Walking out of the estacione autobuses, we were blasted with heat that I have never felt before. It was 5:30pm and the nearby temperature reading said 43 degrees. We were in for a hot few days!
We checked into Oasis Backpacker's Hostel and were immediately confronted with the mother of all hostels. Four huge colourful floors, activities galore, a rooftop terrace complete with a small pool and a bar serving up all sorts of drinks, it was a backpacker's heaven.
We signed up for the 5 euro paella night and sat up on the rooftop terrace eating paella, drinking mojito's and listening to an American and UK duo playing some great tunes.
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| the largest wooden structure in the world, bit of a waste of space really |
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| most streets in Seville have sails joining the two buildings to try and keep the scorching heat out - great idea |
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| an exact replica of 'El Giraldillo', a 16th century bronze weathervane which sits atop the 90m Giralda tower |
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| how the hell this old lady pulled this trick off is beyond me!! |
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| Torre del Oro (Tower of Gold) - a 13th century Islamic watchtower, supposedly had a dome covered in golden tiles |
* I wonder if this is why 7-11 is called what it is, because that's where all the Muslims work??
One of the interesting things we learnt was the story behind the statue below.
Maria del Rosario Cayetana Alfonsa Victoria Eugenia Francisca Fitz-James Stuart y de Silva, otherwise known as the Duchess of Alba, is the richest woman in Spain. Apart from her wealth, including owning over a dozen castles, she is most famous for having more titles than any noble on Earth, being a Duchess 7 times over, a countess 22 times and a marquesa 24 times. As head of the 539-year-old House of Alba, her privileges include not having to kneel before the Pope, or bow to the Queen (in fact the Queen would have to bow to her if they ever met!), and she has the right to ride on horseback into the Seville Cathedral hah!
We were told that she is not a very well liked person in Spain, her statue is constantly defaced and the garden trampled on. Rumour has it that she actually paid to have this statue erected herself!
Next we entered the Parque de Maria Luisa, a stunning expanse of gardens and boulevards. It's main drawcard is the amazing Plaza de Espana which was built in 1929. It is a huge semi-circular brick building building and in front, following the curve of its facade is a 500m canal crossed by 4 beautiful bridges, it is a seriously cool public place. Some losers rent small boats to row in the canal which is why it is known as the "Venice of Seville"
Measuring 50,000 square metres, the Plaza is the size of 5 football pitches and along the wall by the canal are 48 alcoves, one for each province of Spain, all designed on colourful ceramic tiles.
By the time we left the Plaza, the sun was beating down on us so hardcore that I thought the whole city was going to burst into flames. We tried to stick to the shade as much as possible, but it was no use, we just had to embrace it and let the sweat pour out. The tour went for about 45 more minutes, passing by Seville's massive former tobacco factory, the second largest building in Spain, and then finished back in the heart of the city.
Anna and I, and a guy called Mark from Brisbane that we had met the night before found the nearest air-conditioned restaurant and sat down for a well deserved can of coke and a pretty good serving of paella.
Mark then left us and Anna and I went off to see the Seville Cathedral.
"We're going to construct a church so large, future generations will think we were mad" declared the architects of Seville at the beginning of one of the most impressive building projects in medieval history, and that they did......it was gigantic. In fact it is currently the largest gothic church and third largest church in the world!
Our favourite part though, was the tomb of Christopher Colombus. It was certainly one of the more elaborate tomb's we have seen on our travels and one that I could see myself being buried in one day!
The remains within the tomb are actually the subject of heated debate, with some arguing that the famous explorer is buried in the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean.
As we have done in almost every main city, we climbed the highest tower in Seville, the Giralda. The ascent was a piece of cake, as a series of ramps were built to enable the guards to ride up on horseback.
Planted with over 60 orange trees, the cathedral courtyard was excellent as well.
We then left with about 25 or so people on a so called "tapas crawl". The first bar/restaurant was pretty cool and we had some great food, albeit quite small portions. Thankfully the 100m final was also on the tv, so we were able to watch Usain Bolt convincingly win the gold medal, what a freakazoid he is!
The next tapas bar was pretty average, but considering we had only paid about 10 euro for the whole "crawl" and we were getting free drinks, we couldn't really complain. Apart from a few nice people that we met, the majority of the crowd were a bunch of dropkicks, especially one Australian girl who thought it would be ok for her to run around in her bikini's with her fat pimply rolls bundling about everywhere, it was disgusting and she was a disgrace, and an embarrassment to come from the same country!
The next day started off as a bit of a disaster. It was so hot, that we needed a day by the beach, even though it was an hour and a half a way. We signed up for the 28 euro beach day that promised plenty of sangria, beach volleyball and other games, it sounded like a bit of fun.
We got up early and went to the meeting point at 8:45am. The bus turned up and there was no-one in it and we thought they must be picking us up first. Not to be.......we were the only ones who had signed up, so the hours of beach volleyball I was looking forward to playing went out the window!
We both slept pretty much the whole way there and only woke up when Marta, the fat lesbian who was taking the so called beach tour, blasted the music from the radio. A nearby supermarket provided all the food necessary to make our own lunches and by about 11:30am we were baking on a really nice beach.
