Viva Sevilla!

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We are now on the fast train to Madrid! We spent 2 wonderful days in Sevilla, I really loved it. Sevilla is a much bigger town than Granada, and we stayed in the heart of the old town. We arrived to our hotel at 9.30pm after a long journey and was greeted with a locked door. Pushed the buzzer and we were buzzed in and greeted to a locked iron gate. So nowhere to go, apparently no one there, finally Bill kept pressing the intercom of the main door and we were advised the reception was in a nearby hotel) We knew from then on that I may be difficult to get in and out of our hostel (our hostel only had reception it seemed during the day and only and weekdays). Interesting start and the buzzer sound travelled throughout the hotel!

Sevilla, the main drag consisted of little souvenir shops, cafés and the grandest cathedral and the Gilralda tower were spectacular. 8 euros a little steep in entry fees but it was so big, I love the architecture more than the decorations (with exception to the stained glass windows). We climbed the Giralda tower and walk was actually a series of ramps leading to the top which was great. The view of Sevilla was spectacular. After the Cathedral we went into the Alcazar, which was the residence of kings and caliphs and is Seville’s answer to the Alhambra. I especially enjoyed the main palace, and dare I say liked it a little bit more than the Nazaries palace of the Alhambra. It was just a bigger open space, the Moorish architecture spectacular and the intricate designs of the arched doorways juts stunning. The tapestry room depicting Cesar’s conquests was formidable….. And then there was a huge garden out towards the back that spread out. And mercury’s pool with ducks and fish. Sevilla really presented us with its best.
That evening after dinner our suspicions were a reality. The buzzer of the door our hostel was running out of battery. So the rain started to come down, and there was us and an Irish girl waiting in the rain. We went to the hostel around the corner to see the guy on reception outside having a fag and not understanding or speaking a word of English. So with my elementary Spanish which I had picked up in the last week and Bill and the Irish girl miming opening doors and buzzing he understood. Still it took a good 10 mins of us standing at the door for it to open. I don’t know why the hostel juts didn’t give us all a key each for the door!!

The next morning we met up with the 3 NZ sisters. They had been in Sevilla since after the train trip to tangier and they hadn’t done any of the touristy stuff! We had coffee and all went shopping! I found my solace - H&M, a clothes shop basically of which have chains all over Europe and I got addicted to shopping in this chain last year on our trip. We eventually lost track of the sisters, had a wine and decided to part ways to museum. Bill went to the archeological museum (which was crap apparently) and me to the flamenco museum which was not worthier the 1o euro. I did find out a bit more about the different styles of flamenco which was great and walked into someone else’s wedding in a smaller church with other tourists. After dinner that night we went to a flamenco performance SO TOURISTY!!! I know I know, the Granada cave one was touristy but this was pure show, I don’t think the dancers had THAT much talent (we are season viewers of Australia’s Flamenco Fire) and the guy was such a show pony he didn’t really show any emotion. Oh well we love the dance, the music unfortunately this one was a bit of a fizzer. None the less we are glad we did it.

Hasta luego 😊

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