Sun in Sevilla and Cadiz!
Flamenco, tapas and the beach :)
After our relaxing time in Cordoba , we headed south into Andalucia, to Seville Norway
with -7 degrees temperatures on average, and now we were in Spain
Anyway, after finding our
hostel, which we’ve decided is the best hostel we’ve stayed at during our whole
trip away; it’s called The Oasis Palace Backpackers Hostel at Calle
Almirante Ulloa, 1 41001 Seville. The hostel is centrally located, very clean,
facilities are amazing, and the atmosphere is electric. This particular hostel
(as the Oasis Hostels have a few around Spain) is fairly new, so the mattresses
are still comfortable, the bathrooms are modern and the décor is pretty good
for a hostel, it really does look similar to a ‘palace’ as you enter with it’s
grand staircase. They have free breakfast every morning, a functional kitchen
(a tad small for the amount of people, but reasonable) and loads of
activities on every day/night to meet new people and get involved in the
Spanish culture.
We stayed in the biggest dorm room with 14 beds, but the room was sectioned off, so we only had 8 beds in our area. There was loads of space in the room so it didn’t seem crowded, an ensuite bathroom, but also a shared bathroom in case the ensuite bathroom was in use. The staff were very friendly, and they even have a permanent staff member located on the help desk on the first floor, to answer any questions you had.
We stayed in the biggest dorm room with 14 beds, but the room was sectioned off, so we only had 8 beds in our area. There was loads of space in the room so it didn’t seem crowded, an ensuite bathroom, but also a shared bathroom in case the ensuite bathroom was in use. The staff were very friendly, and they even have a permanent staff member located on the help desk on the first floor, to answer any questions you had.
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| Gaffa's perfectly made bed...which is why you are not seeing mine! |
After settling in, we took
advantage of the help desk and asked where was best to try some local tapas.
The guy recommended a place called Taberna Coloniales in Plaza Cristo
de Burgos. When we found it, it was not lunch time yet, so we got a table
straight away and ordered some cold tapas dishes first to fill our tummys, with
some vino also! When the kitchen opened we ordered a couple more hot dishes to
try. We will definitely be doing a separate review about this tapas restaurant,
as it was probably the best tapas we ate during our time in Spain , the only other contender was the pintxos
in San Sebastian
After we finished lunch, we
stuck around abit to enjoy just relaxing in the sunshine, soaking up the
chilled out Andalucia atmosphere. Next we decided to walk around and do some
sightseeing. We saw the Seville Cathedral, Alcazar de Seville, and then sat at
Puerte de Jerez where there were some beautiful water fountains.
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| Seville Cathedral |
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| Alcazar de Seville |
We then walked on towards
Jardines Christina to the Torre del Oro, and the Plaza de Toros. The Plaza de
Toros is where the bull fighting competitions are held. We didn’t do the tour
to go inside, but you can. It was a little bit pricey for our budget. Gaffa
managed to get a sneak peak of the inside though, while the workmen were
exiting the arena.
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| Torre del Oro |
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| Plaza de Toros - Bullring |
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| Inside the Bull Ring |
There were about 10 people
standing around the bar on the top floor of the hostel waiting for the dance
lesson. The flamenco dancer only spoke Spanish but had some help with English
from the bar tender. First we learnt the basic hand movements of Flamenco, then
we learnt the basic beat: uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco… then the first few
basic steps. We did this over and over again, and then we did it one by one, so
she could correct us. There was a lot of stamping involved, and wearing
Onitsuka Tigers (flat shoes) was not a good idea for stomping in Flamenco
dancing! Gaffa got told by the teacher that he was too tense, and needed to
relax. After we were comfortable with the basic steps, she taught us some turns
and some more steps. We did this over and over again, and then started dancing
the steps to some Flamenco music. It was a good experience, some great fun, but
our feet were hurting after the stomping for an hour! It was especially nice to share the dancing with Gaffa - we got to partner up towards the end.
The next morning we
ventured off to check out the Plaza de Espana in the Parque de Maria Luisa. The
plaza is just beautiful, with its tiled alcoves, each representing a different
province in Spain Spain
This is one Plaza that I would definitely recommend going to see. The detail in the tiled alcoves and bridges are so pretty. The park that the plaza is in is also great to walk around also. From an artsy come architecture point of view, this place screams technical and yet looks like a piece of elaborate artwork. Well Done, Sevilla!
This is one Plaza that I would definitely recommend going to see. The detail in the tiled alcoves and bridges are so pretty. The park that the plaza is in is also great to walk around also. From an artsy come architecture point of view, this place screams technical and yet looks like a piece of elaborate artwork. Well Done, Sevilla!
Time for lunch! Where did
we go? Of course, back to the same place we went the day before. This time it
was a bit later in the afternoon, and when we arrived at the place it was full. We
had to put our name on a chalkboard list to wait for the next available table.
There were about 5-6 groups waiting in front of us, so we just stood around enjoying another glass of vino, and tinto con limon for me! This just shows how popular this tapas restaurant is. On the first day we ate there, we weren’t sure why people
were writing their names up on the board. But we finally realised that they
were putting their names on the list, for a table later on in the afternoon.
About an hour later, we finally got our table in the sun. We tried a few different things from the menu, to provide a more in depth review for our readers! Unfortunately, my camera ran out of battery at the Plaza, so I didn’t take any photos of the food on this occasion. Thankfully we had a back up with Gaffa’s iPhone!
About an hour later, we finally got our table in the sun. We tried a few different things from the menu, to provide a more in depth review for our readers! Unfortunately, my camera ran out of battery at the Plaza, so I didn’t take any photos of the food on this occasion. Thankfully we had a back up with Gaffa’s iPhone!
For dinner in Seville
The next day we decided to
take a day-trip down to the Andalucian coast to Cadiz
We spent a few
hours on the beach, sun baking and relaxing. The beach was enclosed by two cathedrals. It took a while to suck it up and jump in the water, it was like a thousand pins stabbing into your body - ice cold! Gaffa loved it, he kept going back in for more...he misses the ocean when he's not diving, so this was a good alternative I think! Then we headed back via the sea
side. Cadiz
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| Alcove @ Plaza de Espagna - Cadiz |
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| Cadiz Beach |
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| Cadiz Coastline |
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| Gaffa's Spanish Tan - 3hrs in the sun!! |
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| Is he wearing white shorts under the swimmers or is that pommie-flesh? |
Next
stop: Valencia
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