Saturday 15th September 2018
Triana District: Boat Cruise on the Guadalquivir River
After breakfast this morning we walked to the river and continued to the Golden Tower. This popular name for the dodecagonal stone watchtower is due to the fact that at one point in history it was used as a storage facility for gold.
Torre Del Oro is the tower’s official title.
The boat cruises weren’t due to start for another hour or so, so we walked over the bridge and wandered into the Triana district.
The Mudejar-Gothic church named Santa Ana was just opening its doors for visitors. We went inside and walked around its interior.
A bicycle tour had stopped outside and the cyclists were gazing upwards at the church’s pretty blue and white steeple. A guide was telling them the history of the religious building.
The church of Santa Ana is often referred to as the ‘Cathedral of Triana’.
We sauntered around the cobbled streets and admired the tiled patterned dome of the Capilla Del Carmen, a small chapel that was built in the 1920’s.
Dave noticed a ‘mercadillo’, I thought it was a supermarket but it was a local market selling mainly foodstuffs. There were numerous stalls, one with a colourful assortment of olives, one with hams, others with freshly produced local vegetables. Another stall was selling a variety of cheeses including, believe it or not, ‘Wensleydale with mango & orange’!
There were three or four bustling cafes filled with locals having a midmorning coffee. We spotted one or two fellow tourists with their tell tale signs of maps and cameras on the table; another, like myself, was scribbling rapidly in a notepad.
A waiter was shouting loudly EE OR EE OR, (imitating an emergency siren) when he was trying to make his way through the people with a heavy tray.
We stopped at one of the cafes and ordered our usual cafe con leche and cafe solo along with what resembled a vanilla slice but unfortunately it didn’t taste like one!
A walking tour arrived with their guide and proceeded to walk up and down each aisle, many photographed the fresh produce particularly the spring onions which were enormous.
We saw one or two folk walking around eating fruit from small polystyrene trays which they had purchased from one of the stalls. There were three or four strawberries, half a banana and a couple of portions of other peeled fruit. What an excellent idea!
We crossed back over the river and returned to the tower to board one of the boat cruises.
The boat trip along the Guadalquivir River had commentary about the various sights to be seen in six different languages.
The river flows down from the Sierra de Cazorla mountain range through Cordoba and Seville, and then it continues for a further 100km before it reaches the Atlantic Ocean. It is 650km long.
After checking our guidebook for any recommended tapas bar in the nearby vicinity we followed our map to the only suggested eatery. Unfortunately it was full and there was a 30 minute waiting period. A pleasant young member of staff suggested that we try their newly opened ‘sister tapas bar’ just a short walk away. But when we got there we found the place to be ultra modern, not for us! We prefer a traditional place.
Wandering around, we came across an indoor market, ‘Mercado del Arenal’. A chap at one of the food stalls called us over and offered us a taste of roast pork, it was thinly sliced and dressed with coarse salt, pepper and olive oil, it was very tasty. After looking at some of the other places we decided to return for the roast pork.
The chap was friendly and enquired where we were from, ‘Yorkshire’ we replied. He had lived in Warrington for a while and worked as a pharmacist there before returning to his birthplace to become a vintner and open the small eatery. He also offered wine tasting sessions.
Our roast pork was delicious, we added a tomato salad (which was simply roughly chopped tomatoes, salt & pepper and olive oil), plus a tapas plate of cheese which arrived sprinkled with raisins.
There were half a dozen male locals sat chatting, drinking and nibbling at their tapas on the next table to us. When the proprietor became busy, one of the locals helped him a little by serving the food and he also served himself and his friends more drinks. There was a camaraderie atmosphere.
When we finally requested our bill, we saw that instead of noting a table number the man from Warrington had simply written ‘Yorkshire’ on the top of the bill.
Later, we returned to the hotel to relax for a while and then we packed as we are travelling again tomorrow.
We went for a walk later before our evening meal. Many people were strolling around, tourists and locals alike. Surprisingly all the shops were still open even though it was a Saturday evening.
We saw a group of young men, a stag party; a few minutes later we saw a hen party, all the girls were wearing the same printed t-shirts emblazoned with ‘Katie’s Hen Party’.
Stopping for a drink we sat and watched the world go by for a while and chatted about where to go for dinner. We both agreed to return to the Chinese Restaurant where we had eaten on our first evening in Seville.
As last night, the wind suddenly got up as we were making our way there and everyone around us started to quicken their pace. Just as Dave was opening the door to the restaurant there was a deafening clap of thunder and the heavens opened. We were lucky!
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