24th April - Seville

Today didn't start off too well. Apart from a two hour gap in the early hours of the morning, I slept pretty well - through until 7.30am in fact. John, on the other hand, lay awake from 4am and was seriously unimpressed with his lack of sleep. It quickly got worse when we realised that, in amongst all our preparation for our trip back to Europe this year, we'd not got around to booking tickets for visiting the Alcazar here. This was the major reason for coming to Seville. Online tickets were completely booked out online for the rest of the week and we only have two days here. 

Needless to say, we quickly scrambled, and got ourselves off to the ticket booth hoping to score some last minute cancelled tickets. It was heart-wrenching to turn the corner and see a queue perhaps 200m long of other tourists also in search of non-online tickets. We joined the queue while reconsidering our options. Clearly there were tickets available on the day, but it made obvious sense to get to the booth well before it opened at 9am. The queue was hardly moving, so rather than wait for perhaps a couple of hours, we gave it away and planned to arrive before 8am tomorrow morning.

The day was now available to tackle some of the places we'd intended to visit tomorrow. First stop however was a much needed coffee and sugar (aka a chocolate pastry) attack to boost our flagging spirits. 

Santa Cruz district street

The Seville Cathedral is a much lauded place to visit and is located immediately adjacent to the Alcazar. We knew that tickets were also sold out there and the on-the-day queue was already long. However, with much good luck, a very small Mass service was being held in a tiny portion of the cathedral, hence it was open to the public and we were allowed into the virtually deserted interior. The vastness of the space, plus the size of the columns, level of detail in the wood carvings and so on were certainly impressive, but overall we were very glad we hadn't paid the 12 Euro and queued for hours to see it. This sounds very inadequate given that Seville Cathedral is one of the largest cathedrals in the world, and is indeed the largest Gothic cathedral anywhere. Perhaps if we'd been able to get closer to the tomb of Christopher Columbus or some of the cardinals, as would have been the case if we'd managed a tour, then we might have felt different. Over the years John and I have both become increasingly disenchanted with the overly ostentatiousness of many of the large ornate churches we've visited. In preference to their display of power and authority we prefer the humbleness of genuine local chapels.

So, with the cathedral ticked off in no time at all, we set off for the Triana market, located on the other side of the Guadalquivir River. The 15-minute walk took us through lovely areas lined with interesting architecture and large plazas, finishing up in a wide esplanade bordering the river. 

A little chapel across the Guadalquivir

Just across the river we entered the Triana Market. This traditional market has stood on this site for 150+ years. Our favourite stalls were those displaying very fresh and shiny fish. 

Triana Market - note the ceramic signs

Next stop was the Centro Cerámica Triana, a ceramics museum set up in the last of the working ceramics factories that once filled the area. It was very interesting seeing both the old wood-fired kilns and some of the ceramic products.

The Centro del Ceramico

From here we walked beside the river, along Betis Street, which is a renowned food street. Unfortunately it was only midday, so most of the restaurants were only just beginning to set up their tables. 

A typical courtyard

The houses here often have lovely entrances, behind which is an even more attractive courtyard. We remember these from Cordoba too.

Back across another bridge brought us to the Torre del Oro (Golden Tower). This provided not only a great view of the surrounding riverside area, but also a pictorial history of Spanish sea voyaging throughout the ages. Models of centuries-old sea galleons and maps dating back to the 1200s of the Mediterranean coastline were fascinating. Clumps of old stone cannon balls revealed how misshapen and crude they were - but no doubt they would wreak havoc when propelled into an enemy's vessel.

From the Torre del Oro

The Seville Cathedral

By 1pm we were starting to flag, but it was still too early for lunch. We opted to walk the short distance to the Setas de Sevilla, an extraordinary wood-built structure built over what was once a market square.

2pm was definitely lunchtime and we had been on our feet for five hours. We sat down at a small cafe, one of the very few we'd spied that advertised 'lunch of the day'. This typically includes a small two course meal accompanied by a drink, bread and dessert or coffee. In hindsight we think we would have been better opting for a number of tapas dishes, but it filled a gap. By the time we got back to the apartment we had walked 15 km and were feeling a little seedy. John immediately jumped into bed to catch up on some much-needed sleep, though I woke him after just 1.5 hours to make sure he would have a good sleep tonight. 

Feeling a touch jet-lagged, probably dehydrated and a little footsore we decided to flag eating much for dinner and popped a few doors down the road to a superette, where we bought some bread, cheese and bits for an easy meal. We were into bed by 9pm, with the alarm set for 7am.