Seville

It wasn’t on our itinerary, but when we found out we could make a day trip to Seville for a paltry 16 euro per person we jumped at the chance. It was only three hours to get to the most beautiful Plaza de Espana. Scenes from Laurence of Arabia and Star Wars Episode two were shot at this majestic setting. After a short bus ride we were at our next destination, the world’s largest cathedral (Seville Cathedral). Words and pictures cannot begin to do this justice because the size a beauty were unbelievable but it was breathtaking to stand in the treasury and see the most gold you could lay your eyes on this side of El Dorado. Seville Cathedral is also home to the tomb of Christopher Columbus and it was a wonderfully strange experience to stand in the presence of the legendary explorer. As Joseph mentioned we seeing an awful lot of things relevant to things we’ve heard about. A trip to the cathedral is not complete without climbing the grand tower. This is the only part of the cathedral that has been retained from the original mosque when it was taken over by the Catholics. There are no stairs in the tower, just 35 inclined ramps, leading to the peak. This is because people used to ride horses up to the top. At about ramp 20 we began to think there was something in this and began to look for a stray pony, but alas none were to be found. Physical discomforts aside, the views across Seville were amazing and it was well worth the effort to get to the top.
Upon leaving the cathedral it was time for food. Joseph and Maddy hit the local pastries with gusto while it would be pointless to be in Spain without sampling the local food. As our guide Victor said, “gastronomy is part of travel”. With this in mind we visited a Spanish restaurant and ordered a tapa of paella. It was delicious and very reasonable at just 2:50. It would have been impossible to eat a full sized dish so this proved a great choice. Finally there was a chance to hit the shops, a find some Spanish tiles before embarking on the ride back to Albufeira. It seemed to fly by in the dark, probably as we were all a bit tired. What a great day and an unexpected bonus to our trip.