Seville is stunning

Seville on a hot day

We are staying in Don Hermanos, about 10mins by train from the centre of Seville. The weather forecast said it was going to be 26degrees today but it was even hotter, hit 29 degrees at one point... time to hit the shade for a rest. 

OK folks this is a long post,  so grab a cup of tea and settle in for a bit of a longer read than usual.

Seville is stunning, the architecture, the gardens, the fountains, the sculptures.....it's almost sensory overload. Hold on to your hats for some pics that probably don't show the scale or the intricacies, but here goes.

First stop The Alcazar of Seville, a labyrinth of palaces and gardens and if you see nothing else in Seville, this is the place. It looks rather dull from the outside but once you step inside you don't know where to look.

 It is over 1000 years old and is a blend of Spanish and Moorish design. The water fountain courtyards, the elevated walkways with views over the gardens, it's almost too much to take in.  We loved the quiet reflection ponds in the marble courtyards, the  topiary and knot gardens and the orangery must smell divine when in blossom, magnificent!

You could spend a day just exploring the gardens alone, such a beautiful sanctuary on a hot day. You could picture the ladies in the Ladies Garden and the poet's writing furiously in the Poet's Garden and there  are more folly's  than you can shake a stick at, we loved every minute there.

The pics on our wee snap happy camera don't do it justice but you get the idea.  On to another Seville hot spot, the cathedral.


Seville Cathedral 

This is the burial place of Christopher Columbus and the largest Gothic cathedral in the world and is of course a UNESCO Heritage Site. Allegedly the architects said "let us build a church so beautiful and so magnificent that those who see it finished will think we were mad".    From the outside it is incredible.  The scale of it is huge and with modern day measurements of approx 11,500msq, it is said to be  larger than St Peters in Rome, but the Italians may of course disagree. The queue was enormous and in the full sun with no seats so we didn't go in, my foot was getting tired so we will save that experience for another time....you can't do everything in a day.

But wait there's more....

Torre del Ore, Tower of Gold
This is a 13th century dodecagonal tower/military watch house on the banks of the  Guadalquivir river. Traffic is skirting around it and there it stands, fantastic. It was built to guard and control river access and was used as a prison in the middle ages. Its name comes from the golden shine it's reflection makes on the water.

Plaza Espana 

This place is another stunner, it's set in a huge park where I'm sure the Sevillians take their leisure at the weekend, it was quiet today. Lots of gardens and trees and walking paths, loving this city!   The Plaza was built in 1928 for an expo and is a blend of Renaissance and Moorish styles. It is the size of 50 football fields at 50,000sqm. Click on the panoramic pic below and you get the idea.

The ceramics in the park are beautiful and no one appears to damage or graffiti them thank goodness.

Metropol Parasol 

This is the largest wooden sculpture in the world (490 x 230ft width x 85ft high) and interesting to see this tucked in amongst the old town back streets. It was designed by a German architect, Jurgen Mayer,  and now the Plaza is known as Plaza Mayor. Reminds me of flocking birds in flight as they switch and change direction quickly. Stunning contrast to the other experiences of the day.

After a long, hot day exploring we found the Palace of Alfonso XIII, which is now a fancy pants hotel, and we had a cold beer. Great day.

Hard to choose the sculpture of the day as there were several stand outs so I'm including a few. 

First up for its beauty and pluck is the Toreador and Flamenco dancer, this is stunning and it's stuck on a traffic round about in a suburb....it's magnificent .

Then my next favourite is from the Igrlesia de Santa Ana ....zoom in on it

A long blog post today after a spectacular day in Seville, if you have stuck with us you deserve another cup of tea. 

The white towns of Andalucia on the way to Seville

Sunday 30 May contd.

From Merida we had had enough of motorway driving so it was back to B roads and village scenery, much more interesting. Grapes, olives, wheat and sunflowers as far as you could see.  

We even passed the odd castle along the way.

We drove through a couple of hill top white towns and there must have been a saint day celebration as one town was all decorated with rose petals and flowers, you wouldn't see this on the motorway!   It was a bit tricky navigating the tiny narrow streets that were made for donkey's but we managed....slowly and carefully.

Seville via Merida

Sunday 29 May

We left Bejar in the rain and fog and after yesterday on the back roads we decided to take the motorway to Merida and then switch onto the back roads from there. Good choice as after our motorway drive to Merida  we were ready for some scenery other than the road.

Merida has the longest Roman bridge that is still working. It was still used by cars until 1993 but is now just for walkers and cyclists.  

There is also a Roman theatre from 18BC that used to seat 6000 people and there are the remains of Roman aqueducts throughout the town. The storks/cranes have made their homes on the top of several of the aqueducts. 

Two sculptures for today....

Bejar via Zamora and Salamanca

Saturday 28 May A back roads experience

We left our lovely lakeside retreat and headed south via the back roads again. We discovered the B roads we were travelling on were  also the roads  pilgrims on the Via de la Plata route to Santiago de Compostela walked. We passed a few hardy pilgrims head down into the rain, we shared their pain.  I have to say the pilgrims on this route have a real challenge, long distances between towns and a lot of road walking. One chap was in the middle of huge stretch, all alone battling the weather, impressive.

(Just a note, I have given myself blanket permission for spelling and grammatical errors due to no actual keyboard and brief time on free Wi-Fi...so I get a free pass from my web editor pals👍)

Zamora - on the north bank of the Duro river.  The Santa Inglesia Cathedral de Zamora is a mix of a Byzantine dome,  a Romanesque tower and a neo classical cloister. The view across the river is stunning. Shame it was a dull, drizzly day.

Salamanca -the beautiful capital of the  Castille  & Leon region, a UNESCO World Heritage site and known as the golden city due to its sandstone buildings. It has been ruled by Celts, Romans, Muslims and the Spanish and the architecture reflects this.  As we went round and round trying to find a park we came across the Universidad Salamanca, founded in the 1100's it was the intellectual centre of Spain in the 15th/16th centuries.  We had a birds eye view of the historico area, not sure if we should have been driving through there but we eventually  found a parking building and explored on foot.

We wandered through the Plaza Mayor, which was used for bull fighting until the 19th century. The Plaza is enormous and can hold 25,000 people and there were many groups out promenading, a great spot to sit and people watch. 

Just outside the Plaza is my pic for sculpture of the day, stunning.

We left Salamanca and looked for a place for the night and after driving down many a country lane we ended up in Bejar, in the Sierra park area. The roads we ended up on were  more pot hole than  road and we were getting tired, so Bejar it was.  Bejar is a mountain village with a textile industry history but now the town supports skiing, hiking and the national park.  OK for a night, just.