Back into Spain

After 5 days in Portugal we headed back into Spain. It was now Tuesday and the weather still looked quite wet with some breaks if we were lucky. We hoped that it might be better in Spain but it didn’t look promising.

We were so close to the border that we could see the bridge that would take us back into Spain.

We decided to do a stop at a place called Isla Canela which was just the other side of the bridge and had been recommended to us by an English couple we met who lived in Monte Gordo. I was going to have a swim there.

We couldn’t understand why it was all so quiet and places were closed at Isla Canela, we later discovered that it was a Spanish Bank Holiday!

I got to have a swim and then we decided to head straight for Seville.

Seville

It was late afternoon/early evening when we arrived in Seville. We found a great park up. It was about 25 minutes to walk into the centre of Seville.

We went for a walk and found an Aldi, which was of course closed as it was a bank holiday. At least we knew where to come the next day. We didn’t go right into the centre but we found a restaurant that was open for some tapas. Here’s our park up

After a trip to Aldi in the morning we headed into Seville an it was a lovely dry day! Here’s a couple of photos from our walk into the centre

By the time we reached the centre of Seville it was lunch time. We grabbed a few tapas from one of the many restaurants and bars that lined the streets. Then we headed to the famous Alcazar.

Alcazar comes from an Arabic word and is a Spanish term for a fortified castle or palace where the King resides.

There is so much history and information around The Alcazar in Seville that I honestly couldn’t do it justice to try and write about it here! Therefore I will try to just stick to the very basics!

It dates back to the 11th century. The Royal family still occupy the upper storeys when they visit Seville. It is a World Heritage Site. It combines Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance styles in it’s structure.

I actually felt that the Gothic part was quite strong. Decorative tiles seemed to be very strong feature too.

The palace and its grounds were vast. You could probably spend a day there and not actually see everything.

We have so many photos it has been hard to choose which ones to put on here. It’s one of those places that you can’t really capture with photographs, they don’t quite give it the justice it deserves.

After a couple of hours we left Alcazar and wandered around the city. We had a look at the Cathederal but we didn’t go inside.

We then decided to go and check out Bar Alfafa. It was a small and very busy tapas bar that had been recommended. It was really ‘buzzy’ with a big turnaround as well as great tapas, music and atmosphere.

We the decided to take a walk back to the van. It had been a long day and we loved Seville but time for a rest.

The next day we woke up to more rain! We spent a couple of hours in the van as once again it was relentless! Finally there was a ‘dry window’ and we ventured out.

By the time we walked into the centre it was lunch time. We stopped in one of the many restaurants/tapas bars that line Seville. It was still dry so we sat outside under a canopy along with many others. Just as our food arrived the heavens opened! The rain was dripping off the canopies so along with many others I put my umbrella up! Let’s just say it was a memorable experience

We decided that there was no point walking around in the rain so we headed back to the van.

The next day we woke up to more rain, so much as we liked Seville and would have loved to stay longer we decided to move on.

Cordoba

We headed inland to Cordoba, another town with a lot of history. It was an important Roman city and a major Islamic centre in the Middle Ages.

As well as the mosque and the church there was also the remains of a synagogue which was one of only three remaining Sephardic synagogues from medieval times in Spain. It was no longer being used for services or prayers and was in fact just one small room. It is thought to have belonged to a wealthy man who had his own personal synagogue in his house.

The rain did stop whilst we were driving and it meant we could spend a dry afternoon looking around.

We stopped for some tapas on the way back to the van. We were glad that we came and had a look at Cordoba, we had a great afternoon.

We stayed for the night and then decided it was time to head south again back to the coast. Our next post will start once we reach the coast.

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