Seville at last, now all I need is a barber.

We made it to Seville and have enjoyed the past two days walking the streets and rubber-necking, along with about forty million other tourists. The streets in all of the Spanish cities we've been to are always totally full, no matter what time of the day or night. Perhaps they have a housing availability crisis like we do back home, so people have decided it's cheaper to just live on the streets and eat at restaurants for every meal. I don't know what it is, but even at 11.00 pm at night, the streets are packed. 

 The Plaza de España is a plaza in the Parque de María Luisa, in Seville, Spain, built in 1928 for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929

Spain loves its fountains - they are everywhere.

Seville is a city of around 700,000 people, but I'm pretty sure there are another 300,000 at any time made up of tourists. There is lots to see, but much of it is quite similar to other cities in Spain we've visited. I think it is a bit of a pity for Seville but, almost inevitably, the last city in one's travels tends to not receive the same attention as the first, if only because there is an element of 'been there, done that' involved. 

Spain also loves its avenue of trees. By the way, Spain has thousands of Australian native trees in its cities, so it's easy to feel a bit of a link to home.

One of the hundreds of little plazas to be found in every Spanish city.

Seville is a very old city, and last night we enjoyed tapas in a restaurant, Las Escobas, which we later found out is the oldest establishment in Spain, dating back to 1386, when it was a broom-making business. Fortunately, the food seemed pretty fresh and delicious.

Like both Madrid and Malaga, Seville has an active bull-fighting culture and it is possible to see bull-fighting throughout much of the year. As keen as we were to see a bull-fight, as this is still very much part of the Spanish way of life, we could not bring ourselves to witness this practice, as it almost always results in the cruel death of the bull. It's a reminder that all cultures have their unacceptable practices, by our standards at least. Indeed, there is no such things as cultural absolutism; all practices are necessarily seen through the prism of what we have come to accept as 'normal'.

Seville's bull-fighting ring. Madrid's is even more grand than this one.

These little private gardens are everywhere - they are so beautiful. 

Today we are going to use some public transport to see some of the city beyond the old city. Seville doesn't really have a metro, at least not an extensive one, so we are going to have to rely upon the bus network, which is pretty efficient. I'm pretty sure lots of tourists never venture beyond the old cities, which contain most of the main attractions, but we always like to explore a little further out, where the 'average' residents live. You wouldn't just explore Circular Quay or Lygon Street and claim to have experienced the real Sydney or Melbourne, and it's much the same here. 

We have also enjoyed our accommodation here, which is the most resort-like we've had over here. There is a large pool, gardens for lounging, and a very extensive breakfast each morning. Our practice has become one of exploring until mid-afternoon, then returning for a swim and a relax, then going out again around 7.00 pm until we return around 11.00 pm. This seems to work well for us as it is so hot over here, hitting mid-30s each day. We're down to our last two days here, which means our thoughts are inevitably turning to life post-Spain. I'm not sure we're comfortable with this yet, but it is a bit like death and taxes; it is going to happen.