Spain! Part II

On the Tuesday morning, we caught another bus from Cordoba to Sevilla. Sevilla became one of my favourite Spanish cities. From the bus station, we caught a few taxis between us, through the narrow, windy streets to our hotel. We then had an hour to have lunch, before we all went on an orientation walk of the city. Unfortunately, Zar-Zar, Yithette, Margaret and I chose the worst Tapas bar to have our lunch, ate some very ordinary tapas, and got ripped off on a jug of sangria!
Some of the sights we took in during our orientation walk included:

The Cathedral

The Bull ring

The Torre del oro

The Hotel Alfonso XIII

Here we are at the end of our orientation walk, sitting outside the University which used to be the tabacco factory which was the setting for the opera Carmen.

A building in the main street.

That night, we went to a flamenco performance. Sevilla is the home of flamenco, and this was a wonderful experience.

Before the flamenco, we had a few drinks at a nearby bar.

We were allowed to take photos during the last 5 minutes of the performance. Here are the two flamenco dancers, singer and guitar player.

The cathedral at night, on our walk back to our hotel.

The next day was our only full free day in Sevilla. In the morning, I went to the Alcázar, which was one of the most amazing buildings I have ever seen. It was the palace which has been occupied by many Kings and Queens of Spain, and is beautifully and elaborately decorated.


The gardens too are very beautiful, and very extensive.
After visiting the Alcázar, I crossed the plaza, and visited the cathedral. Inside, is the tomb of Christopher Columbus, whose remains were originally buried in Havana, but were moved to the Cathedral in Sevilla in the early 1900's after Cuba's declaration of independence.The bell tower of the cathedral was originally part of the old Mosque, which was torn down to make way for the cathedral, and there were great views over the city from the top.

I met some of the others from the group after visiting the cathedral, and we had lunch together, before heading off on our separate ways again to do our own sight-seeing. I headed to the Bull ring and did a tour there. I don't really agree with the whole concept of bull-fighting, but as it is a large part of the Spanish culture, I wanted to see the bull ring, as I felt it was a bit like going to Melbourne and not seeing the MCG!

Me inside the Bullring.

Fittings to which the horses are tethered whilst awaiting the bullfight.

After visiting the bullring, I had a drink with Andrew and Richard by the Rio Guadalquivir on the Triana side. Whilst we were there, we caught up with Zar-Zar and Yithete who just happened to be walking past. The girls and I then walked to the ceramics factory which was just a few blocks away.

A ceramics factory in Triana

After visiting the factory, and walking around the streets, looking at all the ceramics on the buildings, I headed across town to Plaza de Espana. This was a beautiful square, also decorated with many ceramic tiles.

I then walked through the tiny streets of the Barrio (suburb) Santa Cruz, towards my hotel, trying to find a particular house which is supposed to be a replica of Pontius Pilates house. I got lost about 5 times trying to find it, but eventually did, although by that time it was closed for the day, so I couldn't look inside. It looked pretty cool from the outside though.

That night, Yithette, Zar-Zar and Margaret decided to see another flamenco performance, and Krisztina was busy studying her guides and maps for our next town, so I went out for dinner with Lilian, Nathalie, Jess, Andrew, Richard, Matt and Lenore, to a Cuban restaurant which Matt and Lenore had found which specialised in vegetarian food. I have to say we had some of the most unusual dishes I have ever heard of (banana balls covered in tomato sauce, mashed banana with black beans and cheese) but it was one of the tastiest meals I had in Spain. It was a very enjoyable night, fuelled by Sangria, and a heated debate ensued between Lenore and Lilian about the timing of flamenco music!