Farewell to Sevilla

It’s Monday morning, which means a quick breakfast and onto the public buses to take us to the train station to board the high-speed train to Madrid. We will stay in Madrid tonight and then it’s off to the airport tomorrow for our flight home. Like all of the cities we’ve visited in Spain, and we’ve now ticked off every major one, we’ve really loved Seville. It has been very busy, quite hot and the public transport is anything but efficient, but it is a lovely place to visit. Our bus trips have covered more of the city than most tourists would ever dream of seeing, but we really like seeing beyond just the shops, bars and restaurants.

Part of Sevilla Cathedral. The lines to get in stretched for hundreds of metres (we decided not to join it).

A private courtyard, or patio, garden - well, not that private.

Andalusia is famous for its mosaics, and they are beautiful.

We can’t help noticing that the age of travelers seems to be increasing every year. I’m sure that thirty years ago most of the buses and attractions would have been filled with young people back packing their way around. Now, the buses, hotels and restaurants are full of retirees, people our own age, with their dorky shorts, white socks and New Balance walking shoes. The bars are different; they are still the exclusive domain of the young. This is not so much a complaint as an observation, after all, we also fit this demographic perfectly (sans the dorky shorts and walking shoes, of course).

This is the famous Triana bridge, and we managed to capture this wedding procession on it. There are hundreds of horse-drawn carriages in Seville catering for tourists.

Seville really comes alive at night.

We were intending to take a cruise along the river last night, but when we arrived there was not boat to be seen. Either we’d read the sign incorrectly, or the operator decided he no longer wanted to be in the tourist business and decided to shut up shop. Instead, we had a meal and then decided just to sit by the river with all its lights and contemplate our last hours in this city, indeed, our last hours in this country.

I will leave you with a few last photos of Seville, in the hope that you can share with us some of the charm of this beautiful city. My next blog entry will be, sadly, our last.

We found this very old wall, with an equally old entry, on one of our bus trips.