This mornings train journey will be our second on the "fast train" service in Europe. The trip from Seville to Cordoba was our first trip on a fast train which travels at 250 kms an hour. 140 kms, 35 minutes. It was quite fun. It is hard to see anything up close to the train but quite fine to look into the distance.
The front of the train looks a little like a duck, but the carriage we travelled in was really comfortable. As I booked the tickets quite a while back we had first class seats for a good price which was a really comfortable way to travel. Very plush seats, lots of leg room. Pity we were only there for 35 minutes. Ah well.
Seville was a really good city to explore. As in all cities in Europe there is not shortage of massive Cathedrals and ancient city walls attached to unbelievably cute little alleyways where people live in the cutest of cute houses.
We stayed in a guesthouse just off one of the main thoroughfares of the old city. Still has original timbers throughout the building.
On our second morning we took a tour with a guy who works at the guesthouse. It was a walking tour of the historic areas close to the guesthouse. The Cathedral and the Jewish quarter. He was a great tour guide and a knowledgeable historian. Showed us two doors which are still on the Cathedral which were original from the 13th Century. Made of timber and still standing. Quite amazing.
In Seville we also bought tickets for the hop on hop off bus (the first city that we had decided looked like ok value) 16 Euro's each for 48 hours. It was good to give the legs a rest and let the bus take us to the different monuments. Another popular mode of transport in Sevilla is the horse drawn rides which take in the city. Of course the prices are aimed very much at the tourist market. We didn't stretch our budget that far but it was fun to watch and hear the clip clop of the horses as they passed by.
Enormous parks surrounded by enormous buildings is another feature of even the smaller cities like Seville. Stopped off there for a walk around the grounds, a quick refreshment stop and to gaze at the sheer size of the grand building and lake.
Just a selection of a few of the pics of the the very cute alleyways in the labyrinth of streets which make up the Jewish Quarter of Seville.
The other thing which is also taken very seriously all over Spain is the attachment to sweet food. Breakfast mainly is coffee and sweet anything and again in the afternoon. This is shop which was full to overflowing with sweet buns and cake of every imaginable shape and size just near the corner of our accommodation. It did a very brisk trade all day except for the siesta time when pretty much everything except the bigger chain stores closes.
So onwards to our few days in Cordoba on the fast train as described earlier. There seemed to be a general feeling that Cordoba was a place just for a day trip to spend a few hours there and then scram but as we had booked our train journey and accommodation for 2 nights we decided to stay with that plan. As it turned out we had 2 really enjoyable days just wandering around the historic Mezquita area and the Jewish Quarter. A beautiful river runs around the town with an amazing historic foot bridge. There is a blend of Christian, Jewish and Moorish architecture to gaze at and it all sits well together in yet another labyrinth of alleys. The yearly patio competition had just finished the day before we arrived so a lot of the balconies still had lots of flowering pots in evidence.
The next pics are the remains of an ancient water wheel just downstream of the bridge dating from the Arabic time.
We spent our last evening in Cordoba with a visit to the Arabian Bath House and spent time in the different pools of varying temperatures and then finished off with a massage. There are 3 pools ranging from very hot, medium heat and then cold. Couldn't spend long in the very hot or the cold but the medium was very nice. There is also another pool which is highly salted and when you get into it and stretch out you bob to the top of the water and then just relax and float. Didn't take our camera with us to the baths so unfortunately don't have any pics to show, but it was a really beautiful setting and felt very relaxing with the music and the water and cups of hot sweet peppermint tea to drink.
So we are off to Madrid and will do another post after our time spent in Madrid.
Bye for now, take care and love to everyone.
No comments:
Post a Comment