Don't think we had breakfast as it wasn't added to our hotel bill for this date as were the other 2 days. I believe we went to the same place in our hotel and I had a donut and coffee and Richard stuck to his tea and toast. We may have paid cash for this.
Plaza de Espana. Remains of the 1929 Ibero-American Exhibition/Expo 1929. Great for people watching. Semi circular building with a tower at each end. Government offices such as Immigration Services. There is a canal where you can rent small boats. Venice of Sevilla. There are 4 bridges which represent the 4 kingdoms of Spain-Castile, Aragon, Navarre, Leon. There are 48 alcoves with benches-one for each province of Spain. At each is a map of the province with colorful painted tiles/azulejos. This was the location for scenes movies Star Wars, Lawrence of Arabia. Horse and carriage rides. Lots of vendors selling fans, hats........ Water fountain. Loved the reflections in the water.
Maria Luisa Park. Right across from Plaza Espana. Along here are more vendors selling souvenirs, drinks. We buy a coke and a 7 up as it's hot and we're thirsty. Richard uses the restroom/toilet here. He's still under the weather so I decide to ask about the possibility of taking a horse drawn carriage into the park. When I speak to a driver I'm told the ride lasts 45 minutes, costs €45 and doesn't just go through the park but all over the city. That's just too long for Richard so we will walk for a little bit into the park. We spend around 15 minutes or so in the park before heading back to where we can get a taxi to take us to our next place. There is a statue right by the place where we entered the park. Anibal Gonzalez Alvarez-Osorio. He was the chief architect of the 1929 Expo. He designed the Plaza de Espana.
Basilica de la Macarena. Semana Santa-Pine and cypress wood combination statue of the Virgin de la Macarena. Entrance to the church is free. We completely forgot about the museum here and I wish we had remembered as you can see some of the impressive floats used in the Holy Week parade. Neo-Baroque church built 1949 to house the statue. La Macarena also known as the "Weeping Virgin" because of the 5 crystal teardrops trickling down her cheeks. Holds mourning handkerchief in one hand and a Rosary in the other. Sculpted late 17th c. Sevilla's most popular image of Mary. Patroness of the bullfighters/matadors. Famed bullfighter Jose Gomez Ortega/El Gallo donated the 5 emerald brooches attached to her dress. When he died it was the only time the statue was dressed entirely in black for his funeral/death. Outside last surviving Sevilla's old walls originally Roman and built by the Moors in the 12th c. to keep the Christians out. Unsuccessful as we know. Once there were 12 gates and 166 towers. Only 1 gate left-Puerta Macarena. Local dance band Los del Rio 1990s song The Macarena.
La Oleoteca. We stopped here to purchase olive oil to take home. This small store had quite a variety of award winning olive oils. You can also do a tasting of the oils which we did. I bought 4 bottles of the olive oil, bitter orange hand & body cream, several mini size bottles of olive oil, and a jar of olives. Cost $84.75.
La Canasta. Walking down the street Garcia de Vinuesa from La Oleoteca to where we can get a taxi back to the hotel we see this place. Since I'm hungry we stop here for lunch. This large place sells bread and bakery items, ham, uncooked pasta..... There's a guy slicing very thin slices of the ham. We get a table and the menu has 2 different prices. One says bar, one says table. I'm assuming if you go to the bar/counter and order that's the bar price? If a server comes to your table that's the table price? Richard is going to try to eat something so he orders a regular ham and cheese sandwich along with a bottle of mineral water. I order a pineapple/orange/banana juice and the acorn Iberian ham with tomato on ciabetta. It turns out that while I was expecting a slice of tomato what I got was the tomato spread! The sandwich was good but the juice was even better. I told Richard not to force himself to eat all of the sandwich but he did. Fingers crossed this won't come back to bite him in the butt! I know he needs to eat something and I would have been happy with half the sandwich. We get a taxi back to our hotel and arrive before 2:00 PM. We've done a lot today. Richard takes a nap and I head to the pool which isn't busy. I spend several hours here and even get a mojito from the pool bar. Cost of €7.50 is put on our hotel bill as I didn't bring any money with me to the pool. When I return to the room Richard isn't hungry and still sick so I will go to dinner alone. This is not the happy time in Sevilla I was expecting and I'm sure Richard feels the same way.
