“It’s not where you go or what you do. It’s who you go forth with.” – Old Sean
A Shockingly Short Moment in Paris
Once again, it’s time to make a journey. In this particular case, I’m flying with my friend Thor for an extended trip through Europe. We’ll be beginning in Sevilla, Spain with a long, looping drive eventually reaching Paris.
The flight over the ocean was, sadly, on the uncomfortable side. I’m certain I’m getting fatter as I simply don’t fit into these chairs anymore. We were at the back of plane essentially watching Godzilla movies the entire time. This was largely because the audio on flights is so bad it’s virtually impossible to watch anything without subtitles.
Somewhat humorously, our trip began where it would eventually end. We started in Paris, where we had a six hour layover. Originally, Thor and I had considered buying a ticket into the city to catch a glimpse of some of the more beloved green spaces in the City of Lights. But either the Olympic prices were still resounding or we were looking at the wrong tickets,. At the purchase machine, we were asked to spend a whopping thirty euros to take a trip into the city.
We opted for a far cheaper pass, but it meant the only place we could visit was Parc des Expositions de Villepinte. We did so, walking around with all our luggage in crisp, overcast fall weather. We didn’t do much beyond enjoy a few sandwiches before leaving back towards the airport.
Narrow Ticket
Upon finally arriving in Seville, Thor and I picked up the rental car, a Volkswagen Golf. This proved to be a tricky little vehicle as it had one of the least intuitive interfaces I’ve seen in a while. The poor thing constantly beeped at every corner and approaching object. There was no back cam and the trunk didn’t open to help prevent theft. Maps, navigation and self-correction features were often overwhelmed by a useless warning system.
It wasn’t a bad car, per se, but it was a finicky one. But regardless, it was ours for the next few months. I suspect that rental companies get good deals on cars that are functionally useful but have quirks that make them unpleasant to drive.
Regardless, it was nice to finally be off the plane. We quickly drove into Seville proper where we were granted to an age-old reality. Driving in Spain is an exercise in tiny roads.
As always, bikes and pedestrians made driving a slow process. Parking is fairly scarce but manageable. Thor and I parked our car and took the hike back to our hotel to drop off our luggage. Afterwards, we had our first Spanish meal consisting of ox tail, planning to return to the car to move it to a more permanent overnight parking location.
However, when we walked outside, a ticket officer was writing us a citation. Confused, we asked why and pointed to the ticket in our window we’d gotten from the parking meter.
The ticket officer, quite briskly, told us we hadn’t purchased a parking space ticket at all. Indeed, on closer inspection, it was clear our paper said “compra cancelada.” The machine had spat out a ticket basically saying that our payment hadn’t gone through.
Embarrassing. But instead of facing a ticket on our first hour in town, the officer took pity on us, had us purchase another ticket and told us we could stay parked overnight.
Bless Spain and their exasperation of tourists. That was right kind of him.
Sunset Strides
After our near miss, Thor and I made a point of wandering through the rest of the city, striking out towards the river to overlook the sunset. We managed to pass a multitude of sights in the late evening including Fuente Farola, La Giralda, the Sevilla Cathedral containing Tumba de Cristobal Colon (though we were too late to go inside), Plaza del Triunfo, Plaza de Toros de la Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla, Paseo del Rio Guadalquivir, Torre del Oro and other portions along the canal.
Everywhere we walked, there were plenty of joggers, sweeping colors over the sky, small ducks and plodding dogs. We took a long loop around the canal area, stopping occasionally for gelato and other meals.
When we finally returned to our tiny hotel room, we attempted to fall asleep somewhat on schedule to mitigate our jet lag.
A Tourist’s Breakfast
The next morning, Thor and I walked down the street seeking out breakfast shops. This is somewhat more difficult than Americans might expect, as Spain doesn’t have an early-morning-meal culture. It’s very rare to find open restaurants before 10 AM or so.
Fortunately, Seville is well-acquainted with tourists, so there was a coffee shop which served an exceptionally healthy meal.
Eating out in Spain has a significant advantage when compared with dining in restaurants in the United States. Namely, it’s not only more affordable in Spain, but also more honest. Tax is included in the existing price, negating the need for surprise calculations. And there’s no tipping, which is one of the features I fundamentally hate about dining out in the US.
Tax and Tip Tangent
Feel free to skip the next portion. It has nothing to do with travel and more to do with my research when considering how the Us prices restaurant goods. I enjoyed learning about it, so I wrote it down.
To break this down, the United States uses VAT and sales tax independent of prices, meaning when someone buys a good, they need to pay an additional percent, which may vary between states.
For example, a product sold for $5 dollars in California would be taxed at 7.25% in 2024. This would result in an actual charge of $5.36 dollars. Meanwhile, in Texas, the same product would be taxed at 6.25%, making a purchase $5.31 dollars. In theory, this allows companies to price their products the same in all areas and deal with taxes individually by region. In reality, prices are subject to local wealth accrual, supply chain costs, price gouging and material availability. For example, buying a water bottle in New York City would likely cost more than buying the same water bottle in Hannibal Missouri.
The frustrating aspect of this practice means that every purchase in the United States results in an additional charge rather than the listed price. To be fair, there are decent pro-business reasons for this: US policies are concerned that having the tax embedded in a price would allow governing entities to increase tax rates without telling consumers, a practice that would be virtually indistinguishable from the consumer perspective when compared to other cost-raising measures, such as inflation. There’s also the issue to forcing businesses to calculate taxes on all products and services with their own accountants to collect price-embedded taxes when listing good costs, essentially equating into free labor for the government.
