By: MJ + PJ
We had Visited Spain on our honeymoon, and wanted to bring AJ to see some of the things we had seen, and more. On that previous occasion we had seen Madrid, Granada, Valencia and Barcelona. This visit of 17 days in Spain seemed a bit rushed, but if you look at our BUCKETED: Month Nine list you’ll see we didn’t miss much! Cities we toured were Seville, Cadiz, Madrid, and Barcelona. Due to the amount of things we did and the number of photos we took, we decided to split our Spain visit into three posts and albums!
SEVILLE
It had been a long day getting to Seville – the overnight train and connection in Madrid to a high speed train had us arriving mid afternoon, a full 28 hours after we had exited our Porto Airbnb.
When we arrived we had difficulty locating the apartment. This is something that happens with some Airbnb’s – the owner will meet and greet you, but not at the actual address. It is sometimes a block away, which was the case this time. After floundering around for 30 minutes, we found some WiFi and a beer and waited about 10 minutes for our host. Once helped inside by the host, we fell into the usual Airbnb routine: drop everything, find a grocery store, fill the fridge, freshen up, relax for a bit, head to bed.
The next day in Seville ended up being a very hectic first day – this is NOT something we aim to do. We raced into the city to get to our 10am tour, then wandered to the 1929 Spanish Expo Park (Plaza de España) where we rowed a boat! More wandering the city, and then we had a late lunch before going on a tapas and flamenco tour across the river in Triana. (The awesome Flamenco show deserved a post of its own, so read about that experience at HUMANITY: Flamenco!)
The next few days we filled with a guided tour of the Catedral de Sevilla (where we saw the Tomb of Columbus) and Real Alcazar of Seville, we stumbled across Casa de Pilatos by chance, visited the Flamenco Museum, had a short tour of the Plaza de Toros de la Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla (aka the bullfighting arena), and walked through the Arco de la Macarena area. Our wandering took us by “the big mushroom thing”, otherwise known as Las Setas De Sevilla several times, and we managed to climb it once. We had tapas here and there, and used the local bus to get to and from out Airbnb if we didn’t feel like walking… or were late and needed to get to a tour on time!
It was time for some hair cuts. Finding an El Cortez Ingles one evening, we were able to stop and buy a 19 Euro hair trimmer. Both MJ and AJ shaved their locks down to a respectable common length. MJ gave PJ’s hair a trim with the scissors that were included. This saved us about triple that cost on haircuts, and we could repeat the haircuts again before we left Europe. We had just enough space to squeeze the kit in a bag!
Seville made a very good impression on us. It was enjoyable to see and experience the culture in Andalusia – we had not experienced it as richly when we visited Granada (a Moorish feeling town and home of the Alhambra) years beforehand. It is very different to what we knew of the culture in Madrid and Barcelona. It was March, but it was already hot, and fairly crowded with tourists.
CADIZ
MJ had this city on his radar – it having a distinct Roman and Phoenician history. Cadiz is only small, but it has plenty to see and do. Unfortunately… or fortunately… we visited during a big week long festival (The Cadiz Carnival!). The evidence of the festival lay about on the streets – confetti! To get to Cadiz we took a train south for just over an hour using our Eurail Pass, this delivering us into the centre of the main city.
Catedral Cadiz is quite impressive but aged and worn (on the sea facing side and the ceilings at least). In the crypt was an acoustic dome which we had fun with for a few minutes. We took a mid-morning snack break waiting for the Roman Theatre ruins to open, which we then had a good look at. This is where a young Julius Caesar was posted for a time, and where he mused about his limited achievements for his age compared to Alexander the Great.
The stretch of land that is Cadiz is quite small so you can walk around most of it in a few hours if you keep moving. We walked around the western edge and out onto the sea wall where there is an old fort – Castillo de San Sebastian. AJ got some beach time and then we continued to another fort (Castillo de Santa Catalina) which had an exceptional local painting display. Following the coast road around clockwise we came across a statue of Simon Bolivar, who we learned about in South America (namesake of Bolivia). Then we saw fantastic topiary examples (shaped trees and hedges!) and a waterfall feature in Genovés Park, followed by a costal boulevard which led to a line of cannons at Murallas De San Carlos, and the impressive Monument to the Constitution of 1812. This was probably the most diverse two mile walk we have ever done!
We had time for some tapas before we left Cadiz – this being the places where the term originated! The story goes that a Spanish king, dismayed at workers choosing wine over food at lunch, noted that in Cadiz they ‘topped’ wine with bread. He took this idea back to Madrid where he instilled a law that drinks must be served, or ‘topped’ with a small plate of food. Let’s absorb some of that alcohol, shall we? True “tapas” are free, but you have to go where the locals are to experience this phenomenon. 😉
We had taken about 3000 photos over the space of six days in Andalusia. It’s a wonderful place to explore, and a place where we will likely return one day to again experience more of the culture. See more of our PHOTOS: Seville and Cadiz here.
