Splendour of Seville

Rest Day in Seville – Wed 11^th May 2016

Town PhotosTrip Maps
 

My last day in Seville has been spent visiting the city’s top tourist sites ~ the Cathedral (one of the largest in Christendom) and the Giralda Tower (which you climb for a magnificent view of Seville). The two attractions are adjacent, about a 1.5 Km walk from where I am staying.

It is an understatement to say that the Cathedral’s majestic splendour filled me with wonder. I have seen many churches and cathedrals around the world, but this one is simply magnificent and stands out from the rest. It was worth queueing twice in the rain, each queue at least 100 m long. I say twice because after working my way slowly to the front of the first queue I was told that this entrance was for groups only – plebs like me had to use the entrance around the other side of the building. Not to worry though because in the second queue I struck up a friendship with an English couple from Reading who happened to be cricket tragics like me.

The entrance to the amazing Giralda Tower is from within the Cathedral and the cost is included in the €9 admission charge. Although the tower is about 10 floors high, climbing to the top was no trouble at all because the spiralling walkway has a fairly gentle gradient (much easier than steps). It is difficult to describe in words how magnificent the view is from the top, so I will let the photos talk for themselves.

Very close to the Cathedral and the Giralda tower is the royal Mudéjar palace, otherwise known as the Reales Alcázares de Sevilla, which is renowned for its marvellous gardens. However, after seeing the queue, and with the rain still pouring down, I decided to give it a miss. Instead I walked back to my B&B via the delightful Santa Cruz quarter, with its cramped streets, flowered balconies, and richly decorated facades.

My experience is that the food in Seville is sensational. Seville is credited with the invention of tapas and has more than a thousand bars where the choice of food is virtually unlimited, from seafood to ham and sausage, from vegetable to cheese. The Sevillians actually make a meal of them, moving from bar to bar and trying one dish at a time. The menus in many bars and cafés show three columns of prices for each menu item: 1) Tapas size portions (typically €3); 2) Entre size portions (typically €8); and 3) Main course size (typically €12).  On the first night I was here I tried a mixture of four different tapas, each of which tasted incredible (particularly the grilled goats cheese and the breaded chicken) and which were served in such generous portions that I left the restaurant fully sated.

Tomorrow I cycle to a little Spanish village called La Palma del Condado (about 54 Km due west of Seville), which is the first of 11 stages of my 500 Km journey to Santa Clara – Sabóia in Portugal. From there I will catch a Comboios de Portugal train to Lisbon (3 nights), then to Coimbra (2 nights), and finally to Porto (4 nights) before flying back to Gatwick and my dear wife in London.