Seville

We’d booked our train tickets to Seville online so set off for the station in plenty of time for a coffee and the security check. We hadn’t expected this but we and our bags were scanned, normal procedure here apparently, and found our seats on the spotlessly clean train which departed bang on time. We hadn’t mentioned before the beautiful drive from Seville to Córdoba, but it really is spectacular with mile after mile of olive trees, vines, long rows of cypress trees and even hedges made of prickly cactus. The Spanish seem to have very organised farming systems and everything is planted in perfect rows – trees, food crops, vines – all very different to the small holdings and ramshackle allotments in Portugal! The train arrived (yes, on time) at Santa Justa station which is quite a way out of Seville city centre, so we set off to find our way in.

Our first stop was the amazing Plaza Espana – this was built in the early 20th century for the Latin American Expo of 1929, and the architecture and beautiful Maria Luisa gardens are just stunning. The building is arranged in a semicircle, with a boating lake following the same line, all linked with beautiful bridges. The benches were tiled with hand painted tiles and although it is a tourist hotspot there was so much space to walk, take photos, and see the locals enjoying the area too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From there we walked through the gardens to see the Glorieta de Becquer, dedicated to the Seville writer – it took a bit of finding but we got there!

Then onwards towards the very impressive Cathedral, the largest Gothic cathedral and the third largest church in the world. Luckily for Grant there was an enormous queue and as it was very hot, over 30 degrees, we decided not to go in but to enjoy the outside facades and go and get some lunch! Walking past we noticed a side door which was open so we saw a side chapel – at least I can say I’ve been into the cathedral!

We found a typical Spanish cafe and shared the daily special, a type of mixed grill served with patatas bravas, delicious although we weren’t too sure what some of the meat was.

After a long lunch break we headed out to explore and saw that many of the shops and cafes were setting up rows of wooden chairs outside – it was obvious something was going to happen so we hung around the plaza Iglesia El Salvador to wait. Before long we heard music and we saw a parade of the penitents – as it is Holy Week there are lots of parades, in Seville alone 76,000 people parade through the streets to the cathedral.

The penitents wear a robe and conical hood and carry candles, not lit thankfully, and walk behind the musicians who seem to stop frequently. Many of the ‘penitents’ were young children who were struggling with the heat, I felt quite sorry for them as they took their hoods off to try and cool down before carrying on with the parade.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We moved on next to the Alcazar – again a queue to get in, but much smaller then the queue for the cathedral! Once inside the buildings were beautifully cool, with amazing mosaic pictures and tiling. We walked through and then into the gardens, a huge area of tranquillity right in the city centre, with amazing topiary and even an English Garden. It was so hot (the hottest time of day seems to be between 5 and 6pm) we decided we’d done enough sightseeing and headed off for a cold beer before walking back to the station.