Seville, Spain

The bus arrives in Seville behind schedule.  My first impression of the city is not great but then again it's Sunday in Spain and Sundays are really not a good indicator of what the other days of the week will be like.  The city feels empty.

I really need to use the bathroom but it's closed for maintenance.  I find another bathroom and it is the most disgusting thing ever so forget that I'll just hold it in.  Spain really needs to get it together with regard to its bathrooms.  Often they're quite disgusting, the majority of the time there is no hand soap to be seen.  The dispenser may very well be there (many times there isn't one), but 9/10 times it's empty.  Toilet paper is hit or miss and you're not supposed to put toilet paper down the toilet so they have receptacles in the toilet stall for that and it's usually overflowing and gross.  No, I don't want to look at your shitty toilet paper!  Hand driers are almost non-existent and often, even though it's hanging on the wall, it isn't plugged in.  Thankfully I have taken to travelling with a little micro fiber wash cloth in my purse and it's come in handy for drying my hands after rinsing them with water because there's no fricken hand soap!

My Air B&B host, José, says it's an easy 12 minute walk to his house from the bus station but I'm not walking.  I'm tired after yesterday's jaunt to Morocco and it's super hot out and my sense of direction sucks so I hop in a cab.  In hindsight, I see what an easy walk it would have been because the cab took just as long or even longer.  Oh well, 8 Euros and I'm there.

José is there to greet me and buzzes me in the front door.  I guess he wonders what takes me so long to cart my 20 KG suitcase up five flights of stairs so he comes down the stairs and helps me lug it upstairs.  I really like this Spanish apartment complex.  It's small.  It looks like there are only 8 mailboxes in the lobby.  José's suite is small (sorry, I don't know how to make the apostrophe "e" on my laptop so a single quote mark will have to suffice).  I would guess 800 sq. feet at the most.  It would fit perfectly in Vancouver.  It looks as if it has had a major reno job in the not too distant past as he has gray laminate throughout and a glass sink in the bathroom. He has it decorated very modern, looks like most of it comes from Ikea.  The bathroom is very nice and clean.  My bedroom has an air conditioner and a fan and the most comfortable bed I have slept on in the past month.

My bedroom for 4 nights

Jose's apartment is in the Triana area of Seville.  Triana is the historic part of Seville.  It's "claim to fame" is the Virgin La Esperanza de Triana.  The Virgin of Hope of Macarena (Virgen de la Esperanza Macarena) is a Roman Catholic title of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  While I was there in the neighbourhood, big billboard type signs were being hung indicating some sort of a celebration in her honour is about to occur.  Also, Triana was once the hotbed for ceramics and ceramic tile.

José doesn't speak any English so I quickly decide the best plan of action is to try to find the tourist information booth and get a map so I have a lay of the land.  Unlike Ana and Ernesto in Cordoba, José doesn't provide a map of the city and any of the pamphlets he shows to me are written in Spanish.  I head out and go across the bridge, walk about 10 minutes and I find the tourist information booth situated on a lovely walkway along the banks of the river but, it being Sunday, it's closed!  Well, at least I now know where it is for tomorrow.  I continue my wandering.  Now that I've forgotten about the bus depot bathroom ordeal I have decided that I like Seville.  It's got a nice river running through it and the river is full of activity from tourist boats, kayaks, paddle boards, and sculls, and all the way up to an 8-person shell.  The architecture I can see from my location is very nice.  There are men and families fishing in the river.  I don't know what they're fishing for but their rods are about 20 feet long.  There are definitely fish in the river as I can see them jumping from time-to-time.  What I notice about this river is it doesn't appear to be polluted.  No garbage floating in it at all.

Fishing on a Sunday afternoon

I don't have a plan of anything I specifically want to see so I wander.  I want to head towards a park that I saw when I came in by taxi.  Parque de Maria Luisa looks very nice and huge.  I do eventually find it but it looked much nicer by car.  I'm not a fan of gravel/sandy pathways and this park is all of that.  Very few grassy areas.  I have noticed there are not a lot of grassy areas in Spain perhaps due to the lack of rainfall (?).  Anyways, I wander the park a bit and then I come across place called Plaza de Espana, built in 1929 for an exposition.  You can't go inside the buildings but the exterior is worth the trek to find the place.  So gorgeous and it covers a vast amount of space.

