The Guadalquivirthe river that the Arabs baptized as “great”, was navigable until Córdoba in Roman times, when Baetica was not a fan of Triana but a province of the empire. Navigation was then restricted until Sevillawhich is no small thing, more than 90 kilometers upriver from Sanlucar de Barrameda to the dock of Delights. A river show like no other in Spain, with a draft of about seven meters and a capacity to accommodate cruise ships of up to 25,000 tons.
It is true, however, that browsing the Guadalquivir “It is marked by the tidal regime”, as can be read on the port authority’s website, “so that ships pass through the canal coinciding with high tide and use the tides in order to take advantage of the water level supplementary”. After a detailed study, I have been able to find out that the largest cruise ship that has reached Sevilla it was about 200 meters long and could carry about 24,000 tons. It does not give for more. That is to say, in Seville those enormities that dock in Barcelona between environmental protests. And much less the “Wonder of the seas”, with a length of 362 meters and a total weight of 240,000 tons.
I delight you with this aquatic information because after watching the match of the Sanchez Pijuan (at dawn, on a delayed basis, of course, and without knowing the result, which is a very strange way to watch a game) I remembered the friend’s headline Mark Lopez in EL PERIÓDICO on Saturday: “Xavi’s Transatlantic”. Certainly, that of terrace he is the captain of something very similar to a “wonder of the seas”, capable of sailing through stormy oceans and destined for long heroic voyages, such as the Nao Victory of Magellan, that started from Sevilla for the first circumnavigation of the world. The Barça that has emerged from the summer market has the traces (draft and length) of a ship that defies the winds and storms and that maintains its course towards the port of football happiness. But in Seville, those cruise ships cannot enter. And, in addition, Barça still lacks some touches of buoyancy and maritime reliability.
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In Seville we saw more of an outboard boat, a fast ship that crashes into the waves and overcomes them with rams, than the flagship that glides powerfully and without hesitation. Barça took advantage of the high tide to enter the Pizjuan. And the high tide has the name of a maritime bird, that Gavi who got tired of running and stealing, like seagulls do when they fly over a fishing boat, without giving up, cutting, assisting, battling until exhaustion (or ramps, which come to the same thing). And also with a veteran pirate who, upon boarding, assaulted the battered ship of the Sevilla to point out the waterway where the shipwreck was to begin, with the help of young boys who guarded the stern. We are not yet a transatlantic, Marcosbut we will be.