Excursion to the south of Spain – Part 5: Sevilla

On my way back to ‘work’, I took my Dad’s other piece of advice and made time to stop in Sevilla. I has honestly thinking ‘oh great, another big European city’, yet I really enjoyed it. I was fortunate to approach from the south up a huge, very scenic boulevard, passed many large, impressive mansions, state buildings and university structures, before arriving at the requisite dense, windy old town quarter. Forced by the ever-present one-way road system into a circuit of the old town, I quickly saw all the sites that I eventually determined were the tourist photo opportunities.

When I did park and explore on foot, the first major edifice I encountered was the grand cathedral. Truly massive, yet inspiringly airy and skyscraping from withing, it was astonishing to witness the detail that went into all the carvings everywhere. And there was even a pipe organ fired up with accompanying choir when I arrived, to add aural ambiance to the visual.

I decided not to get sucked into doing a tourist train circuit but instead visited Starbucks (where I could be guaranteed of a long-missed BIG cup of coffee) and settled on an hour of people watching.

Later I took a stroll next to, and over the river from one bridge to the next, and ended up in some beautifully adorned gardens, before quitting the city and its 36 degree heat for the slightly more temperate climate of the Portuguese coast.