Thursday 13th September 2019
Today we leave Cordoba and travel by bus to Seville.
The receptionist has told us that we do not need to call for a taxi for the return journey to the bus station. Instead, he has shown us a route using a main pedestrian street and tells us that it should take us just 10 to 12 minutes on foot. The route that he pointed out on a map also avoids the myriad of streets that the taxi driver took and therefore greatly reduces the chance of getting lost!
I’m pleased to say that we easily found the station.
The bus took just two hours to reach the city of Seville which is the capital of the Andalusian region.
Unfortunately, the ‘Damas Bus Company’ at the Plaza de Armas bus station which was the terminus for the journey could not issue tickets for our onward journey to Ronda in a few days time. The member of staff advised us that as the bus departed from the Prada San de Sebastian bus terminal the tickets must be purchased from there.
We followed our map to the B & B Naranjo which would be our home for the next few days. As our room was not yet ready, we decided to set off with a map that the receptionist had given us along with directions to reach the tram line that would take us to the bus station.
Well, we got lost and only realised that we had taken the wrong turning when we reached the Metropol Parasol. ‘This must be on the map!’ Dave exclaimed. The huge unusual wooden structure is believed to be amongst the largest wooden buildings in the world. We soon found the space-like building on our map, retraced our steps and eventually arrived at the tram stop.
The tram line is just 1.4 km; it runs on 750v overhead power and its own batteries which charge for a few seconds at each stop. These modern trams eliminate the need for overhead power cables running through the city’s impressive historic centre.
Eventually, we reached the bus station and purchased our tickets for the journey to Ronda from a very helpful young man who spoke excellent English. We have come across few English speaking people while we have been here in Andalucia.
We found a Tapas Bar for a spot of lunch and selected a few dishes to share as usual. Our favourite this time was the spinach and chickpea dish, the potatoes bravo were so much better than when we last tried them too!
Our bed & breakfast is situated down a narrow street named San Roque and has apparently been a hotel since 1810. The common area is tastefully decorated in traditional Andalusian style. There is a tiny inner courtyard and the building has two staircases. The light fittings are ornate and there are many colourful Mudejar style azulejo tiles. There is a small shared lounge area between every couple of rooms.
We were surprised to find that we have two rooms, one of which has an old fashioned style iron single bed, a small comfy chair and a writing desk. The other room is a double bedroom leading to the en suite. Both the rooms have bay windows with black wrought iron grills and view of the street below. The typically Sevillian type house is graded as just a 1* in the Spanish hotel system. It would however, in our opinion, be much better if the furniture in the rooms were upgraded.
B&B Naranjo
We have decided to explore the ‘La Macarena’ area of the city. Specifically, we want to visit the Basilica de Macarena, the Santa Paula Convent for its portal in three different architectural styles and El Rinconcillo Tapas Bar. Later, we plan to go to a Chinese Restaurant for our evening meal.
We made our way to the river and walked along it. It was a beautiful sunny late afternoon, the river was wide and various activities were taking place on it. There were paddle boarders and many canoeists. We spotted a couple of tourist sightseeing boats chugging along and thought that perhaps we may try it. On the shore, there were joggers, cyclists and of course walkers; some serious exercisers were constantly checking their exercise monitors.
The exterior of the basilica is painted in ochre and white. Its interior is beautiful, the chancel and the chapels are decorated ornately and extravagantly as we have seen in other churches over the last few days.
Flower arrangements are situated throughout the church and at first, I wondered if they were in preparation for a wedding.
We noticed a sign in Spanish that we could translate, it stated, ‘no videos or photos during Santa Maria week.’ Oh! Although we managed to understand the notice, we do not have a clue when Santa Maria week is! Is it now, or has the notice been here for some time? Perhaps this is the reason for the numerous flowers?
Looking around we saw other folks photographing and videoing; we noticed a chap who appeared to be a church warden and he seemed to be unconcerned so we felt that it must be okay. I do feel however that perhaps an additional comment stating the dates of the festival would be helpful.
The Convent of Santa Paula was closed. Although we suspected that it may be at this time of day, it was only when we arrived here that we realised that the portal with the Gothic, Mudejar and Renaissance architecture is on the convent’s church which is not visible from the roadside.
We passed by the Palacio de las Dueñas, a 15th century Mudejar palace; its gates were just being closed and secured for the evening.
Staying in the La Macarena district which is a non touristy area of the city we made our way to El Rinconcillo.
This tapas bar was founded in 1670 and is believed to be the place where tapas were first served.
I could just see the tracing of a painting on the wooden ceiling above us, the colours and main outlines had long ago faded. Azulejos tiles decorated the walls.
There was a brilliant ambience. We stood and watched our fellow patrons ordering various tapas and the bill being totted up with chalk on the bar in front of them. The barmen were all smartly dressed in white shirts, black ties and black trousers.
Hams were hanging from above the bar and there were a few large beer barrels that people were stood at, eating and drinking.
A couple and another man wandered in and stood next to us. We soon realised that the man was a guide on a ‘Tapas Tour’ of the city. An enviable job indeed! The guide who was English, (as were the couple), knew the bar staff and spoke to them in Spanish. The three of them stood sipping red wine and the couple nibbled at a plate of Iberico ham and the local tapas dish of spinach and chickpeas. Mmmm I want to stay for dinner! But, we have a date with a Chinese restaurant (as we live in Crete, a Chinese meal is a rare treat).
Meandering slowly we made our way to the eatery, following the map that Dave had downloaded earlier. We were surprised to find only one other couple dining as it was around 9pm. While studying the menu, we were a little confused to read one English translation as ‘Ants move away’, ermm I think we will give that dish a miss.
We enquired if we could taste the house wine; the young waitress disappeared and returned with another member of staff. ‘You wish to sample the house wine?’ she asked, ‘yes, please’ we chorused. ‘No, sorry you cannot as it is one bottle full’ she explained. ‘Oh, okay we will have a bottle anyway’ we replied. She responded by wrinkling her nose and saying that she wouldn’t advise it as it wasn’t very good. So we ordered an alternative bottle of wine, although a small part of me contemplated if we should just leave.
Anyway, we had a delicious meal and a very enjoyable bottle of wine to accompany it! While we were eating our meal, we did a little reading and research in our guidebooks and made a plan for the next day.
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