Had a bit of a lie in and headed out around 10:30. Glorious day, sun shining but a bit cold.
Walked along the river and through some gardens and arrived at Plaza De Espana (the Spanish Square in case you don’t speak Spanish).
Another very impressive site. A large area with a fountain, a huge semi circular building, very colourful tiles everywhere and a small river running around it with tiled bridges. I thought it was very old but it was actually built in 1929 for an exposition. I didn’t expect the Spanish Exposition.
Walked a bit more, temperature was around 22C, and decided to visit the Cathedral, queued for about 15 minutes. We’ve seen a lot of cathedrals in our European travels so were in two minds, but the tomb of Christopher Columbus is there so that made it worth it. The cathedral was built around a mosque, but there’s not a lot of that left. We climbed up the tower, 34 flights, but it was ramps rather than stairs so it wasn’t too hard. Great views from the top so took loads of photos.
Came out of the cathedral and over the square to the Real Alcazar. This was billed as an Islamic palace, and we thought we might be all Islamic Palaced out after visiting one in Marrakech and Alhambra in Granada, but we thought we may as well since we were here. Good call, because it was massive, and the best we’d seen. Lots of courtyards, fountains, gardens, huge decorated rooms etc. Well worth it.
Decided to go back to the hotel, dump the backpack and go to dinner at the number 2 spot as voted by Tripadvisor. We walked back along the river and there were hundreds of people milling around, sunbathing, drinking and generally having a good time. It was really a good vibe.
I was a bit worried that we wouldn’t be able to get into the restaurant because it was Saturday night, but thought it worth a shot and it was reasonably close to the hotel. Despite all the walking we’d done we headed out and after about 30 minutes arrived at the place at 19:15. It was closed.
We decided to just find any place so started walking, but there was nothing open. There were tons of people about, all the clothes shops were open, apparently the economy here is in the toilet but you wouldn’t know it.
There were tons of bars open so we think the Spanish drink and chat for a while then eat later. We eventually found a place that looked decent. Looks can be deceptive. I had fish (cod) Santa Maria and Song had calamari. I didn’t know what Santa Maria meant but thought I’d give it a go. Apparently it means “undercooked and cold, served in a sauce out of the bottle”. Song liked her calamari. We also decided to have a glass of Sangria each, which was pretty potent and we were both a bit drunk so the evening wasn’t completely wasted.
Stopped off at a supermarket on the way back, and it was packed – this was at 22:00 – with people doing what looked like their weekly shopping. Staggered back to the hotel, wrote this and went to bed. Up at 06:00 tomorrow to get the bus to Lagos, Portugal (hopefully)