Monday, May 22nd 2023.
Cordoba to Seville.
The alarm clock rings at 6:00 am and we pack up and ride the bikes to the station and get through security with the bags and bikes only to be told we weren’t allowed to go on the high speed train with our bikes and had to cancel our tickets and rebook. This was around 8:00 am and the hustle was on. Back through security and to two Renfe offices and a wait in line and finally an agent saw us to cancel our tickets and rebook us for 8:30. So far so good! Back through security and down to track 8 to wait for the train. We had seats for car 3 so we hauled the bikes up into the bendy part of the train and left them jammed in that area and went to our seats. The ticket guy came by and asked us to move the bikes to car 2 at the next stop which is set up for bike. Who knew? So we took the bikes out of the train and moved them to car two only to find there wasn’t any room since there were two bikes already there. We left the bikes in the bendy part of the train again but another car forward. Go figure?!?!
On to Seville we go and arrive an hour and a half later on the early morning train and we immediately join a walking tour of the historic part of the city with a local young lady who meets us at 11:00 am and we set off on our way.
We parked our bikes at our new Casa in Seville and away we went on foot.
The cathedral is on our must see list and we’ve purchased our tickets for Thursday. Tomorrow we visit the Alcazar to see how royalty lived.
Horse drawn carriages travel throughout the city and have their own traffic lane with the cars.
Seville is a city full of parks with green space and lends itself to travelling by foot, bike, of electric scooter.
This tower parallels the Guadalquivir river and legend has it that the tile roof is made with gold. Truth be told, it’s gold painted tile.
This government building is the hot spot for Spanish demonstrators to get their point across. It’s an area that’s seen many a demonstration and is also part of the Spanish naval society. The statue above the main doorway has a saint holding a ship to protect it on its journey throughout the oceans of the world.
The Plaza de España Seville has been the used in the original Star Wars movie among other things. It’s an incredible building steeped with detail and comes with its own beautiful park, waterway, and all things beautiful.
An interesting thing about the Plaza de Espana is that it’s not very old relative to the true antiquity of the area. The Plaza de España is undoubtedly the most famous square in Seville. Several buildings were designed for the Ibero-American exhibition of 1929 in and around the Maria-Luisa Park. Aníbal González designed this Spanish square, which is in Spanish Renaissance style with a diameter of 200 metres.
Flowers are everywhere in Seville and the scent in the air is wonderful.
It’s almost impossible to turn a corner without finding something historic like these ancient Roman pillars from Hadrian’s era in some out of the way back ally.
Back to our tiny house (casa) for the evening and looking forward to a day of exploring the Alcazar tomorrow.
