Our first experience of Seville was in 1992 when we came with our family to the Universal Expo, ‘The Age of Discoveries’, celebrating the 500th anniversary of the voyage of Christopher Columbus. It was memorable! The site has been repurposed as a TechPark.

On this trip, one of the places we were determined to see was Plaza de Espana, a monumental architectural complex built for the Ibero-American Expo of 1929 and now a fabulous public space. There is concern about upkeep and it is beginning to deteriorate so I hope the powers that be can come to an agreement and preserve this amazing national treasure.

As in the rest of Spain, night time is the right time to be out and about. It’s cooler and with so many places to sit and eat and drink and while away the hours, who wouldn’t take advantage of an alfresco space.

I admire the Spanish for their innovation and courage when tackling a problem. The city decided to renovate a tired market area. Setas de Sevilla was created. The largest wooden structure on earth, it accommodates a market, restaurants, a performance square, archaeological museum, events venue and a rooftop terrace and walkway with a panoramic view of the old city. We took the ‘all inclusive’ ticket and experienced a wonderful iMax type film entitled, ‘Feeling Seville’. It was the icing on the cake.

Our lovely suite includes a serviceable kitchenette and I like breakfast. Each morning I prepare something with eggs, some toast and a coffee to set me up for the day. I actually found a small French press at the cheap shop across the road and have my own coffee. I’m happy. John, on the other hand, is not really a breakfast person but really enjoys churros which is really a morning moment and found Bar El Comercio receiving rave reviews for their fresh and generous portions of churros and chocolate. He headed out. Apparently it was packed but he found a space and thoroughly enjoyed his fare.

We met up and discovered we were moments away from the ‘main street’, Calle Sierpes. We wandered down and although there are not as many franchise stores as usual, which is good, it was mainly clothes, shoes and souvenirs. It lacked the character many other sections had. Very nice to have shades strung out between the shops though, made walking the street quite comfortable.

Later we visited the Catedral de Sevilla- the largest Gothic Cathedral in the world. Large…the building occupies 23 500 square metres. It really is large. The Gothic section is 126m long and 83m wide with a height in the centre transept of 37m. Initial construction on the site began in the 10th century when a grand mosque and minaret were built, however a century later after the ‘Reconquest’ – Christians expelling the Muslims from the area- the mosque became a cathedral.

The bell tower, the Giralda began life as a minaret and the top section was added in 1248 and built in the Renaissance style and topped with a weather vane Giraldillo representing the victory of Faith. Lessons from the Medieval era in reuse and recycle!

The unique feature of the Giralda is the series of ramps , thirty-four in all and seventeen stairs. The ramps were built to enable the Muezzin, the man who calls Muslims to prayer, to ride a horse to the top. 

Eating out is almost ‘obligardo’. There is just so much choice. John decided he wanted Chinese. The restaurant was a minute’s walk away. As we passed by Bar Alfalfa we noticed there were two stools free. This place is always packed so we dropped in for an aperitif just because we could. The Spanish take ‘alfresco’ to a new level and are prepared to sit almost in the traffic and even amongst overflowing garbage bins or maybe that’s just the silly tourists!!!