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Having spent much of the day exploring Córdoba we didn't arrive in Seville until late afternoon, this however still gave us plenty of time to get our bearings and start exploring the city before dinner. Our evening included visiting the 'Metropol Parasol' which is a huge wooden structure located at La Encarnación square, in the old quarter of Seville. It was designed by a German architect and completed in April 2011. It's massive, 150 metres long, 70 metres wide and approximately 26 metres high, making it the largest wooden structure in the world. At night it is lit, so great to take photos of, however it is so huge you cannot get the whole of the 'parasol' in a photo, due to surrounding buildings.
We eat quite late at home, usually between 7 & 8 pm, in Spain however that's early, really early. Dinner time in Spain is usually around 10pm or later, but with busy days it didn't take much effort to fall into the pattern, plus it was far too hot to eat earlier in the evening.
We tried to choose authentic Spanish restaurants frequented by locals rather than tourists and prior to heading away on our trip I decided I needed to learn a little Spanish. I found an app on my phone called 'duolingo', I worked my way through and learnt a little each day, although some words were going to be of no use at all, having the ability to order the essentials such as 'cafe con leche, por favor' (coffee with milk, please) was invaluable, as was being able to work out what many menu items were in restaurants. A couple of times we went into cafes and as I attempted to order in Spanish, staff behind the counter began to giggle, I of course thought they were amused by my pronunciation of words. After a conversation with one staff member who spoke extremely good English, I realised their amusement was because as they were desperately trying to practice their English with me, I was determined to try out my Spanish.
For our first full day in Seville, Tony had booked tickets online to visit the 'Reales Alcazares de Sevilla' (in English, Royal Alcazar of Seville) and for those of you who are 'Game of Thrones' fans, check out our photos, the 'Game of Thrones, Land of Dorne' was filmed at Alcazar.
The Alcazar is a royal palace, originally developed by Moorish Muslim kings and regarded as one of the most beautiful in Spain. The upper levels of the Alcázar are still used by the royal family as their official Seville residence, and as we had tickets to the palace (not usually included in a general admission ticket) we were able to look around this area, accompanied by a security guard and with an audio-guide to explain everything we needed to know. The Alcazar is the oldest royal palace still in use in Europe, and in 1987 was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. As well as the the palace area the Alcazar has beautiful gardens, fountains, ponds, amazing architecture and incredible history.
On arriving in Seville the previous day it was extremely hot at 43 degrees. Just when we thought it couldn't possibly get any hotter it did. The temperature peaked on the thermometer at 46 degrees in the shade, it was the hottest temperatures we had ever encountered and really took our experience of heat to a whole new 'uncomfortable' level.
Next stop was the 'Plaza De Espana'. The plaza is located in the Parque de María Luisa (Maria Luisa Park), in Seville and was built in 1928 for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929. The entire southern end of the city was redeveloped into an expanse of gardens and grand boulevards with tiled fountains, pavilions, ponds, benches and lush plantings of palms and orange trees. It is another amazing area to visit and its sheer size quite mind blowing. While in the Plaza we decided to take a horse and cart ride through the park and the city. This was welcome relief in the extreme heat as we were able to sit back and relax in the shade while we enjoyed a guided tour of Seville.
On our last day in Seville, in fact our last day in Spain we took the hop on, hop off bus around the city. We were able to see many famous buildings and structures, as well as visiting the 'Torre del Oro' or in English 'Tower of Gold' and taking a quick visit to the top, for photographic views over Seville. The tower, built as a watchtower over the river in the 13th century got its name from the golden shine the building projected on the river, this was due to it building materials which were a mixture of mortar, lime and pressed hay. We also had the time to wander through the streets of the old city and enjoy the ambience before heading to the airport, Paris bound.
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