Sevilla 

the City

We arrived in Sevilla in the mid afternoon, about siesta time so I decided to park the car in front of the La Maestranza (The Bullring), thinking it would be easy to find later. As it was siesta time the only cars around belonged to a few tourists who were, like us waiting for the tour.

Afterwards we continued wandering about taking in the sights. We were fascinated with the narrow winding streets. We had an early, by Spanish standards, dinner then we found a two star hostel. As it was getting dark, the proprietor of the hotel offered to come with me to get the car from the bull ring to make sure I found my way back in the dark.

When we got to the bull ring I discovered two things - first that there seemed to be a thousand cars parked there - second, I had forgotten make of car it was, I knew it was blue. Needless to say, I could tell the hotelier was getting frustrated and he only spoke Spanish. I kept pushing the button and eventually got a flash in the dark.

He drove, it seemed like the best plan, parked in front of a big green door in the court yard and pointed. Cool I get to pet in the shed. Actually it was a modern elevator leading to a parking garage under the hostel. It war bright and clean and built to current building codes.

The hostels we found in Spain were old hotels located in the historic parts of the city, eliminating the need to remember where I had left the car.

Seville Cathedral 

Catedral de Santa María de la Sede

The Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See along with the adjoining Alcázar palace complex and the General Archive of the Indies are listed UNESCO World Heritage sites. The cathedral is claimed to be the largest Gothic church in the world and the fourth-largest church.

The Giralda the former minaret of the mosque the stood on the site. Standing at 105m (343ft) tall it was converted to become the bell tower of the cathedral. 

Although the topmost section dates from the Renaissance, construction of the Gerald began about 1184 

Carmona

Seville Province

Leaving Seville we found half of the streets of Sevilla were closed for a bicycle race. After a couple of attempts to find the route out of the city, a bit late but we were on our way to Granada.

A short distance east of Sevilla we saw an interesting fortification on a hill which turned out be a village called Carmona. We took the exit to and this time 

This time, I parked the car outside the “Córdoba Gate” to the city. It should be easy to find.

We headed to the castle to start out little of the tour of the town. To our surprise it was air conditioned. It had been turned into a five star hotel.

We carried on, looking in the shops that were open on Sunday. I bought a tee shirt in one and stoped to talk to the gentleman who took our money. It was his wife’s shop, he was giving his her a break. He spoke English with an odd New Jersey / French accent.

Everybody we spoke to recommended the restaurant in the town square for lunch. I thought everybody was relatedandjust trying to drum up business for the family. He explained that the “Sunday meals served there were local cuisine, local to the town of Carmona and it would be an opportunity to have a very special meal. By the way don’t be concerned if all the tables were full. They will put on out for you.”

Sure enough, we walked into the square, The busboy saw us and had a table set with three places by the time we crossed the square. OH, the meal was excellent.