Beautiful ceramic railings surround the place

Plaza de Espana

Even the benches are beautiful

Lots of flamenco dancers in Seville

I leave Plaza de Espana and try to find my way back in the direction of the Air B&B.  I pass through the centre of Seville where the Cathedral is the main attraction.  The main shopping area for locals is here too.  Lots of the same stores you see in every city:  Zara, H&M, Lush, Ale Hop (seems to a European store selling odds and sods of trinkets).

Street car goes down the middle of Avenue de al Constitucion which would be akin to the most popular street in your city

Spain's version of the Wild West photos in North America

In the park

Looking towards the centre of Seville from Triana

Eventually I make my way back in the direction of Triana.  I eat in the neighbourhood.  It's very happening and the street is packed with patio tables.  I order a tinto de verano and a plate of spaghetti.  It was alright.  I will say I've eaten more mediocre meals in Spain than I've had tasty memorable meals.

The patio dining scene in the neighbourhood

Buy your cigarettes in a tabacco shop.  Sometimes the line up is out the door!

I return to the Air B&B.  José comes in less than a minute after me, as he unlocks the door I still have the flashlight on, on my phone.  The stairwells in this building are not lit up.  They're black as night.  Thankfully I had the flashlight on my phone or it would have been a very precarious navigation up five flights of stairs.  I shower and go to bed.

Oh my gosh, I slept until 9:45 AM! Argh!  I never heard José leaving for work but heard workmen pounding from time-to-time.  I think there is a a renovation going on either upstairs or in the building next door.  There is a bin on the road (it's like a cul-de-sac) and the bin is full of sand, and I see workmen out and about.  I jump out of bed and am out of the house in less than 30 minutes.  Don't want to sleep my vacation away!

I return to the same street I ate on last night.  I find a patio table and order a café con leche and something to eat.  The service in Spain generally sucks - well from a North American point of view that is.  I find that you have to wait for your bill for ever!  Seriously, I swear there are times that it's been 15 minutes since they removed my plate yet no bill has arrived at my table.  A few times I just get up and walk inside and tell them I want to pay.  Perhaps it's their relaxed attitude towards socializing and restaurants won't pressure you to get up and move on because it's all about enjoying the experience of patio dining - I really don't know. 

At the entrance to the bridge separating Triana from the center of Seville

Lining up the for the $17 Million Euro lottery
Lottery sellers walk the streets wearing green vests with dozens of tickets clipped to the vest and a hand-held lottery dispensing machine.  

The ramp on the left goes down to the water and that is where the fisherman sit

Mozart (outside of a theatre)

I walk into the center of Seville and just walk the streets and browse.

I have a late-lunch at a hamburger place rated as a 5-star on Google.  It was different with walnuts and brie cheese and those are homemade chips BUT the fricken burger was pink inside eventhough I asked and stressed for it to be well done.  Hell their menu even has the options:  Rare, Medium, Well Done and I told her twice "Well done".  This was the second time I have ordered a burger in Spain and the second time it has come raw or pink inside.  I pulled out all the pink meat and left it on the platter.  When the waitress came by to pick up my leftovers she didn't even comment on the pink meat.  Needless to say I did not leave a tip.  Never mind that I waited forever for my bill AFTER having asked for it.  I've said it before, I'll say it again, Spaniards just have a super lackadaisical attitude about serving their customers.  I've waited for them to finish typing on their phones, to finish talking to their co-workers, watched them go and have a smoke, all the while I'm waiting for some service.

The river is always busy with boaters

A bar just down the street from my Air B&B

I think I just wandered this day.   My phone - if it's to be believed - has been keeping track of how many steps I take in a day.  My average is around 14,000 steps a day, the most I ever walked was 22,000.  Here is Seville I am walking A LOT!  I saw some women with shopping bags from Primark.  I first heard about Primark from my roomie Valieria in Barcelona.  One day she came back loaded down with Primark bags.  Hmmm...so I Google and realize it's only a 10 minute walk away from the Air B&B.  I decide to go and check it out.  I find the mall.  It's big and it's very nice.   I go into Primark and don't really look all that thoroughly.  The store is huge and it's jam-packed with shoppers.  It must be a very popular store because I see Primark bags quite a bit in Spain.  I buy some underwear so I don't have to think about laundry again until I get home.  I leave the mall and head over a bridge I have not crossed before.  Seville has a lot of bridges.  Just standing on the bridge between Triana and the center of Seville I can see three more bridges.  Anyways, I walk this bridge, and walk back towards the center and the Cathedral.  I have tickets to see a Flamenco show tonight and I don't want to be late... I'm not sure where I need to go - it looks like I'll be walking further into Seville than I have previously so I have no clue how long the walk will take me.

