rode back to the Guadalquivir River that runs basically north to south along the edge of Sevilla and separates the old part of the city with the rest (where we went yesterday on the tour bus). To my surprise and delight, I found a lovely bike path that goes down along the river and took me all the way up to my part of town. My neighborhood is called the Macarena District and it used to be a working class suburb of Sevilla. Now it is actually quite central (it was something that was pointed out to me on my countryside bike tour in Amsterdam - that what used to be great distances in the horse and buggy days seem like nothing to us now).

My apartment is very near a square called the Alameda de Hercules. Apparently, Hercules was the founder of Sevilla more than 2,500 years ago. Well, that's what they told us on the tour bus yesterday. I haven't read that anywhere else.

But, Sevilla is supposed to be the oldest city in Europe. The Cartheginians, Phoenicians, Romans, and Moors all settled here and put their imprint on the place. I still have not found my comfort zone with the place yet but it was fun just getting on my bike and seeing where the crazy maze of streets took me. I'm sure after a month and a half I will get to know my way around quite well.

I just had a nice dinner of lentils and a beet salad and am about to go for an after dinner bike ride. Spaniards don't eat dinner until at least 10:30 (like those wacky Argentines), but I couldn't wait. It's 6:04 and it seems to me like it is a nice time to be finished with dinner and go for a ride.