Casco Antiguo

Travel day today…we walked from our lovely hotel before breakfast to the bus station, about a 20-30 min walk. The bus station which was being renovated and rather chaotic a year ago is now great - comfortable waiting area, boards of arrivals and departures, a cafe for our bfast coffee and pastry and free clean loos! What else could you ask for. Our bus was express to Madrid and took about 3 and half hours…arrived before midday and had lots of time to relaxedly get from the enormous Madrid bus station via metro to the Atocha train station for our fast train to Seville.

All went smoothly, and we remembered how to get tickets to the user-friendly Metro (and managed not to get pick pocketed - all my important things were totally impermeable to roving hands!) and when we got to Atocha had a light bite in our “usual” cafe in the wide leafy boulevard opposite the station. So nice…warm, sunny - I think my fleece that I have been wearing day and evening is now packed away till we return home! And of course here in Andalusia it is even hotter..hits the low 30s at the peak…too hot for me.

Train ride was 2 and half hours and we went through so much cultivated land..grain fields, but mostly olives everywhere, and many many orchards of presumably oranges. And rugged and craggy rocky parts too..I love just looking out the window and working out the agricultural happenings. Rachel and I just about think we’ve sorted out barley and wheat using our apps! We arrived at 5.45 and were going to walk to our hotel (or hostal really - not sure of the correct definition) which is in the heart of the old town in the labyrinth of streets. Google gave directions and said it would be about 25 minutes. It was hot when we arrived - can’t say we were tired having sat all day, but we suddenly felt we’d get hot and bothered trying to find our way and decided on a taxi…nice driver who knew his way but had trouble as the police for unknown reason were blocking a street he needed and we drove round and round in this maze till he finally gave in and dropped us off at a square and pointed us in the right direction. It wasn’t expensive and I think he felt it was unprofessional not to get us to the door!

So we headed off, bouncing our bags over the cobbles and with one help of a girl at a bar on the way found our wonderful resting place for the next 3 nights. Up 2 steep flights of stairs to our room (but the bags can go by lift!!) and we are very happy. Very close to the cathedral and all you want to see in Seville, just hope we can always find our way home…went out first and had a beer at the bar where the girl helped us, then walked round a bit but finally gave in and found a table at a lovely little place and had superb food. By 8.30 it was hard to find a table - all the bars were buzzing and had lines of people waiting, so we were lucky. We had an amazing dish of artichoke flower, grilled and spread out flower-like, with truffle, soft poached egg and Parmesan and nuts sprinkled…amazing combo that worked so well! Also for the first time found my fave baby squids, this time with a mushroom/garlic sauce, and our favourite pimientos padron…so we are quite ecstatic.

But this is so different from pilgrim towns, even big ones like Burgos and León…maybe it’s just Andalusia but SO different. We haven’t been here since 1994, 30 years ago, so the same, but more so I think. On Monday we go to Granada for 2 nights, but have found out that the Alhambra is booked out till June 2!! Oh well, we’ll have a nice day seeing the other things and relaxing. Probably need it after 2 days here in the Seville vibe!Les mer