We had dinner last night at a restaurant decorated with the heads of bulls slaughtered in the bullring. Sounds awful but it actually looked great. We walked through the neighbourhood for a while and as it was early, (about 8 or so) this was the only place that had managed to attract a crowd. Johnny ordered a plate of plaice and salad and I opted for the ribs and chips. We had a pricey bottle of red wine and as we hadn't finished it with the meal, we took it back to the hotel with us. We had the rest of the wine as we looked through the great photos Ginny and Penny had posted on Facebook of their African travels.
The extra glasses of red and being tired found John under the weather early Friday morning. He had been hot and sweaty overnight and when he got up to have a couple of pandadol he had a coughing fit. I thought he was struggling to breathe but he thought he would be ok. After a while he settled down and slept.
I thought it best to let him sleep in so we didn't get up till about 10.30. He still felt woozy but we went down for breakfast. I was happy to spend the day in the hotel, but Johnny wanted to go out.
We took a slow walk to the Seville cathedral. It was an overcast day but every now and then the sun came out. It was much nicer walking around the streets rather than doing the cultural tour of the cathedral, so that's what we did.
Yesterday we saw a little of the Santa Cruz area but we had barely nibbled at the edges. We took a different route through it, crossing a range of little plazas then diving off into one of the little laneways that criss cross the area. At one stage we were filmed by the Google Maps car as it worked its way through the laneways.
There were loads of school aged kids out on the streets. We assumed they have a half day on Friday. Outside one of the schools there was a clutch of mums who had picked up their kids and were standing outside a taverna, surrounded by school bags and knocking back the vino. Great way to mark the end of the week I thought. Friday afternoon is also the time for workers to go out in large groups to " network" and de brief. The plazas were full of them at 2 pm.
I kept checking how Johnny was feeling and he seemed to be getting better so we stopped for a bit of late lunch at the Plaza del Alfalfa. We shared a plate of broad beans with chunks of ham and garlic, and of course had a baguette with lovely jamon. There was enough room left for a Portuguese tart. Yum!
We set off via a corkscrew of a route to find the Seville Parasol, a massive futuristic construction that fills a whole plaza. It was constructed entirely of wood and is said to be the largest timbered structure in the world. It's the sort of irregular and impossible looking structure that demanded that we photograph it from every angle. Since 19th century there had been a market on the site and when it was finally torn down for the construction of the parasol ( or mushroom) they discovered all sorts of archeological treasure. This was not accessible during our visit but the structure itself, which was finished in 1990, was incredibly impressive.
We left the parasol, winding our way through some pretty seedy looking streets as we headed for the park containing the Alameida. Here there were four well work columns atop of which were some ancient statues depicting stories to do with Hercules. It may have been my sore feet but it held little interest for me.
We walked on to see the Parliament House building for the Andalusia area. This was very close to Macarena Gate and the remnants of an ancient wall (the Murallas) that must have been part of the Seville fortifications built by the Romans. This was well off the tourist trail but going there let us see something of the Seville suburbs.
We decided to return to the hotel along the river walk. This looked like it enjoyed some development about 20 or so years ago when the city hosted an exposition but on the whole it looked sad and down at heel. We did notice though that there were some rowing clubs and the facilities normally associated with a rowing course along there. There were a few runners and cyclists about as well as a couple of water sports enthusiasts. The area reminded me of when Melbourne turned its back on the Yarra River. I'm sure it should be quite beautiful if the government sank some thinking and money into it.
It was a pleasure to be back in the main drag when we came up from the river walk to street level.
We've had good food in Spain but all I wanted was a roast chicken back at the hotel. On the way back we found a place that did BBQ chicken and checked it out for later. We also bought a couple of cans of beer and a lot of strawberries for dessert. It was too early to eat so we took the beer, the I pad and a book and sat by the pool on the rooftop terrace. It was a nice temperature despite the cloud and it was lovely to see the late afternoon setting sun light up the cathedral against a darkening sky.Johnny checked the route to Conil de la Frontera, as we will be picking up a car tomorrow morning and driving there. Johnny says its on the coast and one of the "white towns" so named because of the colour of the houses.
