Spain - Sevilla

---

Spain - Sevilla

Monday 31st March - Tuesday 1st April

Again, sorry for the post with no photos - this website still has issues with uploding them which is getting kinda frustrating. But you can see all on my facebook, as I'm uploading them there every few days. If this isn't resolved soon Im going to switch to another blog site

Anyway...

We caught the AVE High Speed train from Madrid to Seville. It’s a lot more expensive than the bus, however the trip also only takes 2.5 hours, whereas the bus takes over 5, so you either pay with time or money when choosing to travel around here. There are some very cheap flights between places but watch out for the hidden costs if you take one - taxes, they charge you per bag and they absolutely slug you if you need to make a date or time change to your flight, which I found out the hard way.

The AVE was great, very comfortable, and there was an onboard cafe, radio & TV, toilets (all of which you also don’t get on a bus), plus you can walk around, stretch your legs.

It was a nice trip and we got to see some of the countryside as we passed by - very different again from Ireland. Old Moorish buildings, what looked like a few small old castles and a lot of green hills which I didn’t expect. The towns we passed by were quite barren of trees within them but they were surrounded by green land which made a nice contrast against the pale terracotta rendering on many of the houses.

Sevilla surprised us again with its size. I definitely beginning to see why Perth is considered “small”, (although it is no less beautiful than anywhere else we have seen just because it is smaller).

Our first 2 nights we stayed at the Hostal Naranjo (naranjo means “orange” in Spanish) which was in San Roque street, a great location. Lola, the receptionist spoke some English and she was so friendly and helpful. Our room was great, one of the best we have had so far in a hostel (HOT showers!!!) although they didn’t have wifi or a kitchen. It looks as though many of the Spanish hostels don’t, unfortunately. We were down an alleyway right next to heaps of shops and tapas bars.

Our first night we had tapas at one of the open air corner restaurants. We haven’t been a big fan of the Spanish food we have tried so far (they seem to eat a lot of funny smoked ham called Jamon Iberia and salted fish), but I wanted to try as many new things as we can while we are here, so we ordered Spanish omelette, croquettes with chicken and fresh fish of the day. The omelette was yum, the croquettes full of cheese and minced chicken and they were pretty rich, but the fish came out whole (about 10 cm long) and still with their heads and backbones in - eewwww! I love fish and but it turns my stomach to pull their heads and bones out as I eat them. Reagan tasted one piece after a lot of bribery and I managed to eat part of one of them, but had to leave the rest, definitely not my thing. I think we must be fussy and spoilt with all the delicious fish we get in WA.

We stayed at Hostal Naranjo for two days but because the April Festival is on next week the accommodation in town had booked up quickly so we couldn’t stay longer - we were very lucky to score a week at another hostel in town, Hostal Van Gogh.

Hostal Van Gogh is about 5-10 minutes walk from Hostal Naranjo, right in the centre of town, in a great location off literally right next to the Cathedral and minutes walk from some of the main attractions, 50 paces from the Tourist Bureau and on the route for the April Festival procession. We go up a little cobblestone laneway to get there and you can hear the horse carriages clip-clopping by, and the cathedral bells ringing on the hour. Our room is on the very top of an old 4 story building ( no lift again... groan) we step outside onto the roof terrace and there our room is, so we’ve basically got the whole terrace to ourselves. It’s great as we can leave our door open while we are inside and get some fresh air and sunshine into the room. When the Festival starts on Monday the processions go right past our building so we’ve got an eagle eye view of the whole thing.

Again no wifi (spewing, as I usually jump on the net to update my diary and photos once Reagan is asleep at night) but there is an internet cafe around the corner which also has Skype so we will just use this for the next week.

The day is gorgeous. It’s about 29 degrees and sunny (the first really lovely day weather-wise that we have had since we left Perth) and we are feeling energetic and in a good mood. We decided to go to the Parque Maria Luise (Park) and hire bikes as there are a lot of attractions right next to the park - eg Plaza de Espana which is a massive palace thing.

When we got there however, Reagan decided that a peddle car would be much more fun so we hopped in and headed off. Too bad both of us are so short though.... Reagan could hardly reach the pedals and even I was struggling a bit too lol. We agreed that walking was much better, so we took the cart back.

Walking through the park was glorious. There are playgrounds throughout so Reagan got to run around and jump on things, swing etc. There are fountains, statues, beautiful trees and birds and butterflies everywhere. A gazebo has been set up on a little hill with a waterfall trickling down the side and it overlooks a pool which is surrounded by lion statues, brilliantly coloured glazed pots, and bougainvillea covered walkways. The landscaping is completing different to that which saw in the Botanic Gardens in Madrid, and there are many less flowers, more palm trees (very reminiscent of photos you see of Miami) but there are more open tree-lined boulevards which horse carriages are trotting through and people riding and walking. There are also a lot of nooks and crannies with old Spanish benches, tiled with scenes from the past, and plenty of places to sit and relax or lay on the grass for a nap or a picnic.

About halfway around we came onto a little open plaza on which we standing about a thousand white & grey doves. There were vendors with little carts selling bird food, and you could stand in the middle of the plaza and hold out your hands with food in them and the pigeons sit on you and take the food form your hands.

Reagan was so keen to do it so we bought some food although I had my doubts about how she would handle them actually sitting on her, and sure enough once we were standing in the middle of the plaza and we had the pellets in our hands, the birds came from simply everywhere and surrounded us in about 2 seconds flat. There were literally hundreds of them and Reagan started to get scared - I have to admit it was quite full on having so many birds clamouring to get on you, they were everywhere! She ran to the other side and got a few photos and I stood there for a few minutes and they sat on my head (lucky I had my hat on) and my shoulder, arms, hands. They might sound sweet and soft when they coo at you, but once the food was out they acted like naughty starving children. You could see many other tourists doing the same thing - the doves were obviously onto a good thing here.

It was about 4:30 when our legs decided they had had enough so we decided to come back tomorrow and keep exploring, as there is so much to see. Its good having 10 days here as we have plenty of time to explore at our leisure without having to rush to squeeze everything in, as we are both really looking forward to the Febre de April (April Festival) which starts on Monday and is the reason we decided to stay longer here.
The festival kicks off at midnight on Sunday with the “alumbraó” which is when the lights of the fair are turned on (about 35,000 bulbs plus colourful Venetian lanterns). The festival is basically a 2r4 hour a day, 7 day party straight with horse parades, flamenco dancing, food and drink tents, seville culture and fireworks etc. We are so looking forward to it. The procession go right by out hostel and we are only 10 minutes walk away from the festival grounds.

Happy birthday to our nephew & cousin Daniel who turns 10 today ( 1st April)! We miss you sweetheart (and Shaun & Bailey) and are thinking of you.

---