The home of Flamenco

Trip Start Aug 07, 2011
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6
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Trip End Sep 04, 2011


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Where I stayed

Flag of Spain  , Andalusia,
Saturday, August 20, 2011

From Lisbon to Seville we took a rather unpleasant trip via overnight bus. The bus was not the newest and seemed to stop about every hour in order to horde more and more people onto it, until it was jam packed, even thinking about sleep for the 7 hour trip from 9 pm to 5 am in the morning (Spanish time) would not work. In early morning hours still in darkness we somehow managed to stumble from the bus station to our hotel and were very lucky that we could already check into our room this early on our arrival day. After two hours of sleep there the world looked different again and we were ready for the Spanish adventure. And I must say Seville really impressed the two of us. Our hotel was in the perfect location bang in the center of the old town, allowing us numerous walks through the old streets, that almost reminded a bit of the Alfama in Lisbon, just that the streets were even narrower and even more like labyrinths. The atmosphere in this city was more than amazing, always giving a casual, relaxed touch. It was 42 degrees on our first day in Seville a very hot welcome to Spain, and the temperature quickly explained the Spanish tradition of the siesta
Giralda
Giralda
. From 2 pm to 6 pm most shops are closed and the majority of people on the streets become silly tourists like us that run from one sight to the other in spite of extreme heat. The Spanish themselves during that time relax in their air conditioned home for a long nap until the evening.
This also meant that going out for dinner or shows in the evenings usually started rather late. The majority of people eating out for dinner started at around 10 pm. That again gave the city this buzzing, very much alive city until the very late hours, creating a charming vibe after the sun went down.
Originally I had planned to visit Madrid as our Spanish stop for this tour, but on hindsight I'm really glad that I spoke to my dad before who knows Spain from countless trips of his own. He suggested Seville instead of Madrid, and we did not regret adding Seville on our travel route. It turned out to be one the most beautiful places we visited on this tour, and we had a magnificent stay in the south of Spain. Some of the highlights were the Santa Maria de la Sede cathedral (biggest Gothic cathedral of the world) with its Grialda bell tower (which formerly was a minaret during the Muslim domination of the Iberic Peninsula), the medieval town with the narrow, beautiful streets, the Torre del Oro next to the Guadalquivir river, the atmosphere in the old town, the inexpensive, tasty Tapas, a Flamenco show in the old town and the majestic presentation of the Plaza de Espana. We truly discovered another pearl of Europe.
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