GK Tours. Day 56
Sunday 29th December to Monday 30th December 2024.
Seville
Arriving in Seville, the weather was lovely and warm still.
The place we have chosen is the closest you can stay in a van with services. It’s not very pretty, mainly a parking area for a car auction site with vehicles being loaded and unloaded constantly, but it serves a good purpose as it’s a 30 minute walk to one of the main sights, the Plaza Espana.
So once we were set up, we headed into town.
It’s a scruffy walk to start with through an industrial area but soon you are on the main road. You have to cross the river to access the centre and we chose a bridge that crossed us straight into the Plaza Espana.
Plaza Espana was built as an exhibition centre many years ago and has a beautiful park surrounding it. This particular building has waterfalls, a river you can row a hire boat around, a beautiful loggia providing shade from one end to the other and an abundance of gorgeous tiles. Almost everything is coated in pretty ceramic.
As you walk along the main wall you can see all the regions of Spain depicted in tile.
We were very lucky to catch an impromptu flamenco display under one of the entrance areas. You also have to be careful not to get run over by a horse and carriage, taking visitors on tours of the city.
Coming out of Plaza Espana we walked down the side of the University, such an impressive building and then turned the corner by the most beautiful hotel The Alfonso XIII. Wow, I’m sure I commented on this hotel the last time we were here. It’s amazing.
The Christmas lights are still up, they Spanish celebrate 3 Kings Day on 6th January and there they were, 3 huge Magi stood outside the Palacio de San Telmo.
Walking across to the main town, careful to once again not get run over by horse and carriage or trams, we stopped for a drink and then meandered on to the Cathedral.
You have to look up when you walk around Seville otherwise you are sure to miss something special. Next to the Cathedral is the Alcazar (Moorish castle) and then we were in the old town.
The lanes are full of little cafes and bars, and shops selling lovely Spanish treats or traditional dress.
Next stop was the mushroom statues (Setas de Sevilla), an amazing structure spanning across the main road. There are viewing platforms if you would like a birds eye view of Seville. The main image at the top of this page is our shot of them. As they’re so big, it’s hard to get them all in!
It was starting to cool down as the sun was sinking, so we popped back into the old town for some food before wandering around as the Xmas lights came on.
It was very busy as we made our way back down the main street, taking in all the sparkling Christmas decorations, they certainly put a lot of effort in to it in Spain.
As we approached the 3 kings we were wowed by the size of them, towering above us in all their shining glory. It was also very busy and crowded.
Andrew and Jane managed to get a taxi happy to take Marley dog, so we waved them goodbye to walk back through the parks enjoying the lights.
Adding these steps to my early morning jaunt into Jerez and I totalled a whooping 33k 
bet I can’t walk in the morning 
.
Monday 30th December
Andrew and Jane walked with us this morning as far as the Plaza Americas, in the park near the Plaza Espana before splitting up. Jane wanted to do some shopping while we wanted to explore the park again.
The place is amazing, there are lots of little areas with different fountains and tiled areas, dedicated to a person or a country I think. You can go round in circles just trying to see everything. There’s even wild fowl on the ponds, and some little baby ducks 
.
As we were leaving the park we came across a young enterprising man with a flamenco set up. You could step behind his stand and be transformed into a dancer or a matador and have your picture taken for €2.50. What a great idea, we didn’t hang around for a go because, as you can imagine there was quite a queue.
Today we walked along the park in front of the university and Alcazar into a little park housing the monument to Christopher Columbus. This then leads you back into the old town via a famous balcony which apparently inspired the Barber of Seville. The balcony belongs to a little hotel right at the entrance to the park. Once again, if you don’t look up you would miss it.
This area of old town is littered with flamenco bars and shows, sadly for us most occur at night.
Walking through the old streets we stopped for food, it wasn’t so much choosing where to eat, it was more of finding a vacant table! It was so busy. We chose three small plates, paella, calamari and stewed bulls tail – oxtail to you and me. It was delicious 
and was washed down with our new favourite drink, Tinto de Verano – red wine with soda/lemonade. Very nice and refreshing without being too heavy for a drink in the day.
This particular lane led us out at the back of the cathedral where we nearly photo bombed a wedding shoot! We didn’t want to draw attention to ourselves as, apart from the bride and groom, everyone else was dressed in black 
, not sure if that’s the tradition or not.
Walking around the cathedral we crossed the main road and eventually arrived at the Plaza de Toros (Bull Ring).
From the outside you wouldn’t know, it just looks like apartments. But finding an open entrance, you arrive into the inner footway, between said apartments and the bullring building itself.
Following this inner path we soon came to the main entrance and gates. There was a very long queue at the ticket office, which we assume was for tour tickets.
The Bull ring has a lovely frontage, facing the river and is still used today. We didn’t go in.
The sun was shining bright still as we took the river-walk back to the van. The walk was very busy with people soaking up the late sun at the trendy bars dotted along the way.
You can also take riverboat tours from here though we aren’t sure exactly where they go.
There is also a replica of the Nao Victoria, one of the first ships to circumnavigate the world in 1519-1522.
Andrew and Jane returned shortly after us and we have decided to move on tomorrow to a little place called El Rocio for New Year’s Eve, as recommended by two lots of fellow travellers.
Leave a Reply