It turned out to be quite a good day. We read heaps of our books, caught plenty of sun, had a nice lunch, the water was really cold and refreshing and we also caught up on some much needed sleep.
That night we decided we would not sign up for any crawls or dinners or anything, we'd take the trusty Lonely Planet and go and find a restaurant ourselves.
I know I have mentioned it plenty of times, but oh mio dio it was hot. Walking through the city to dinner at about 9pm, it was literally still 37-38 degrees.
After what seemed like an eternity of searching, we finally settled on a great restaurant and decided to sit inside as it was air-conditioned.
We paid about 20 euro and got 7 different plates of tapas that were absolutely mouth wateringly good. The beef stew in the terracotta pot was a clear favourite for me, whilst Anna was raving about the fried prawns wrapped in eggplant. Afterwards we were still a little hungry, so we shared a decent sized plate of paella which was probably the best we have had to date.
At the heart of the palace is the Patio de las Doncellas, a beautiful area surrounded by arches and exquisite plasterwork and tiling, the sort of thing I'd like in my home!
The gardens were an almost equally impressive array of beautiful plants, palm trees, hedges, paths, wildlife, mazes, fountains and other water features.
Some off the water features were so clever how they all flowed along the paths and combined into eachother, it's kind of hard to explain, but it was really cool.
Walking out the exit, we realised we had been in there for over 3 hours and it was therefore time for lunch. Lonely Planet put us onto Catalina, which was a great tapas bar that had a creative mix of just about every ingredient known to Spanish cooking. Anna was salivating when her plat of goats cheese, eggplant and paprika arrived!
I took the opportunity to get a haircut from the nearby saloon as the length of my hair was getting out of control. Unfortunately the girls didn't speak a word of English, so I just went with it and hoped to god that it worked out ok. In the end it was just ok, but really a little too short for my liking. Hopefully it grows back quick!
That night we had a few drinks on the terrace, listened to the American and Pom sing some more great songs and then Mark accompanied us for our last dinner in Seville.
Dinner was again really good - we have certainly been spoilt with all the great food we have been eating and the majority of it has been reasonably healthy as well!
Mark coerced us into a few drinks with some other people from the hostel down by the river and with the clock ticking past midnight and the temperature still 30 degrees, a few cold beers were definitely in order.
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| our tour guide, Anya from Poland, really knew her stuff.......and was quite cute! |
Maria del Rosario Cayetana Alfonsa Victoria Eugenia Francisca Fitz-James Stuart y de Silva, otherwise known as the Duchess of Alba, is the richest woman in Spain. Apart from her wealth, including owning over a dozen castles, she is most famous for having more titles than any noble on Earth, being a Duchess 7 times over, a countess 22 times and a marquesa 24 times. As head of the 539-year-old House of Alba, her privileges include not having to kneel before the Pope, or bow to the Queen (in fact the Queen would have to bow to her if they ever met!), and she has the right to ride on horseback into the Seville Cathedral hah!
We were told that she is not a very well liked person in Spain, her statue is constantly defaced and the garden trampled on. Rumour has it that she actually paid to have this statue erected herself!
Next we entered the Parque de Maria Luisa, a stunning expanse of gardens and boulevards. It's main drawcard is the amazing Plaza de Espana which was built in 1929. It is a huge semi-circular brick building building and in front, following the curve of its facade is a 500m canal crossed by 4 beautiful bridges, it is a seriously cool public place. Some losers rent small boats to row in the canal which is why it is known as the "Venice of Seville"
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| panoramic shot of Plaza de Espana |
Measuring 50,000 square metres, the Plaza is the size of 5 football pitches and along the wall by the canal are 48 alcoves, one for each province of Spain, all designed on colourful ceramic tiles.
Anna and I, and a guy called Mark from Brisbane that we had met the night before found the nearest air-conditioned restaurant and sat down for a well deserved can of coke and a pretty good serving of paella.
Mark then left us and Anna and I went off to see the Seville Cathedral.
"We're going to construct a church so large, future generations will think we were mad" declared the architects of Seville at the beginning of one of the most impressive building projects in medieval history, and that they did......it was gigantic. In fact it is currently the largest gothic church and third largest church in the world!
The cathedral has almost 80 chapels, off shooting in all directions from the main cathedral area, it really is ridiculously big. There are also many other rooms that are also quite amazing in their own right.
Our favourite part though, was the tomb of Christopher Colombus. It was certainly one of the more elaborate tomb's we have seen on our travels and one that I could see myself being buried in one day!
The remains within the tomb are actually the subject of heated debate, with some arguing that the famous explorer is buried in the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean.
As we have done in almost every main city, we climbed the highest tower in Seville, the Giralda. The ascent was a piece of cake, as a series of ramps were built to enable the guards to ride up on horseback.
Standing almost 100m above sea level, we were afforded great views of the ok looking city (it is certainly no Florence!). We were able to look down on the many hotels with roof-top pools though which was cool.
