a Lovely Five Days in Seville, Spain

in this latest episode of the irregular Free Planet series 'holidays' we visit Seville, Spain, for five days. Very smooth flights from and back to Gatwick, thanks Ryanair. April 5th-10th, 35% humidity. 30°-35° from 8am to 8pm. Bus service into and out of Seville town, from our room at Al Alcazur, Architecture and history MAGNIFICENT, mostly. Seville is a lot bigger than any of us suspected, kinda reminded us of the time we got lost wandering around Hiroshima in Japan.   The Reales Alcazares isn't as convincing (architecturally) as the Alhambra in Granada - I suspect it's a lot more stunning in Summer, once all the garden blooms flower. The Seville Cathedral (below) was sufficiently impressive, on a vast scale.  Casa de Pilatos (pictured below) is not from the Roman era, as first impressions and imported sculptures may suggest.  All of Seville's public parks smelled great - literally, all sorts of lovely floral aromas and scents - though one wonders how 'great' the smell of dog turds baking in the Summer sun will be. The Museo de Bellas Artes on Calles Alfonso XIII (best image below) was set in an old monastery, and had much better formal integraity than the hotch-potch that was the stylistically challenged Casa de Pilatos (above).  

The Tapas (like the service) is of varying quality - we found a decent place called Bodeghita la Parihuela on the Paseja de Vila and went back there. Quick "Ola!" to Rafael, our favorite server in all of Seville town. Now, here's an en-plein-air hand-held Mrs P did within the vast Seville-orange orchard of the Museum of Modern Art housed at the Monasterio de la Cartuja de Santa María de las Cuevas, yes you read that right, "Again, an old monastery."