Spain week six, day three

Monday June 2nd 2008

Hacienda, Villamartin, Spain

A day out in Seville today - my first proper visit if you discount the trip a week or so ago when I took Jonathan to the station and collected Eve. Today we are returning Eve to the airport and then carrying on for a day's sight seeing.

It is about 12:30 when we arrive in the city centre and our first is finding somwhere to park. This was a good example of where having Nigel and Zoe with us really helped as they could make more sense of the parking meters. The confusing thing is that the siesta period from 2:00 till 5:00 is free, so if we could find a meter that we could stay at this 2:00, we would then have parking till 5:00 for free - which should be enough time for us. So we are sorted eventually and parked up near the Plaza de Espana and associated gardens.

On the way towards the centre I was disappointed to find that the battery on my camera had just about run out and so I only have one picture from today's trip. But oddly enough, this did mean that I looked at the city sights rather differently. Rather than focusing on taking pictures, I found myself looking much closer at things than I might have done normally. An interesting experience, though I would have preferred some pictures - Seville is just so beautiful. Maybe Linda and myself should return there at some point for a few days.

The park we passed on the way to the city centre - today's only picture of Seville

So we walked towards the cathedral and Alcazar (leaving a visit till later), before heading off through a shopping area and looping round towards the bullring. Then, as shops started closing for Siestas, Nigel asked someone local where a good place to eat might me and we ended up in a spot well off the beaten track. Nigel is quite a connoisseur of Spanish dining being a great fan of tapas and other food. So he was very happy to have found a new spot well away from the major tourist areas.

From here we made our way back to the Alcazar only to find that it wasn't open on Mondays. Fiona would never have made this mistake! So instead we visited the cathedral (the largest of its type in the world) including the Girolda tower, from where there are some great views of the city. Unusually, there aren't steps up the tower, instead there is a sloping ramp the whole way up.

Finally, as we worked our way back to the car, we went round the Plaza de Espana and gardens - one of Seville's absolute highlights.

Back by early evening and then a trip out to Villamartin for dinner. The only place open is a tapas bar but this proves to be a real find and Nigel is completely in his element as he orders around a dozen portions of various things. And it proves to be an absolute bargain at less than 10 euros per person, including drinks. I can tell Nigel was very impressed!