The show was called Casa del Flamenco

The flamenco show was great.  It was only an hour in length but man do these dancers ever work hard for an hour.  No photos or video allowed except at the very end when the say you can take photos and they put on this dance for the cameras.

 Casa_del_flamenco  came recommended on Trip Advisor.  I would recommend it too as the venue is very small - holds maybe 50 seats at the very most.  I was first in line so I got to choose my seat first - front and center (only 3 rows of seats in a "U" fashion).

It's now 8:00 PM and I haven't eaten dinner so I find a place in behind the Cathedral near the flamenco place.  I order some pork and, of course, french fries!  I eat and am on my way back to the Air B&B which probably takes me a half hour to walk.

In the morning, I set out to walk a direction I haven't been previously.  I want to find out exactly where the Plaza is where I need to catch the bus that will take me to the airport when I need to leave town.  Google told me that it would take 90 minutes to get to the airport.  I consider taking a taxi to the airport but José tells me that for 4 Euros the bus will take me directly there in 30 minutes (not the 90 minutes that that Google says) and the bus station is only a 15 minute walk from his place.  Well low and behold, the bus station at the plaza (not the bus station I came in on from Tarifa) is at the end of the bridge that I walked over yesterday after I left Primark.  Okay, I now feel confident that I know the way.

I go into the Mercado (market) to see if I can find something for lunch.

At the Mercado (market)

The customer does NOT touch the produce.  You tell them what you want and they pick it for you.  They use paper cone to put the produce in (no plastic bags)

Triana used to be home to Seville's famous tile workshops and potteries - almost any tile you see in Seville's churches, hotels, bars and private houses, will have been made here in Triana.  On that note, I decide to visit the Triana Ceramic Museum which, lucky for me, is only a couple of blocks from my Air B&B.

The streets of Triana

Notice the tiles underneath the balcony? 
This is what you see when you look up from the street.

This view is INSIDE a parking garage, on the other side of the gate.  Isn't it beautiful?

Another Flamenco dancer honing her craft

Note the tiny instruments? 
This was a model in the window of a shop selling custom made guitars.

Macaroons

Macaroons

I spend the day wandering and I walk, and I walk, and I walk.  I have a ticket to visit the Cathedral at 11:30 AM.  So happy I bought an advanced ticket which allows for immediate entrance because the line-up is massive.  I am sure those people will be in the line for a few hours.  I actually don't even feel like visiting the Cathedral today but I'm here.  I am in and out in 20 minutes!  It was probably nice IF you have never visited La Sagrada de Familia in Barcelona.  Now that I've been to the Mother of all Churches, this Cathedral isn't all that impressive, in my opinion.

Traffic jam of horses and carriages

Picking up after your dog was hit & miss in Spain. 
Definitely not as into picking up after their dogs the way we are here in Canada.

These electric scooters are extremely popular in all of Spain. 
They fold up and sling over your shoulder so you can take them onto transit.

Beautiful location for a tennis court

By the end of the day my phone notifies me that I walked 13 kms!  I'm beat!  I return to my Air B&B at 9:00 PM.  José is actually just heading out to meet friends for dinner.  I never did adjust to the 9:00 PM start time for dinner.  I don't know how the Spaniards go out to eat so late, return home close to midnight and get up to go to work in the morning. 

In the morning, I leave the Air B&B and allow myself 30 minutes to walk the bus depot.  My timing is great.  I'm so glad I sussed out exactly where to go yesterday.  I only have about 5 minutes to spare and the bus pulls up.  It's 8:00 AM but it's still dark outside.  I get slightly stressed going to the airport.  It's taking f-o-r-e-v-e-r.  It wasn't a 30 minute trip, it took more than an hour!  Anyways, I do get to the airport on time and that's all that matters.

I really liked Seville and would recommend visiting the city.  Next stop Paris!