Friday October 3, 2014

Not used to these late nights! We got up late and had breakfast at the hostel, it is included in the price and had quite a good choice.

We were going to sign up for the morning walking tour, but after getting so much information on last nights tour, we decided that we would wander around ourselves. We needed to get Ralf’s phone sorted out again – apparently he has no credits. I need my data stick updated and I need a new cycling jersey. One of my merino wool jerseys has more holes in it than material. Ralf says I look like a bag lady when I am wearing it. Every time I wash it another hole appears.

We started our own walking tour of Sevilla and promptly got lost. Heading in completely the wrong direction.

On last nights walking tour Medi (our guide) told us that some streets have more than one name and took us down a street that had five different names in a 25 metre long street. On one side of the street it was called The street of Death on the other side of the street it was called Suzanna.

This is why it is so easy to get lost in Seville and can be a little frustrating. I can’t remember how many times we got turned around.

We eventually found an Orange store, apparently we have been getting messages through our “premium service” that has taken all our credits. I was furious, Ralf managed to keep calm. A very kind English lady translated for us in the store and the shop assistant managed to get us connected to customer service to sort out the issue. We have to block the “premium service”. Which we managed to get done. We have had to add more credits on, if this gets eaten up by some bogus company we will go back to just having the computer and Skype.

The City of Seville is a little overwhelming with the history and architecture. Seville was founded by the Romans, then the Muslims took over in the 700’s and ruled for over 500 years. The first Muslims to rule were from Arabia, the second group were from North Africa – the Moors. In the 1200’s the Christians moved in. There were many marriages between various European Royal families and Spain became very wealthy and influential. However, due to mismanagement and the fact that they lost their colonies in the 1800’s they lots their influence and their money.  The mismanagement is still happening, banks are closing and the unemployment rate in Andalucia is one of the highest in Spain at 34%.

Back to the 1200’s the Christians gave the Muslims and Jews an ultimatum – leave, pay more taxes, or convert to Christianity. Oh but, by the way we need the Jews to stay as we need your expertise with the banking “money lending”. The problem occurred when the plague decimated Europe and because the Jewish population were in their segregated quarters and had better hygiene practices, they escaped the mass deaths that the rest of Europe encountered.

In Seville they killed over 2,000 Jews in the street that is now called the Calle de la meurte – Street of Death.

We walked over to the Plaza d’Espana. A beautiful area with gardens and a stunning building.

After we returned to the hostel we went for our paella lesson. It was good, but Joy did a better job of showing us how to make paella and hers tasted better. After paella and more Sangria and white wine for me, we decided to find the Flamenco bar that the portly Sevillian had told us about.

We had missed the Flamenco dancing, but watched the “poet” and the singer and a group of older Sevillian’s dance Flamenco. At this bar everyone or anyone can get up to dance.

We found the bar quite easily, getting home was another problem. Once you have made a wrong turn in Seville you continue to make wrong turns. After finding the University and the tram tracks, we followed the tram tracks back towards the Cathedral and found the hostel. We eventually got back to the hostel well after 2:00 am.

Saturday October 4, 2014

Not too late up this morning considering how late we went to bed. While we were having breakfast I did a load of washing. We are not allowed to hang the washing on the upstairs patio, so we strung a washing line in the room and hung it in there. It dried quite nicely.

Today we went to the Royal Palace, Real Alcazar. It has some lovely gardens and again overwhelming architecture.

We also signed up for the formal Flamenco dancing show. It included a dance with the male and female dancers – very sensual, a dance with the female which was awesome, the female dancer was very intense, the male dancer on his own and then the guitar solo and the singer solo.

The singer was very emotive and sang a very sad song, which we couldn’t understand, but he looked very sad.

After the show, we cooked our own dinner in the kitchen and planned our route to Gibraltar.

An early night as we are hoping to be on the road by 8:30 tomorrow.

We had a great time in Seville.  Lots of history, lots of wonderful sites, sounds and smells.  Really busy with tourists but lots of fun.