Espana

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Ah, Espana! We headed out as early as we could (without setting the alarm). The drive was about 2 1/2 hours total. There was no change or difference when we passed into Spain, although there was more signs of agriculture, notably olives and sunflowers. However, we did notice that the time on the iPad jumped ahead an hour - turns out we changed time zones! We parked at a mall on the outskirts of downtown and took a bus into the old city centre. Our first stop was at a Tapas restaurant with outdoor tables. We enjoyed the grilled squid, fried camembert with raspberry sauce, avocado stuffed with seafood, grilled swordfish to name a few. We also had a dish of paella. All delicious!

Next was the Cathedral and the Giraldi tower. We didn't actually go up the tower as the heat was excessive today and the kids would not have made it up. It was so hot today that both were red/purple faced and at times, I think suffering from heat exhaustion! Even in the shade the breeze blew on you like someone just opened an oven door. In this we walked some 6 km. All of the cafes have tables outside covered by umbrellas and awnings and these are actually lined on the underside with misting apparatus (every 10 seconds or so, a very light mist sprays out to cool the patrons!). I had read that the city is known for being hot so I guess the misters are required every day, not just today.

We continued on to the Real Alcazar which is the oldest Royal residence. The gardens of the palace were really spectacular and we saw peacocks roaming around. There were orange trees, pomegranate trees and lime trees as well as a maze and many ponds, fountains, and arches. The gardens were very extensive which was something considering the property was right in the city centre!

We walked through the Jewish Quarter and checked out a few shops on the way. Our last stop was the Plaza Espana which was built for the 1929 Olympics. It is a very large semi-circle building (huge) built entirely of tiles and is very ornate. There are huge ponds and fountains out front. It is located right beside the Parque Maria Luisa which is also really big for a park in the centre of the city. The gardens here were really gorgeous and extensive.

At that point, I think the kids were actually close to falling over so we hailed a cab to get us back to where we parked the car. The air conditioning in the car never felt so good! We found our car and headed back to Portugal. We did get off the big highway at one point and checked out a couple of smaller towns. They seemed a little run down (lots of graffiti, etc) so we didn't stop. Maybe it was just that part of Spain.

Home again, we ALL got in the pool and stayed for quite a while to get our core temperature back down......

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Photos

Awning misters
Click to enlarge. You'll be able to see the fine mist the awnings spray on you to keep you cool.

Tapas
Grilled baby squid. Mmmmmm!

Seville Catherdral
This statue has a couple of visitors. In the cathedral the remains of Christopher Columbus are buried.

Homemade shade
They erect awnings over entire streets to prevent tourists from melting, to keep them shopping.

Spanish pavilion
The Spanish Pavilion from the 1927 olympics. Absolutely huge. Can't come close to fitting the whole thing in one photos. Most surfaces including the roof are covered with hand-painted tiles.

Flamenco guitarist
He was very talented and made the funniest grimaces on his face as he played.

Comments

[Catharine]

Gracias
Most entertaining today - thank you. Can't wait to see what August holds... Perhaps some selfies?

[Joanne Erickson]

Seville - Giraldi Tower
Hi, Since you didn't get a chance to go up the tower, I will tell you the fun fact (or at least as I saw it!) - the way to go up to the top of the tower is by taking a wide ramp that winds its way up & around the tower. Think of it like a very wide wheelchair ramp that goes from the bottom to the top. The tower acted like a sentry post for soliders. The soliders would ride their horses up to the top for watch duty & if there was something to report they would come racing down. The tower couldn't have stairs as the soliders couldn't run them quick enough & the horses couldn't navigate them. So instead they built a sloping ramp from top to bottom & wide enough for the horses to race up & down. I had visions of soliders madly racing down, the horses skidding around the corners & ricochetting out the tower - kinda like a modern day action movie or a pinball machine. At the top of the bell tower of course is a rather large bell that they would ring - since I used to play in a handbell choir (I think that Russell was in one too) I found it very interesting. Glad you enjoyed your day in Seville - even it was really hot! Any thoughts of going to Granada, Spain to see La Alambra. It is really interesting also but I don't know if it might a little too far & one does need reservations. Joanne

[Elke]

Heat
We heard about the heat in Spain - something about sand storms in the Sahara pushing the heat north. Looks like you still had a great day in spite of the heat. It's a beautiful city, and the food sounds heavenly - I'm jealous and feeling like I must make some paella soon!