Blogs from Seville, Andalusia, Spain, Europe - page 2

I was having one of my sleepless nights last night - possibly due to having siesta’d too long yesterday. It was hot and muggy and then at 3am we had one humdinger of a thunder storm. Hopefully it will clear the air but more likely it will send the humidity soaring again. Plus we’re not terribly set up for downpour weather! Our plan today was to visit the Alcazaba but I’ve been a bit remiss in my planning and not pre-booked tickets. It looks like we may have to wait till Thursday as all the online tickets have gone. Wednesday is totally unpredictable because it’s a national holiday and every sightseeing place in the city is being suitably vague about whether they will or will not open…you’d think they’d know by now! I suspect they do ... read more

This morning we have time for a lie in. We don’t need to be at the bus station till gone noon. We check out at 11am, walk to the bus stop (literally two minutes) and our bus arrives precisely three minutes late. Not bad even so! There are even spare seats although Ian decides to stand in the luggage bay with our cases. The bus does an extra loop (because it is Sunday) so, after almost 10 minutes, we end up a few yards down the road from where we got on. It can’t be helped…it’s the one way system! Thirty five minutes and we are at the bus station. It’s noon so we eat a sandwich, use their facilities and buy a cold drink for the bus. We can drink but not eat on the ... read more

It’s time to say adios to Portugal, it’s only been a few days, but it’s time to head back to southern Spain. I’m not sure why I thought we were going to Costa-del-Sol today, but because I did, we thought it would be cold and we wore jeans. But we are actually going inland to Sevilla, were it’s hot! When we got off the bus it was 37C or 98F and that is certainly hot, even by Florida standards! But we’re now true Floridians, so we just dealt with it. Those of us from Florida, Arizona, and Texas didn’t have much trouble, but some of the northerners were dying. Sevilla is a beautiful city of about 800,000, home to the third largest cathedral cleverly named the Cathedrale de Sevilla, actually the official name is Our Lady ... read more

TOUR 2 – Great Iberian Tour – TUE, 14 JUN 2022 – Day 15: Costa del Sol and the Andalusian village of Ronda. Departing from Granada and travelling towards the Costa del Sol, we will arrive in MALAGA and explore its historic city centre, with its cathedral and the Picasso Museum. After this we will continue along the coastal motorway with beautiful views of the Mediterranean. Stopping in PUERTO BANUS, Marbella, a pretty resort known as the playground of Europe’s rich and famous. In the afternoon we will continue through the hills until we reach RONDA, a very beautiful “white town” with its large gorge that divides it in two. Then we will travel onward to SEVILLE, arrival sometime in the late afternoon.... read more

SEVILLE 10/24/19 After breakfast we gathered to plan our day. Seville is the capital of Andalucia and of the province of Seviila. Located on the banks of the Guadalquivir River, the city is fabled to have been settled by Hercules. Founded by the Tartessians, Seville was later settled by the Romans. In fact two of Rome's great emperors, Trajan and Hadrian, were born here. Seville was occupied by the Moors from AD 711 until 1248, and many of its most beautiful monuments and architecture come from that period. The fourth-largest city in Spain, Seville is also renowned as the birthplace of flamenco and Don Juan. Mmmm sounds like fun! First stop: Plaza de España. In the early morning sun our assembled group passed through the Puerta de Aragon, an impressive tiled entrance to the Plaza de ... read more