Got a few days off work so booked a cheap Ryan Air flight (just under £60 (~$150AUD) return) to Seville. Right in time for a flamenco festival called ´la Feria de Abril´. Its a festival held in an area of Seville called Feria and it´s in April... Anyway, lots of drinking and eating and people all dressed up heading to marquees to dance flamenco and drink and eat... and drink some more. I booked a pension from the airport (30€/nt) and headed into town. My Spanish is non-existant and English-speakers in Seville seem to be too, so it was great that an American student showed me where to go when I got off the bus.
It was lovely and warm and I was enjoying the thought of sunshine for a few days!!! Miguel and I walked past the cathedral and the gates to the Alcazar - the Spanish Royal Residence reputed for its fabulous gardens - it was a beautiful walk punctuated by the click clack of horses hooves on stone from the numerous carriages getting around.
Found my pension (eventually - believe me, the streets here are as challenging, if not more so, than Venice!) and then found a cafe for some lunch.
I reminisced about Greece as I ordered calamari and had a couple of Coca Colas in the gorgeous sunshine. The waiter apparently liked me because he had various conversations with me in Spanish while I said 'non ablo Espanol' - who knows what he said to me! He presented me with a courting gift of a bowl of olives, which I non-graciously asked the price of. 'Free for you..' Then with questions about whether I had a phone, I discovered what the time was and that I had better be on my way...
Back to my cute single room, glass of wine, fresh strawberries and then BLISS - had a nap! I´m in the land of seistea after all right? Then being Friday night it was out to La Feria to check out the dancers. And what a wonderful atmosphere! There were hundreds of rides too and frankly I will never look at the Ekka again and think it´s any good in that department!
After a late night and a couple of lovely red wine and lemonade mixes I eventually found my pension. A brilliant sleep-in and it was time to wander some more around Seville and I went back out to the flamenco festival on Saturday night.
I tried a few more conversations with people with a Spanish 'hello... do you speak English'... but I didn't get very far. If I didn't know before that I like my own company - I definitely know now. I am even good at making myself laugh... But let's not go there (no matter how I explain it, I can see the smiling and slow nodding with a 'rightio then..' going on right now).
On Sunday I lined up for ages to go into the Alcazar. I overheard some 20-something girls speaking English in front of me so I piped up with a super-cool 'so I heard you speaking English...'. They must've forgiven me for any weird behaviour they noticed because we ended up getting on like a house on fire. Lucy grew up in 'a little village north of London'... 'yes?? which one' - ABBOTS LANGLEY it turned out to be... Where I stayed with my great-aunt. Crazy.. And Sharmila lives in Turnham Green - where I am going to live!! How very coincidental!
Right, so onto the cultural information - the Alcazar is the royal residence for the Spanish royals when they stay in Seville. I bet they must get annoyed with the 100s of tourists checking out their mosaics, gardens and fountains though! It really is a lovely place.
More pics coming....
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