This morning at breakfast in the hotel, I met four of the
six cyclists who will be my companions for the next 11 days. It turns out that
we were on the same plane in from Madrid on Thursday. We compared notes on what
we had done in the last day and a half, and on their recommendation, I headed
for the Cathedral this morning. It opens at 11, and I was in line (a very long
line) by 10:25. By 11:25, I was in the Cathedral and (per their suggestion)
headed first for the Giralda (tower).
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| View from the Giralda (toward the Alcazar) |
The Cathedral was originally a mosque, and the tower was
originally the minaret. The ascent is made via a series of thirty five ramps,
designed to allow access by horses and mules. There are no steps until the very
end. There were several people pushing baby strollers up the ramps, and even
one motorized wheel chair. The views from the top were great, with wonderful
sunshine.
Back inside the Cathedral proper, I visited the tomb of
Christopher Columbus and did a quick walkthrough of the remainder of the
interior. In terms of volume, the Cathedral is the largest in the world. Then
it was back to the hotel for our 2pm kickoff meeting.
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| Tomb of Columbus |
At 2pm we had a short welcome meeting and then adjourned to
the courtyard for fitting our bikes. Fortunately, I remembered everything –
pedals, helmet, gloves, Garmin cycling computer, etc. The bike was similar to
the ones that I have had in the past with ExperiencePlus – a dutch-made
titanium frame bike with an ample gearing range (triple chain ring on the
front).
After fitting, we were off for a short test ride on some
excellent paved bike paths along the city streets. I covered some parts of the
city, including the beautiful Plaza de Espana that I had not seen before. The
weather was hot (about 85 degrees), and we can expect it to remain that way. I
imagine that the rain gear and arm warmers will remain in the suitcase. So, a
last minute to the blog and then we meet at seven for a short meeting before
heading off as a group for dinner.
Tomorrow we head for Constantina – about fifty miles.
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| Plaza de Espana |
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