However, the end result is sneaky. When making a purchase, US citizens pay more than the price they’re quoted to accommodate sales tax and VAT. This too is a benefit to business, as a person may make a judgement to buy a $500 USD TV but be unwilling to purchase a $536.25 USD TV, which is the actual total cost.
The separation of surcharges like sales tax has a name in economics: partitioned pricing. This policy heavily favors business entities because they can list lower prices than the actual total cost, essentially pointing a finger at the government as the entity overcharging the individual. By listing lower prices, more sales are possible due to subjective valuing quirks in the human psyche.
But in the end, the result is frustrating in the United States, since most consumers aren’t doing direct calculations with every sale. They’re instead looking at a price, deciding if the product is worth it, then making (or not making) the purchase. The result, for the vast majority of consumers, is a higher-than-expected cost.
Obviously, I’m not a fan of sales tax as a general rule of thumb. It strains the financial resources of average citizens and places the highest tax burden on the poorest of citizens. If a person makes $1000 dollars a month and his neighbor makes $100 dollars a month, a 7% sales tax on groceries is a far greater strain on the resources of the lower earner. Logically, this prevents the lower earner from accruing wealth. Overall, sales tax doesn’t redistribute uneven wealth in a society, as much as it places the largest percentage burden on the lowest earners.
Plus, taxes are just a disappointing reality in general. The question of how much a society gets back from its collective taxes is often a question of corruption rather than calculations. Sadly, I’m fairly jaded on the question of how reliable a government is at spending money.
This tangent comes back to the basics. The European Union decides the tax rules for all nations that are within the international organization. The act of embedding taxes in prices is mandated by the EU government. This has the advantage of paying what’s listed and expected, rather than what’s calculated after the purchase.
While there are some pitfalls to the European method, the fact remains that it’s more convenient for the consumer. In an ideal world, companies would list the price they’re charging an object for, the included tax and the total all on the same ticket. In theory, this would have the highest level of transparency. In reality, I imagine businesses would write a lot of those numbers in criminally small print or embark in other skullduggery.
But, for my money, I generally prefer the European system. I like paying the amount listed on the board rather than the great one on my receipt.
That’s enough of a tangent for now, so I’ll skip out on my distaste for tipping in America as well. Suffice to say, I want to pay for the price listed. And Spain makes that a very pleasant proposition.
Plaza de España
After breakfast, I played the tour guide for a while walking through large swaths of Seville. We walked through Santa Cruz Street, attempted (and failed) to visit the Royal Alcázar of Seville, Salón de Embajadores, the Jardines del Prado de San Sebastián and the University of Seville.
But the real prize was, of course, Plaza de España, the most famed plaza in the city. It was built for the Ibero-American Exhibition of 1929, created by Aníbal González. The city is a sweeping curve of murals and towers with long hallways and an impressive central fountain. A canal loops the center and skilled violinists perform on echoing stairwells.
It began raining while we were here, but it was the warm, misting sort of rain I adore in Spain. Thor wasn’t nearly as interested in walking around in the weather, so he got the mini umbrella for the day.
Rainfall Museum
For the next few hours, Thor and I continued to wander Seville. We looped through Parque de María Luisa, the Jardines de las Delicias and back into the downtown area, where we tried hiding out from the downpour by visiting tapas bars.
Our attempts at evading the rain were a little pointless. Time was so limited in the city, I didn’t want to spend too much time hunkering down. We did spend a chunk of time at Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions, which was a surprisingly toasty visit as the humidity seemed to sit in the cellars of the building. But we got to see traditional goods, tools, crafts and metal- workings which were all quite interesting.
Unsheltered
For the rest of the afternoon, we elegantly dodged between raindrops continuing to check out other zones and locations. We spent a long chunk of time waving at cats along the canal.
We eventually worked out way north, stepping out of the rain for coffee and to purchase another umbrella. The real prize of the hike was the vast landmark Setas de Sevilla. This structure is a large, six large mushroom-shaped parasols made of crossed wood beams for a distinct landmark in the city. Below the structure is the Antiquarium, a subterranean archaeological museum which features impressive Roman house ruins, vibrant mosaics and plenty of pottery.
By the time Thor and I emerged again, the rain had ended, giving a clear walking path through the rest of the city.
The Rotating Church Door
Our next stop was the Convento San Leandro. Though it was a fair bit of walking, this site is a famous 13th-century convent. The structure is especially renowned for a traditional egg-yolk candies made by its resident nuns.
The ordering process is fun because nobody gets to see the nuns. Instead, visitors walk into a open plaza space and put money on a giant revolving wooden door, about waist-high. Within a few minutes, the door rotates back around, granting visitors several of the traditional candies.
The candies aren’t my favorite, to be honest. But the process of getting them is interesting enough to make it a nice activity.
Dining Avenues
Following our last bit of time walking around the city, Thor and I made our way to our evening restaurant, a place known as El Rinconcillo. The line was already well out the door by the time we arrived, but our reservations ensured us some speedy seating.
Upstairs, we were treated to a divine feast. I sometimes forget that food in Europe is often magnitudes better than what I’m accustomed to in the United States. We enjoyed roasted duck, seared fish, pitted olives, delicious wine, baskets of bread, cheesecake to commit murder for and a white port I’ll sing praise about for the rest of my days.
Once our meal was done, we made a final stop at a flemenco show, the same performance I visited last time I was in the country.
I’m well-pleased with the show, despite our admittedly not-fantastic seats. It was nice to get a sample of the local performing arts.
Finally, full, sated and exhausted, Thor and I returned to our hotel for a wind down period. Soon, the pair of us will head onwards, driving in our tiny vehicle towards Granada and the Alhambra.
Until then,
Best regards and excellent trails,
Old Sean
Written October 10th
A List of Attractions in Seville
