Sleepless in Seville

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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 know but can’t be bothered to update their websites.

I book tickets for Thursday and Friday to see the Alcazaba and Cathedral respectively. Too be honest we are both a bit couldn’t care less about either of them but apparently they are absolutely not to be missed! I think we are just getting a bit tired! So that leaves Wednesday to do the mop up sights we would have done on Friday and today to take the bus out of town to the archaeological site of Itálica.

Founded in 206AD, Itálica was the first Roman town in Spain and birthplace of the Roman emperor Trajan. It’s thought that his son, Hadrian (of the renowned Scottish wall), was also born here. It has some well preserved mosaics and the largest amphitheatre the Romans ever built. Originally three stories high, of which two are still standing, it seated 20,000.

Our bus takes thirty minutes to reach the site and we are welcomed in by the security guard. There is no one in the ticket office and he tells us we can visit for free. Cheers mate. Normally it’s only free to EU citizens. Clearly arriving just as the gates open at 10am is the thing to do!

There’s only a few visitors on site and we start off in the towering amphitheatre which contains a huge bear pit in the middle. From here we move on to the main town, which is larger than we might have imagined. We see a range of mosaics including one with exotic birds and another which depicts the days of the week through the planets. There is also a bakery, a latrine and public baths, all approached via the original paved streets.

We spend two hours walking the site before returning to Seville on the public bus. By this time the sun is high and so is the humidity. There are a lot more people on-site and the flies are becoming very pesky…I’m glad we came early!

Back in Seville we locate a large supermarket - well Ian does anyway…for some odd reason they are heavily disguised! We need to pick up a few provisions! And so to siesta…zzzzz.

This evening we decide to take a walk to the controversial Metropol Parasol or ‘mushroom building’. Built between 2005 - 2011 it is built of wood and is said to be the largest wooden structure in the world.

A modernist design set in the old quarter amongst ancient buildings, it’s nice wonder that eyebrows were raised. Not that the locals appear too bothered now, the youngsters are using the curved space as a fine skateboard rink.

The structure comprises six giant mushroom parasols (setas). The design was inspired by the vaults of Seville Cathedral and the ficus trees in the nearby plaza. The Setas are organized in four levels. Underground is the Antiquarium Museum which we plan to visit on Thursday. Level 1 (street level) is the Central Market with a roof providing an open air public plaza (aka unofficial skateboard area), shaded by the wooden parasols. Levels 2 and 3 providing panoramic views of the city centre (for a fee).

All of this came in at a cost of around 100 million euros (double the original budget). The project was beset with technical difficulties - namely that the load bearing was unsafe! The engineers reported that the design had not been sufficiently tested prior to build. A number of suggested solutions to buttress the wood failed, but finally it was solved with…glue? Hmmm, I’m not sure I’ll be paying to go to the top!

It’s getting on for 7pm but the humidity is stifling. We decide to head back to the accommodation for a cool down under the air con and an early night to catch up on last nights lost sleep. As we enter the stairwell there is an overwhelming stench of strong chemical fumes…and worst of all it’s coming from our room!

Rewind to yesterday…in the middle of siesta there was a commotion outside our room…someone was trying to get in! Scared the life out of me. Turns out it’s the building handyman…he wants to inspect our bathroom. No polite knock on the door, just let’s himself in…or not as it turned out as we’d locked the door from inside, hence furious banging on door when his key won’t go in. Has he come to repair the wobbly loo seat that Ian has already fixed? No it’s the basin. One of those new fangled, sit on the top type. It’s not leaking and doesn’t bother us but apparently he will fix it. So today he returned at 6pm whilst we were out, let himself in and squeezed a ton of strong smelling silicon all around it. Terrible job, a six year old could have done it better! And now it’s set Ian off sneezing. It’s really strong! We open all the windows at the risk of letting every mosquito in the area in for dinner and I send a polite but firm message to the owner that we don’t expect to be disturbed by any further repairs. We are leaving early Saturday morning so they can come back then! A sincere apology and an assurance that no one else will disturb us!

It’s 8pm and the smell is subsiding…or we’re just too high on it to notice?

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