David and Jo's Adventures: Sevilla the old and the new

Sat 12th July 2014

After a good night’s sleep we decided to walk into the city again but this time through the Parque Maria Luisa, as it is on the other side of the river from us. This area of the city was developed for the 1929 Exposition to celebrate Spain’s achievements in Latin America. There are Pavilions for each of the American countries that are now Embassies and museums (we spent some time in the Archaeological museum) they are very varied and beautiful with lovely gardens to each one. The Park is also lovely with a big variety of mature trees and bushes and although still colourful I think we may have just missed the best of the stunning flowering. In the middle of the Park is the Plaza de Espana also built in the 1920’s although it looks a lot older; it is a magnificent building that now houses a lot of government departments. Along its base are about 52 ceramic picture displays depicting different areas of Spain in a huge semi- circle. We thought it strange that the entire building seemed to be designed with a Moorish theme yet a lot of these tile displays depicted the defeating and humiliation of the Moors. Seville became one of Spain’s most important ports when the America’s were discovered. The river is navigable and being about 90 kms from the sea at Cadiz was a safe haven from pirates. It saw huge amounts of trade go through the city and there is a massive building here where the first tobacco was processed (it is now part of the University) and of course huge amounts of gold that the Indians had very kindly let them have!! We walked into the main City and had a drink and some tapas before wandering around the old city and enjoying the little streets and alleys. They have sun shades attached across the buildings and many of the restaurants have misters to keep their customers cool, July and August are the slowest months for tourists as it can get very hot so we certainly picked the right time to come as we feel we have the place to ourselves and the heat is bearable at the moment and cools at night so we can sleep with no aircon. We also found where the free city walking tours go from so will probably do one of those on Monday evening after a visit to the magnificent Cathedral as tomorrow we have decided to explore on our bikes the parks and river. Managed to find the Metropol Parasol building which was built in 2011, it is very unusual, looks a bit like a giant roller coaster but is certainly pleasing to the eye and a great contrast to the old of the city. While walking around we also came across a wedding taking place in one of the magnificent churches so waited around for the bride to enter and listened to the young choir singing, all very lovely, but I think Jo thought she was the official photographer!!!! Walked back along the river to Priscilla, which was by now a long way away, we had been out for 11 hours and had been walking for most of the time but had certainly seen some great sites. Back at Priscilla by 10 O’clock for showers and left overs, before I managed to stuff up our inverter by connecting to the battery the wrong way!!!! So will now have fun trying to find a replacement as I don’t think it can be repaired. Not the best way to finish a good day but these things are sent to test our patience!!!!!