What a wonderful city – perfect for a long weekend city break! This morning we enjoyed a guided tour with our local guide Manuel (he was excellent). This extraordinary place is the very heart of Spain and Andalusia, combining Catholic, Islamic, and Jewish architecture with traditional Spain. It is the beating heart of Flamenco, Toros, Gypsies and Horses. Those who speak both Spanish & English will tell you that the most difficult Spanish work to translate is ‘Duende’ – it means, poetry, passion, love, hate and a sort of magic rolled into one. Seville is Duende.
We visited the Royal Palace, the Real Alcazar and the beautiful gardens. The weather behaved itself staying slightly cloudy and about 26 degrees so not too hot for sightseeing. In Seville you very quickly learn to walk on the shady side of the street.
The Palace had several peacocks but remembering the last one that I met (Isola Bella, Italy) which took rather an amorous shine to me, I kept my distance – although this may, on reflection, actually have been a Pea-Hen. I can’t tell the difference and don’t care – they all seem to me to be enormous and slightly threatening!
All this was rather tiring so we stopped for lunch. We went on a Tapas Crawl – 3 courses in 3 bars, supervised by Manuel. I had Russian Salad, then pig cheek (better than it sounds) and finally Turron and coffee.
I found this tiling on a wall in the Palace. It seems to me to be an accurate representation of how I feel most days of my life – some things don’t change much over time.
Tomorrow, we take the ferry over the straights of Gibraltar to Tanger, Morocco. The adventure continues.
TimOnTheTrain 