Dinner-La Monda. Dorie ate here and recommended this place so here I am by myself and the only customer at 7:00 PM which is not when most people are having dinner. I just don't like eating at 9:00 PM. This place is just a short walk where the taxi drops me off. It's cute with tables on 2 levels. White washed brick. Light colored tables and chairs. Feeling of clean and airiness. I have a 2 person table on the upper level. Menu is on 1 page-salads, tapas, fish, rice & pasta, grilled meats, and desserts. I order mixed salad La Monda, classic ceviche with corvina fish (I had this fish in Peru and loved it), and pork ribs slowly cooked BBQ sauce Oriental style. I asked for tapa size portions of all 3 items. Tinto de verano to drink. Dish of nuts. Basket of breads. The salad was amazing. The dressing took it to another level. It had mixed greens, red onions, tomatoes, hard boiled egg, corn. Pretty ordinary ingredients but the dressing-wow! The ceviche was ok but by the time I got to it I was feeling full already. For tapa size that salad was huge. The ceviche was a lot too. Besides the corvina fish it had tomato, Peruvian style corn, regular corn, red onions, greens. Then out comes the pork ribs. A big slab sitting on top of roasted potatoes! I try to finish but I just can't. Everything was tasty and the server was so nice. Cost without tip $21.05. And that's for a lot of food! This place is definitely a winner.
I've decided to walk around to see if I can find a pharmacy to get something to help stop the diarrhea that Richard feels is the main problem. I wander up and down streets and see tons of shops, restaurants but no pharmacy. Then I hear something. The bells!! I'm not far from the Sevilla Cathedral and it's 8:15 PM. They ring and ring and ring. For 5 minutes. At the end each bell stops one at a time. I take pictures and video but inside I'm pissed that these bells are putting on this show but didn't when I had walked up all those ramps! I decide to just go back to the hotel. When I return I pack as tomorrow we have a long drive to Toledo to return the rental car. The car is a manual drive and I wish it had been automatic so I could drive. I guess I should have learned to drive with a manual shift. We have to get up and be on the road by 6:00 AM at the latest as it will take us more than 5 hours to get to Toledo. If Richard is no better by tomorrow I am going to ask at our Toledo hotel for a doctor to see him.
Plaza de Espana. Remains of the 1929 Ibero-American Exhibition/Expo 1929. Great for people watching. Semi circular building with a tower at each end. Government offices such as Immigration Services. There is a canal where you can rent small boats. Venice of Sevilla. There are 4 bridges which represent the 4 kingdoms of Spain-Castile, Aragon, Navarre, Leon. There are 48 alcoves with benches-one for each province of Spain. At each is a map of the province with colorful painted tiles/azulejos. This was the location for scenes movies Star Wars, Lawrence of Arabia. Horse and carriage rides. Lots of vendors selling fans, hats........ Water fountain. Loved the reflections in the water.
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| Can rent small boat |
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| Plaza de Espana is huge |
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| Souvenirs for sale |
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| Arches |
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| Water fountain |
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| Horse and carriage rides |
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| Canal |
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| Benches |
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Maria Luisa Park. Right across from Plaza Espana. Along here are more vendors selling souvenirs, drinks. We buy a coke and a 7 up as it's hot and we're thirsty. Richard uses the restroom/toilet here. He's still under the weather so I decide to ask about the possibility of taking a horse drawn carriage into the park. When I speak to a driver I'm told the ride lasts 45 minutes, costs €45 and doesn't just go through the park but all over the city. That's just too long for Richard so we will walk for a little bit into the park. We spend around 15 minutes or so in the park before heading back to where we can get a taxi to take us to our next place. There is a statue right by the place where we entered the park. Anibal Gonzalez Alvarez-Osorio. He was the chief architect of the 1929 Expo. He designed the Plaza de Espana.
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| Park is just across from the plaza |
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| Police in cars and on horseback and several horse and carriages waiting for a fare |
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| Drinks to quench our thirst on another hot day |
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| Anibal Gonzalez Alvarez-Ossorio |
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| Map of park |
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| Stands selling drinks and souvenirs |
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Basilica de la Macarena. Semana Santa-Pine and cypress wood combination statue of the Virgin de la Macarena. Entrance to the church is free. We completely forgot about the museum here and I wish we had remembered as you can see some of the impressive floats used in the Holy Week parade. Neo-Baroque church built 1949 to house the statue. La Macarena also known as the "Weeping Virgin" because of the 5 crystal teardrops trickling down her cheeks. Holds mourning handkerchief in one hand and a Rosary in the other. Sculpted late 17th c. Sevilla's most popular image of Mary. Patroness of the bullfighters/matadors. Famed bullfighter Jose Gomez Ortega/El Gallo donated the 5 emerald brooches attached to her dress. When he died it was the only time the statue was dressed entirely in black for his funeral/death. Outside last surviving Sevilla's old walls originally Roman and built by the Moors in the 12th c. to keep the Christians out. Unsuccessful as we know. Once there were 12 gates and 166 towers. Only 1 gate left-Puerta Macarena. Local dance band Los del Rio 1990s song The Macarena.
