Christopher Columbus!

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Today is Christopher Columbus Day, a national holiday to celebrate the discovery of America. As a result nothing has been formally booked for today as it’s unclear what is and what isn’t going to be open.

The kitchen is unusually busy today too. A French couple are at the table, suitcases at the ready…they must be leaving. Then an older German couple come to use the kettle. They are on their way to Cadiz with their son who is at Madrid University. We eat a quick breakfast then head off in the direction of the mushrooms.

Despite the thirty degree forecast for today, it’s still feeling pleasantly cool outside today. We are heading for Santa Cruz, the Jewish quarter. Here we find interesting narrow wiggly streets full of architectural detail. By 10.30am the place is crawling with groups so we’re glad we made an early start.

We’ve reached the city walls and the Alcazaba. Seeing the length of the queue to the ticket office, I’m glad we managed to buy ours online. A guy at the exit door gives me excellent advice ahead of our trip tomorrow.

Now we have reached the ‘National Archive of the Indies’. First we pass our bags through a scanner then walk through the arch. My metal hip does not set it off so I can only assume it isn’t working? This building is the main archive of Spain’s Americas empire, with over 89 million pages spanning 1785 to the end of the nineteenth century. A statement if it’s former golden age of power.

Ian is unimpressed, it’s just a load of box files, he states! But there is more than meets the eye. The architecture is splendid. Downstairs, an open quadrangle courtyard and a few scale models, an old canon and the ‘book of the month’ in a glass cabinet. But now we mount a magnificent staircase in hues of pink and brown to the upper floor. Here the walls are lined floor to ceiling with more books. There are displays of bullfighting photography - not something that I would like to see but still a part of the Spanish culture and, indeed, there’s a fight on today to celebrate the National Day.

We are out in the fresh air again and it’s noon…not excessively hot still but this city has the advantage of many large leafy trees and the narrow streets also make it a shady place to wander.

Next to the University. An impressive building on the outside but completely closed today…we will return before we leave! We also pass the swanky hotel Alfonso XIII - it’s a wonder they let us in! It’s another old building now the resting place for those that can flaunt it…not really our scene but we pop in for a quick photo. :-)

We’re at the outskirts of the city, outside the old inner walls so we will wander back past the outside of the bullring which we somehow managed to miss the other day…not sure how?

We have arrived at the bullring and now we know how it was missed…it’s hidden behind rows of shops. We wander through an archway and find an enclosed circular white and yellow walkway which takes us to the front of the building.

In the streets we hear music and see police cars with blue lights flashing…all part of todays celebrations. We head on past the tapas bars, which are heaving…not a table to be had. If this is Seville when it’s half empty (and they claim it is because of the pandemic) then I’d hate to be here when it is full!

We return to our accommodation to enjoy a healthy salad - actually very nice…and at least we don’t have to hustle for a table…cool down shower and siesta.

We have really been enjoying the Spanish tapas, creamy ham croquettes. So when we saw them in the supermarket along with fish in batter we decided to take some and cook them in our accommodation kitchen. What a disaster - truly terrible! Tomorrow we revert to eating out even if it does mean waiting till some ungodly hour. I do understand why they eat so late here as it’s still quite hot and muggy till around 8pm. Just that it’s a huge change in routine for us!

We decide to go for a saunter. We have not seen Hercules Square yet. It’s only 10-15 minutes walk from our place. As we have often found, the square is buzzing. Children are playing while parents sup at square-side tabernas, couples are canoodling, and a girl sits cross legged on a bench playing some kind of board game with her partner. It’s all very relaxed.

We wander through the side streets and stop for a beer and a sherry. The sherry is huge and, whilst nice, nothing has ever tasted quite as good as the sherries in Ronda and Jerez! It’s dark by the time we are done and the little square is lit up prettily.

And so to bed, we have another early start tomorrow - it’s the only way to survive the heat here!

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