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Published: February 13th 2012
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I was up early and excited for our day trip to Seville, the bus journey was only an hour and a half, so Jennifer and I arrived for half 10. It was absolutely freezing!! The sun was out but we couldn’t feel the heat from the rays with the cold Siberian wind that was blowing. We went to Plaza Espana first, which was stunning. Constructed for the Spanish-Americas exposition in 1929, it is an ornate lavish affair with no expense spared in the detail. Around its semi-circular structure are different alcoves devoted to the different regions of Spain showing old tiled scenes, an interesting touch. We got chased around by women who wanted to give us “gifts” of what looked like sprigs of lavender. It was a slow day for tourism! There was a big group of young people moving around with placards and “V” masks from what we assumed were the Occupy movement. Plaza Espana was lovely with its fountain and canal, flamboyant towers, Venetian bridges, and the devotion to tiling.
We moved on towards the Cathrdral. Coming from Cadiz, Seville is a vast metropolis with not only a bus system but trams and metro also! The old town
is still fairly easy to walk around though, and didn't take too long to get to. We found the cathedral plaza in 15 minutes, and immediately disappeared into a Starbucks to warm up. The coffee was not a patch on what we've been having here. First and only time we'll be making that mistake!! After thawing out, we ventured out and started to explore. The cathedral is gothic in design, and only some evidence remains of the mosque that previously stood here. La Giralda, the minaret turned belltower, is probably the most famous building in Seville, and indeed it was lovely if a bit strange beside the very different design of the cathedral. Next time I'm here I'll have to climb it. Overall though, I'm more overawed by the Cadiz cathedral.
We went wandering around the Barrio de Santa Cruz, a picture-perfect maze of colourful narrow streets. It was very quiet but still atmospheric with beautiful buildings, vespas and orange trees with ripened fruit falling to the ground. I loved the old walls of the Alcazar, the palace of the old Spanish rulers. They looked exactly like they were made from lego, a child's fantasy castle. Around the Barrio
were a lot of grock shops just waiting for tourists to approach, but we picked up some nice artwork before finding a nice tapas bar for lunch. We were so glad to be inside again and warm up. Of course while we were there we discovered that the glass front we were sitting beside actually had a 2/3 inch gap next to the wall and was letting in a draft of cold air. Cold followed us everywhere! The food was lovely, the nicest dish was a cut of beef in sweet sherry sauce which just confirmed for me that I should definately visit the sherry bodegas in Jerez!!
We walked down to the river to see the Torre del Oro (golden tower), one of the old fortifications from the Alcazar. We strolled along the sheltered riverbank trying to absorb as much sunshine as possible! The rest of the evening was spent walking arund the shopping district. We stopped again for a coffee but again, despite sitting in what we thought was the most sheltered part of the cafe, we ended up in a draft! No escaping the cold today. We got the last bus back to Cadiz, and I
gladly dived into bed in all my warm layers under my two quilts and blanket!! I really liked Seville and I'll definately go back to see what I missed today!!
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