Saturday was a long, final day of birding in the Donana wetlands. At dinner afterwards, we tallied up the species seen and counted more than 140 kinds for the trip. We celebrated the great birding and our nice trip companions, plus Pau being an excellent guide. The restaurant provided flamingo-shaped desserts at the end of the meal.
This morning we left El Rocio at 9:00 after breakfast and drove the hour to Seville in the sunshine. I was the first one that Pau dropped off because of the location of my hotel on the close side of town. Ann and Mike were taken to the train station, Linsay and Dean to the airport to return to Scotland, and Malcolm was accompanying Pau back to the Valencia area where they both live.
Pau couldn’t drive all the way to my hotel, which is in the old part of Seville along very narrow streets. But I was dropped off within a 5-minute walk of my hotel about 10:15 a.m. Here’s the street my hotel is located on.
I dropped off my bag and checked in to El Rey Moro Hotel, but of course my room wasn’t ready so early. So I set out to explore the area. I quickly found Sevilla Cathedral and La Giralda, the Moorish tower adjacent to the cathedral.
I walked around quite a bit, exploring the old city. I stopped for tea along the Guadalquivir River that runs through the city. And I sat in a small park for a while, watching people. I wasn’t really hungry, since I had eaten a lot for breakfast, so I just bought an apple and water at a little store nearby. About 2 p.m. I returned to the hotel and my bag had been placed in my room already.
At 5:30, my tapas and flamenco tour from Devour Seville started in a nearby square. The guide was Sofie, an English and Spanish speaking French woman who was really knowledgeable about tapas and flamenco. 10 people were on the tour: two couples from Atlanta, an American woman who lives in Paris, two men living in Minnesota, and two women from India, plus me. Sofie took us to three tapas bars, where we sampled sweet vermouth, various ham, cheese, shrimp and veggie tapas, two different sherries, and wines. Plus, from 7 to 8 we watched some flamenco – guitar, singing and dancing in a small venue. Sofie did a great job of explaining everything beforehand. The tour ended about 10:30 p.m. and I walked back about 10 minutes to my hotel.
Lori's Travels 