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| Seville bull-fighting ring |
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| looking down on the Colossal cathedral |
By the time we left the cathedral we were absolutely spent. I luckily stumbled upon a shop selling lemon granita's which is the closest thing to a slurpee I'm ever going to find. It was about 5pm and still absolutely sizzling hot, so we retired to our air-conditioned room for a few hours and then headed up to the hostel roof-top for some drinks and a few tapas treats.
We then left with about 25 or so people on a so called "tapas crawl". The first bar/restaurant was pretty cool and we had some great food, albeit quite small portions. Thankfully the 100m final was also on the tv, so we were able to watch Usain Bolt convincingly win the gold medal, what a freakazoid he is!
The next tapas bar was pretty average, but considering we had only paid about 10 euro for the whole "crawl" and we were getting free drinks, we couldn't really complain. Apart from a few nice people that we met, the majority of the crowd were a bunch of dropkicks, especially one Australian girl who thought it would be ok for her to run around in her bikini's with her fat pimply rolls bundling about everywhere, it was disgusting and she was a disgrace, and an embarrassment to come from the same country!
The next day started off as a bit of a disaster. It was so hot, that we needed a day by the beach, even though it was an hour and a half a way. We signed up for the 28 euro beach day that promised plenty of sangria, beach volleyball and other games, it sounded like a bit of fun.
We got up early and went to the meeting point at 8:45am. The bus turned up and there was no-one in it and we thought they must be picking us up first. Not to be.......we were the only ones who had signed up, so the hours of beach volleyball I was looking forward to playing went out the window!
We both slept pretty much the whole way there and only woke up when Marta, the fat lesbian who was taking the so called beach tour, blasted the music from the radio. A nearby supermarket provided all the food necessary to make our own lunches and by about 11:30am we were baking on a really nice beach.
It turned out to be quite a good day. We read heaps of our books, caught plenty of sun, had a nice lunch, the water was really cold and refreshing and we also caught up on some much needed sleep.
That night we decided we would not sign up for any crawls or dinners or anything, we'd take the trusty Lonely Planet and go and find a restaurant ourselves.
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| Giralda Tower with the sun almost down |
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| most restaurants in Seville have machines that blow out cold mist to try and give you a break from the sweaty heat |
We paid about 20 euro and got 7 different plates of tapas that were absolutely mouth wateringly good. The beef stew in the terracotta pot was a clear favourite for me, whilst Anna was raving about the fried prawns wrapped in eggplant. Afterwards we were still a little hungry, so we shared a decent sized plate of paella which was probably the best we have had to date.
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| Giralda Tower at night, lit up by many lights that are aimed at it from all angles |
The next day was a real highlight, the Alcazar - Residence of many generations of Kings and Caliphs, the Alcazar is Seville's answer to Granada's Alhambra and is a real sensation. Originally founded as a fort for the Cordoban governors of Seville in 913, the Alcazar has been expanded and rebuilt many times in its 11 centuries of existence. The catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, set up court here in the 1480's as they prepared for the conquest of Seville and Granada. Later rulers created the Alcazar;s lovely gardens.
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| the entrance to the Alcazar |
Without doubt the highlight for both of us were the colourful ceramic tiles that decorated many of the walls. Fair chance at some stage in the future our kitchen and bathrooms will contain some form of these tiles haha.
At the heart of the palace is the Patio de las Doncellas, a beautiful area surrounded by arches and exquisite plasterwork and tiling, the sort of thing I'd like in my home!
The gardens were an almost equally impressive array of beautiful plants, palm trees, hedges, paths, wildlife, mazes, fountains and other water features.
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| Anna poking her head out of the maze |
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| we drank a lot of water and there were hardly any toilets around, so this was the best spot to relieve myself! |
Walking out the exit, we realised we had been in there for over 3 hours and it was therefore time for lunch. Lonely Planet put us onto Catalina, which was a great tapas bar that had a creative mix of just about every ingredient known to Spanish cooking. Anna was salivating when her plat of goats cheese, eggplant and paprika arrived!
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| Mojito on tap, who would have thought!! |
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| "hamburger" with meat, bacon, cheese and mashed potato - awesome |
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| chicken skewers, honey soy sauce and pumpkin seeds - awesome again |
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| mini sirloin steaks with scallop potatoes and sweet caramelised onion - even more awesome |
After lunch we spent a few hours going through the shops, but unfortunately couldn't find anything to purchase. By this stage it was about 6pm and again still bloody hot and all we could think about was our air-conditioned room!
I took the opportunity to get a haircut from the nearby saloon as the length of my hair was getting out of control. Unfortunately the girls didn't speak a word of English, so I just went with it and hoped to god that it worked out ok. In the end it was just ok, but really a little too short for my liking. Hopefully it grows back quick!
That night we had a few drinks on the terrace, listened to the American and Pom sing some more great songs and then Mark accompanied us for our last dinner in Seville.
Dinner was again really good - we have certainly been spoilt with all the great food we have been eating and the majority of it has been reasonably healthy as well!
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| this guy couldn't cope with the heat any longer! |
The next morning we were up early and at the bust station by 9:00am to continue our adventures, next stop Granada!
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