Saturday is another beautiful sunny, warm day in Seville. It’s very easy to find real freshly made churrros for breakfast in Seville rather than the factory-made ones commonly found elsewhere in Spain. A good place for your ‘chocolate con churros’ fix is a cafe right by the La Setas de Sevilla (Metropol Parasol). Don’t forget to order your fresh orange juice as well, especially in winter for the vitamin C boost.
Today I am going to go skating again alongside the Guadalquivir River. It’s perfect here for skating. The surface is perfect for skating for 2.5km. There is a small stretch of cobbled pathway next to the Torre del Oro but they have constructed a smooth tarmac path for cyclists (and skaters!).
There are not a huge number of cyclists or skaters today but lots of people are sitting on the grass bank enjoying 22 degrees and strong sunshine drinking their local beer, CruzCampo. I skate as far as the Alamillo Bridge, a rather striking cantilever bridge built in 1992.
After my skating I get a drink at a nice beach-style bar on the riverside in the centre of town. As my Airbnb is just a 10 minute walk from here I can drop my skates back to free my hands. The place I absolutely want to see again on such a sunny day is the Plaza de España and Parque de Maria Louisa. At the Plaza de España you can even watch some Flamenco.
In the evening I meet up with Ana who I met yesterday. She is with her sister and friends at El Parque de los Principes ( Park of the Princes). Although the days are warm here, evenings and mornings are chilly. I am still in my shorts and T-shirt from skating and we are sat outside but luckily the cafe has electric heating seen just about everywhere in the city here now.
Ana tells me to take a river cruise tomorrow and says I must get to the Real Alcazar no later than 9am to avoid the huge daily queues for entry. I get up earlier on the Sunday and get some breakfast before joining the queue just after 9am. There are only maybe 20 people in front of me. The attraction opens at 9.30am. Free to local residents but to everyone else entry is 11€. If you can’t get here for 9am then you really need to book your tickets online to skip the queue. The queue is made slower by having to go through airport style security.
The Real Alcazar of Seville is a Royal palace and one of the official residences of the Spanish royal family. Game of Thrones viewers may recognize some parts of the palace as the series filmed many times in these grounds. If you look at google maps you’ll see just how large these grounds are – the gardens occupy around 60,000m2!
As with the rest of Seville, the architecture of the buildings and gardens has a strong Arabic influence. You should allow at least 3 hours to see everything here. I was amazed how long it took to see everything but you can’t underestimate the scale of this palace. Luckily, it’s perfect weather again today and I make the most of it grabbing as many photos as I can in the beautiful gardens for my social media accounts. I buy some more decorative Seville-style glazed tiles for my commemorative artwork in the future.
The boat cruise was good fun and I went to a tapas bar to get some food. I got 3 dishes – a tortilla, battered cod and croquettes. Gelato for desert and another walk around the Parque de Maria Louisa.
It’s Monday and I get the train back to Malaga in the afternoon around 1pm. We have to get off the train again to do a repeat coach journey. Apparently, heavy rain has damaged a section of the track and this is the reason for the change. I am at a different Airbnb tonight. Much smaller than the last one in Malaga but I’m only here for one night so it’ll be fine.
The weather forecast for London is for snow tonight! Things couldn’t be more contrasting her at Malaga Airport! South-west Spain is extremely popular with British and other Northern Europeans during the winter. It’s a great place to escape the long winter. I seem to have had great luck with the weather with the timing of my visit. The previous week was not so good and next week won’t be as good either. I definitely have enjoyed my stay here and next month’s EasyJet trip will be somewhere even more exotic!