26/4 : We got to the station about 7am for the 8.30 train which was just as well because the check in security was similar to an airport. The swiss pocket knife in my big suitcase (for corkscrew and apple peeling duties) was spotted and very reluctantly handed back. The Spanish high speed rail network is the longest in Europe with trains travelling up to 320km/h. The 828 km to Seville took 5 hours with half a dozen stops so we averaged 165 km/h – makes our trains look pretty pathetic. It also made photography from the train rather difficult with very blurry foregrounds !
The first part of trip was surprisingly bumpy and rattley, bit like the Vietnamese train, except about 100 times the speed ! It smoothed out later. The country of the central uplands of Spain was very hard and rugged with rather anaemic cereal crops and a lot of olive plantations. It improved further south with extensive citrus plantations and later on in Andalusia we saw much beautiful country.
We arrived to find Seville in a state of high excitement. The Grand Final between Barcelona and Seville was on that night and fans were pouring in to show support for their teams. The train station was very busy and the taxis in high demand. After being rejected by a number of taxis, due to the amount of luggage we had, we were finally whisked away to our hotel by a charming young man who became even more charming in Lyndal’s eyes when he battled back through the traffic 20 minutes later to return her phone that she had left behind in the taxi.
Our hotel was situated in a beautifully renovated old building in central Seville.
When we had settled in, we ventured out into the crowded streets, found a tapas bar, and sat back to watch the passing parade. That night Barcelona beat Seville by a narrow margin and when we woke the next day the streets were virtually empty.
We decided that the best way to get our bearings was to do a circuit on the Hop on Hop off bus and decide what we wanted to see the over the next couple of days. The only hitch in our plan was that the stops were very badly marked and we spent a lot of time chasing red buses before we finally cornered one.
It was hot on the bus so after one circuit we hopped off and adjourned to the El Cairo to try their highly recommended paella. It is made fresh to order and we were warned it would take about an hour so we partook of a couple of their highly recommended gin and tonics and passed a very painless hour watching the parade of immaculately dressed Sevilleans gathering for lunch.
The 1929 Iberian-American Exposition was a big event in Seville and in preparation they renovated much of the southern part of the city. The centrepiece is the beautifully landscaped Parque de Maria Louisa, so we made that our destination for the day’s exploring.
It was originally the gardens of the Palace of San Elmo and extensively renovated by one of Seville’s leading landscape designers. Ten countries built pavilions in and around the Park for the Expo and today many of the pavilions remain and are in use either as Consulates or museums. The Argentinian Pavilion is a school for Flamenco.💃🏽. The buildings have also been featured in a number of films, including Lawrence of Arabia, The Wind and the Lion and Star Wars: Episode II- Attack of the Clones. The most featured of them is the Plaza de Espania.
The famous Plaza de Espania which chronicles each of the regions of Spain in ceramic provincial alcoves and benches.
The park is amazingly beautiful. There are lush plantings of palms, orange trees, Mediterranean pines, and stylized flower beds with bowers hidden by vines. Paths meander through linking numerous tiled fountains, pavilions and ponds. Everywhere there are benches to sit on and admire the various features and the many monuments. The narrow roads resound to the clip clop of horses as the carriages pass by and the mounted police keep vigilance.
When we arrived there were fountains running everywhere……
At about 1pm all the fountains turned off. We speculated whether (a) they were saving power (b) they were saving water (c) they were worried about evaporation (d) they hated all the tourists
Disappointed but not overly worried we continued on our way
It wasn’t until we went to call a taxi that we realised we had no internet and no way of finding our way back. We managed to scramble on to a hop-on hop-off where we had a birds eye view of total chaos
The blackout covered Spain, Portugal and part of France. All the shops and restaurants were closed. Lifts had stopped working with people stuck inside. It lasted for 6 + hours. We made it back to our room (fortunately we were only on the second floor) and waited in the dark until the power came back on – thanks to Morocco we were among the first to get power. We ventured out again looking for a meal, most places were shut but the Red Steak was operating and we had a very nice steak with barbequed vegetables.
