Seville


The Bulls Entrance.....No Bull!

Ran the AC all night as it only cooled the bedroom. The bathroom was easily 15C warmer overnight. In the morning the room didn’t come with breakfast so we headed down to the end of the street for a fantastic coffee and pastry place. Wow the coffee was super strong and good, no bitterness to it at all. 


Took the bus #166/ or 160 into Seville proper, 1.3E for a 15 min ride. And walked to all the sites in Seville. The first is the Bull Ring, considered the top ring in Spain, it is where the King and Queen of Spain come to see a bull fight and one is on for this weekend. We took the tour of the stadium and it was very informative. I had attended a bull fight when I was a kid but I learned more from the tour than the actual fight.

Seville has a river running through it that used to at one time allow Seville to be a port on the sea, however in the 1500’s the flood plain silted in and it is no longer navigable that way. The river and activities on it remind me a lot of Florence, and there are many similarities to the two cities. They are very comparable in architecture as well.


We passed on the Cathedral tour the most pressing being it was a long line-up and the temp was already over 30C. 

So we headed off to the Real Alcazar, where when the Christian’s drove the Moors out of Seville in the mid 1400’s they demolished the Mosque that was in the Alcazar and built a palace for the King and Queen of Spain there instead. It still has many features that are Moorish in style principally because Moorish trades left behind after the war were available to do the work. It is a gorgeous palace and gardens to see.


Carriages outside Alcazar


We walked the back streets and found many interesting tips on staying cool. First they build their streets so they are almost always casting shade and it generates a bit of a breeze. 


Play Misty for Me?


That's right folks 39C
verified by another 3 blocks away

Secondly some of the cafes will mist water over their customers during the hottest parts of the day to keep them cool. It works!


Check out the temperature downtown Seville. Yikes. Now back to drinking cool lemon soda.

Comments

Orestis said…
Never trust temperature indicators exposed in direct sunlight but I can easily believe it was hot :)

Enjoy!
May 25, 2011 at 12:45 PM
The Smith's V Strom Adventures said…
That's true that's why this one was verified by another that was in the shade and read 36C
June 5, 2011 at 3:30 AM
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