Holiday in Andalucia

A late start to the day as everyone had a late night. We know most places will be shut, but the receptionist told us the cafés will open in the afternoon. We set off on our guide book's 90 minute walk around the main areas of the town. Our route takes us down to the river and across to Triana. This is famous for the beautiful tiles used all over town. As we walk through Triana we see lots and lots of ceramics and tiles used to decorate the façades of the houses, advertising shops and businesses as well as decorating churches. This is done all over Seville. Across the river we can see the Torre del Oro and decide to walk down to it even tho' the route takes us the other way, as maybe there will be loos there. No luck, and we are both a bit desperate, but a bit further on is a café. Oh no, only a kiosk, no loos, so we hurry on and find a coin operated self cleaning loo. In goes 20c and eventually the door slides open. After use, one has to go out and the door closes to flush and clean the loo. There is a warning that you only have 3mins to get out before the door closes, locks and the cleaning process starts, so you can't slip in and use it without paying. A had to firmly discourage a couple of young women from trying it after he'd been in!


We could now carry on with the walk, but felt the need for sustenance and one of the few places open for coffee was a Starbucks. We sat outside, watching trams sidle by between us and Alphonso XIII Hotel. After coffee we thought we would go and inspect this posh place, which was very well appointed. It had been built in 1929 for the American-Spanish Exposition. Next door is the tobacco factory that stars in Bizet's Carmen. Further down this road we found our way into Plaza de Espana that was also built for the expo. The plaza was apparently used in 'Attack of the Clones', the second Star Wars film. It is being renovated, thank goodness, as it has become terribly 'run down'. Seville will be EU Culture City 2016, so lots of renovations are being undertaken. We thought we would then wander through the Parc Marie Luisa, but it was padlocked shut. Lots of folk had the same idea and were staring at the gates, guide books in hand.


So back to the town and across to the theatre and the bull ring, then up one of the pedestrian shopping streets to find the tile picture of the Studebaker. On the way we found a Pasteleria selling wonderful cakes. As it was seething with people, we just bought two palmiers and took them off to a hidden plaza and sat on the edge of a fountain to eat them. Definitely tired now, we began walking back, stopping for another coffee on the way. We put our feet up for a couple of hours, then went out for dinner. We timed it badly - halfway between tapas and dinner but managed to get a paella and beer in a street café at nine pm. Then a swift walk back as there's lots to do tomorrow when the monuments are open again.