In American sizing, San Geraldo usually wears a 14 (sometimes 13-1/2). That translates to a 48-1/2 or 49 in Spain. And that translates to very few pairs of shoes among all the shoe stores of Sevilla. When we first tried shopping for shoes here, sales people would laugh when we told them his size.
“Nothing in our store and not much in Southern Spain,” they’d say. “Maybe some more in Northern Spain. But you really should go to Germany or Scandinavia for shoes that big.”
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| FINALLY, IN THE PLAZA DE LA ENCARNACIÓN, A SHOE FOR SAN GERALDO. UNFORTUNATELY, THE LARGE SHOE IS ONLY AVAILABLE FOR THE RIGHT FOOT. |
Sevilla’s Foot Locker store’s in-stock sizes might go up to a maximum of 47 (my size, 11, translates to 45). They’ll order shoes for San Geraldo (which will ship from Germany), but he would have to pay in advance. Without trying them on. And even with the right size, San Geraldo has a high arch in the wrong place. He’s hard to fit.
The department store, El Corte Inglés, does have some shoes in large sizes. San Geraldo needed new sneakers last month. We went to El Corte Inglés. We already knew the selection in his size was limited, so we simply asked to see everything they had in 48-1/2 and 49. The salesman brought out one pair of white sneakers in 48-1/2. Amazingly, they were a perfect fit.
There are a couple of stores in town that cater specifically to Big Foot (I mean, people with big feet). But the selection isn’t all that exciting, to say the least. Even in the States, the selection was limited. And when we did find something we liked, we’d change our minds after seeing them come out of the box in “clown size.”
San Geraldo’s pedal extremities are colossal!