The Ham Nomads

3 Feb 2015. <ES> Sevilla, Andalucia —

We're in Sevilla! The home of Carmen, of Flamenco, of bullfighting! Wow!

Today we went in to the city — a bus from Puerto de Gelves (our aire) in to Paseo de las Delicias, on the banks of the Canal de Alfonso. Just opposite the bus stop at Paseo de las Delicias is a tourist information office, so we took full advantage of it. Fully armed with maps and brochures, we wandered up through the Parque Maria Luisa to the Plaza de España. This 'square' was constructed as the venue for the 1929 Latin American Exhibition.

It has tile mural representations of each of the 54 provinces of Spain. The buildings now house many government departments. This is justifiably a major tourist destination! People watching is always fun, from the inevitable selfie-takers to the group of girls in a boat paddling hard but moving in reverse!

After this, we dropped in to a little coffee bar nearby, before continuing on to the Real Alcásar. On the way we passed a few interesting sites — a monument to El Cid just outside the Plaza de España, and near that the Antigua Fábrica de Tabacos, now a part of the University, but in its heyday it employed about 10,000 women rolling cigars on their thighs — this was the factory from which Carmen makes her first appearance in Bizet's opera!

Walking up near the Gardens of the Alcásar, we passed a monument to El Cid and, soon after, one to Christopher Columbus — and a lot of people walking their dogs!

It was now lunch time, so we decided to adjourn to a Mexican cafe, Iguanas Ranas Cantina, in the general area, where Warren had enchilladas and Suzie had nachos for lunch — very delicious and satisfying. This place was very popular, and we're not sure it wasn't because the food came out piping hot — actually sizzling on the plate. There was a group of Americans there who were obviously regulars, and who were having a ball!

Round the corner, and into the Alcásar. This is sometimes refererred to as the Reales Alcásar, as it is not just one fortress within Seville. It is the royal residence of the King and Queen of Spain when they are in Seville (much as Holyrood is the residence of the Queen of England when in Scotland). This used to be an Arab fortress in the 12th century, and there is a lot of Moorish architecture to be seen here. Wandering through the complex, it is easy to get lost — there are rooms and patios and gardens at every turn. For example, you walk through a very Moorish Patio de las Doncellas (Patio of the Maidens) and come in to the Capilla del Palacio Gótico (The Chapel of the Gothic Palace), which is a totally Christian chapel. Much of the architecture is Mudejar, the Moorish style common in many of the older Spanish buildings. The gardens outside date back to this period as well.

We had a wonderful time exploring the Real Alcásar — at least part of which was trying to find out way out of this maze of buildings — before we left to walk back to our bus stop and back to Puerto Gelves for the night.

Distance driven — today, nil; to date, 12,390 miles ( 19,940 km )