Arcos to Sevilla, Friday May 13

Friday, May 13  On to Sevilla

The free breakfast at the hotel is excellent, with lots of fresh fruit, ham, cheese, pastries, etc.  They even have chocolate cake - how can you go wrong with a country where chocolate cake is offered for breakfast?!

Miguel at the front desk gives us directions to get us out of town on this beautiful SUNNY day, Hwy 372 toward El Bosque.  We will go back through some of the country we traveled yesterday. As we head up into the mountains visibility becomes poor again.  We stop to look at the scenery and can actually see the fog rolling in, blanketing us and everything else.

 The temperature drops to 7C - about 44 degrees but with a damp wind.  At the top of one hill we pass a woman runner wearing shorts and a sleeveless top....brrrr.  We pass several picturesque white hill towns, spilling down hills.

When we come down out of the mountains, there are fields of sunflowers (only about 2 ft tall so far), wheat and a few other crops.

sunflowers

wheat

frequent traffic sign

 Also, more olive trees which seem to like the reddish, rocky soil.

We approach Sevilla and find our Ibis Hotel after a few queries to helpful strangers. The area is a mix of residential and businesses. Beth finds it a bit hard to keep directions straight in these towns, as roads are definitely not on a nice grid - they go every which way and change names.  Even the GPS gets confused sometimes.

Nice folks at the Ibis, they speak English well and we find underground parking nearby. The room is very clean with kind of an Ikea look and a comfy bed - possibly the best of the trip.  We decide to take the #28 bus into town rather than drive.  The stop is about 3 blocks away.

We have made reservations for a Flamenco Show at 7:00, so we explore till then.  From the bus stop, we cross a pretty park to Plaza d' Espana.

 (We laugh because every place we have been has a Plaza d'Espana).  This one is striking and very lively.  The sound of the castanet vendors will be everywhere, along with many other folks hawking everything from prettily decorated fans to jewelry to ice cream (which we happily give in to). Lots of fountains and tile, ceramic work amongst the brick and cobblestone.

 This plaza is more recent vintage, created for some big expo in the early 20th century.

As we continue we again encounter myriad winding, narrow streets with gorgeous architecture everywhere.

Constitution - the main street where the metro train ran.

Frequent plazas and parks.

 We pass the Cathedral and Alcazar and finally ask a Tobaco store man for directions to the Flamenco address.  I have learned the words for right, left and straight, but still appreciate the hand signals!  We find La Casa Del Flamenco and buy our tickets, then head down the way to Bar El Pasaje which the ticket lady suggested for a quick bite and a drink.  We sit outside, as many small places spill into the streets, some with canopies and heaters, others just tables and chairs.  Some have different prices for at the bar (least expensive), inside table , or outside table(most expensive).  It is nice to sit out and people watch.

The tapas here are quite different and we order a torta (sweet olive oil cracker about 5" diameter) with chicken curry, and another with avocado cream, salmon and rocket salad and tomatoes.  This was a winner of the Seville tapas week contest. Both are very tasty.  We also have an order of Iberian Pork Cheeks.

Then back to the show, which is held in a covered courtyard with about 80 folding chairs 3-deep around the stage area.  The program features a guitar player, a singer and two flamenco dancers, male and female.  Very high energy performance!  The guitarist was amazing and the dancers as well.  The singer was passionate and we wished we understood the meaning of her words, as we suspect they told a story of sorts which the dancers interpreted.  Lots of foot stamping and twirling and graceful hand motions.  Beautiful.  The woman used castanets during the first dance, but after that both used only finger snapping.

 Flamenco began with gypsies and there are several different styles, which we understood but couldn't identify.  The show lasted just over an hour and featured individual dances by the male and female, as well as singing and guitar solos.

We weave our way back toward the bus stop,  through Morillo park where we spot bright green

parrots, and manage to find bus #28 back to our hotel.  Good night's rest! Quiet and comfy.