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| Only remaining gate-Puerta Macarena |
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| Entrance to the church |
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| Ceiling |
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La Oleoteca. We stopped here to purchase olive oil to take home. This small store had quite a variety of award winning olive oils. You can also do a tasting of the oils which we did. I bought 4 bottles of the olive oil, bitter orange hand & body cream, several mini size bottles of olive oil, and a jar of olives. Cost $84.75.
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| Tasting oils on the white table |
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| I bought these |
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| I bought these |
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| I bought this large size bitter orange hand and body cream |
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| Bought this jar of olives |
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| Bought several of these mini size bottles of olive oil |
La Canasta. Walking down the street Garcia de Vinuesa from La Oleoteca to where we can get a taxi back to the hotel we see this place. Since I'm hungry we stop here for lunch. This large place sells bread and bakery items, ham, uncooked pasta..... There's a guy slicing very thin slices of the ham. We get a table and the menu has 2 different prices. One says bar, one says table. I'm assuming if you go to the bar/counter and order that's the bar price? If a server comes to your table that's the table price? Richard is going to try to eat something so he orders a regular ham and cheese sandwich along with a bottle of mineral water. I order a pineapple/orange/banana juice and the acorn Iberian ham with tomato on ciabetta. It turns out that while I was expecting a slice of tomato what I got was the tomato spread! The sandwich was good but the juice was even better. I told Richard not to force himself to eat all of the sandwich but he did. Fingers crossed this won't come back to bite him in the butt! I know he needs to eat something and I would have been happy with half the sandwich. We get a taxi back to our hotel and arrive before 2:00 PM. We've done a lot today. Richard takes a nap and I head to the pool which isn't busy. I spend several hours here and even get a mojito from the pool bar. Cost of €7.50 is put on our hotel bill as I didn't bring any money with me to the pool. When I return to the room Richard isn't hungry and still sick so I will go to dinner alone. This is not the happy time in Sevilla I was expecting and I'm sure Richard feels the same way.
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| Menu |
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| Richard's ham and cheese on ciabetta |
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| My acorn Iberian ham and tomato on ciabetta |
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| This juice was amazingly good |
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| Hotel pool is practically empty! |
Dinner-La Monda. Dorie ate here and recommended this place so here I am by myself and the only customer at 7:00 PM which is not when most people are having dinner. I just don't like eating at 9:00 PM. This place is just a short walk where the taxi drops me off. It's cute with tables on 2 levels. White washed brick. Light colored tables and chairs. Feeling of clean and airiness. I have a 2 person table on the upper level. Menu is on 1 page-salads, tapas, fish, rice & pasta, grilled meats, and desserts. I order mixed salad La Monda, classic ceviche with corvina fish (I had this fish in Peru and loved it), and pork ribs slowly cooked BBQ sauce Oriental style. I asked for tapa size portions of all 3 items. Tinto de verano to drink. Dish of nuts. Basket of breads. The salad was amazing. The dressing took it to another level. It had mixed greens, red onions, tomatoes, hard boiled egg, corn. Pretty ordinary ingredients but the dressing-wow! The ceviche was ok but by the time I got to it I was feeling full already. For tapa size that salad was huge. The ceviche was a lot too. Besides the corvina fish it had tomato, Peruvian style corn, regular corn, red onions, greens. Then out comes the pork ribs. A big slab sitting on top of roasted potatoes! I try to finish but I just can't. Everything was tasty and the server was so nice. Cost without tip $21.05. And that's for a lot of food! This place is definitely a winner.
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| Menu in Spanish |
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| Menu in English |
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| Drinks |
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| Tinto de verano |
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| Awesome salad |
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| Corvina ceviche |
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| Pork ribs and roasted potatoes |
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I've decided to walk around to see if I can find a pharmacy to get something to help stop the diarrhea that Richard feels is the main problem. I wander up and down streets and see tons of shops, restaurants but no pharmacy. Then I hear something. The bells!! I'm not far from the Sevilla Cathedral and it's 8:15 PM. They ring and ring and ring. For 5 minutes. At the end each bell stops one at a time. I take pictures and video but inside I'm pissed that these bells are putting on this show but didn't when I had walked up all those ramps! I decide to just go back to the hotel. When I return I pack as tomorrow we have a long drive to Toledo to return the rental car. The car is a manual drive and I wish it had been automatic so I could drive. I guess I should have learned to drive with a manual shift. We have to get up and be on the road by 6:00 AM at the latest as it will take us more than 5 hours to get to Toledo. If Richard is no better by tomorrow I am going to ask at our Toledo hotel for a doctor to see him.
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| Giralda Bell Tower |
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| Pope Juan Pablo II in Sevilla 8/14/2012 |
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| Bells are ringing |
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