We left Portugal this morning on yet another lovely, blue-sky day! We were heading for Seville in Spain, it was a short hop of just under 2 hours.
Good bye Portugal! We loved the west coast and northern Portugal, but weren't too taken by the coastal part of the Algarve, which is where all the holiday makers flock to!
One of our reasons for our Euro trip is to look at potential places to live for a while ... we can honestly say it won't be Portugal.
Once over the bridge we were in Spain ...
The little red arrow is us crossing the bridge into Spain, nice little gadget autoroute ...
Once into Spain we filled with diesel as its cheaper than Portugal. I hit the wrong key for my pin number in the service station and the attendant went spare because he had to redo the transaction! He chucked my card and receipt at me going off in Spanish ... I don't think he understood English because I called him a 'kin rude pig and he didn't chase after me,! Good job really as he was a bit of a Guerilla.
We eventually* found our overnight mooring at a marina in Seville about 7 ks outside of the centre.
We really were parked up on a marina!
There was a nice ketch sat in the travel lift waiting to be launched, which was from Plymouth,. I tried to engage the owners in conversation as to what they were doing here etc. She was a snotty rude, English bitch that just brushed me aside ... so one rude Spaniard balanced up by one rude pom, we were going well.
Off the miserable buggers went. perhaps they had just got the bill!
We left the doggies in the van as it was going to be too hot for them in downtown Seville. The temp had got up to 31 degrees, but inside the van with all the blinds shut and the roof vents all open it was a nice 23 degrees ... they are well insulated these new motorhomes.
We caught the 143 bus downtown. The bus stop is right outside the marina and we had a really super helpful bus driver.....yay things were looking up!s
I have thrown away my map so now I don't know what all the buildings are, I will just say it is such a beautiful city with such superb architecture.
I will let the pics tell the story, well I might just add a few words here and there!
I remember this one, its The Alfonso Hotel ...
The stunning Cathederal ...
I'm pretty sure that this is the cathedral bell tower ...
We found a lovely little square where we sat and had a couple of drinks and dinner. It was a great place to people watch and guess the nationality of the tourist. Americans are the easiest to spot.
I had the beer Elaine went for the home made Sangria, as recommended by our multi-lingual waitress !
The Cathedral ...
There was an absolutely huge queue going all the way around the cathedral. They had been queueing for hours, there was some sort of religious blessing going on - for this week only, so they were on a deadline!
Christopher Columbus is buried in the cathedral.
Early evening and there were a lot of people about all of a sudden!
So many cafes and restaurants, it really is a fabulous city ...
Every corner you turn there is a stunning view ...
We headed back to our bus stop taking in a few more sights along the way ...
Oh look there is Elaine standing at the bottom of the building!
It is a lovely river, which enters the sea by Cadiz ...
So that was it! We sat at the bus stop for our bus, ready to practice our best Spanish "Dos (to) Puerto Gelves Por Favor" ... but it was the same, helpful bus driver and he remembered where we were going to anyway!
When we got back we took the dogs for a walk along the hard standing area of the marina. We spotted this little beauty, stick a bit of filler in it and she'll be right mate!
This is where we are at ...
Aire Location:
Gelves (Sevilla, Andalucia)
*It was quite hard to find the Aire here with the coordinates we were given (N 37º 20' 37" W 06º 01' 38"), although I think this site is in the current Aires book, which we don't have! From the main road you have to take a service road, which takes you down the back of a block of flats to the marina.
Here are the coordinates from our Tom Tom (where we punched in the 'where am I' status ... just in case anyone ever needs them ...
N 37o 20.421' W 6o 01.402'
Nice spot ... easy access to City via bus that stops outside marina. Has electricity hook up and water - plus wifi I think, which may be extra - but we found a 'cheeky' one when we were here! Cost us 14.50 Euros with electricity, but I think you can choose not to have electric hook up if you don't want it.
great post........hope you´re heading to Granada as well. We´ve lived in Spain for 10 years and finally we´re getting to the Alhambra next week!!
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