Seville - Take Two - Springtime Spin in Southern Spain

May 11, 2024

Seville - Take Two

“Name Three Things

Honestly, the only three things I knew about Seville before coming here is that it has a reputation for being a beautiful city, there’s an orange named after it and it’s somewhere in Spain. That’s about it. I truly hope to do better in the next couple of days, starting now.

Today’s experience is a classic example of what I love about travel: it teaches us things we wouldn’t otherwise know or appreciate. It is simple to float through life, not knowing what we don’t know and accepting it. Fine, we tell ourselves. We can live with that. But, when we travel and immerse ourselves in a culture that’s different from our own, we open ourselves to new ways of seeing or understanding. Learning is a natural outcome of the experience. And from that, our horizons expand and we crave a repeat.

This kind of payback of course has no dollar value and it’s usually unplanned and unexpected. So goes my love affair with travelling on two wheels. It takes effort which requires being mindful for hours on end. The only necessity is to eat and drink adequate fluids, make it to the day’s destination safely and find a place to sleep each night. And don’t get sunburned. For me, two wheeled slow travel is the antidote for repetitive routines which suck the minutes and hours from the day. Every single day is seasoned with new experiences which makes time slow wa-a-y down. And it’s almost certain that someone will ask us on our return home, ‘are you back already?’. We just nod and smile.

There are several caveats to our style of travel and a major one is to be flexible. As in, make a plan B when Plan A is no longer feasible. That’s exactly how today’s adventure came about. The tourist crowds have arrived in Seville and as a result, tickets are sold out to the Seville Cathedral and the Alcazar. Our plan B became a serendipitous tour of Seville.

After breakfast this morning I pulled up Komoot and searched for route in and around Seville. There were something like 375 to choose from, so I added some criteria and narrowed it down to something that covered the areas we wanted to explore. I added our starting/ending point and we were ready to roll out the door.

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The Guadalquivir River and a parallel canal, Canal de AlphonsoXIII, run through Seville and alongside them are great swaths of parks and bike paths. So, that’s where we headed first. Very quickly, the hordes of tourists diminished and we found ourselves meandering the city bike paths, passing cafes and bars where people were having a leisurely Saturday morning coffee with their friends. I felt the pull to grab a chair and join them but we’d only begun.

I felt relieved to see this river is full of water.

The canals are popular for non-motorized boating.

There are numerous bridges crossing the river and the canal, which is a good size in itself, and all of them accommodate bikes. How civilized. We crossed over to the west side and did a big loop of the Park Vega in the Triana district. Then we continued north, cruising quite effortlessly along the bike routes. Keep in mind that Seville is flat and the newer parts were built more or less in a grid. It’s ideal for cycling.

Riding through the deserted park. There is space here for large events. Today, we were the only visitors.

The Seville Tower dominates the skyline of Seville. We had a close up view of it today. It is an oval 40-floor office tower.

The Seville tower. Yes, it’s a bit of an eyesore, me thinks.

Along the way in north Triana, we came upon the Museum of Ceramics. I just had to poke around to see what was there. The museum is a former ceramics/pottery-making site which was decommissioned in the 70’s. The kilns burned wood and the wood smoke took its toll on the local citizens. So ended a pottery making tradition in the Triana neighborhood which likely dates back to the 16th C (kilns have been excavated from this period). We didn’t have the time to visit the full museum but I did wander the alleyways for an exhibition.

Little did I expect to find the exhibition was a massive tapestry depicting Christopher Columbus making landfall at San Salvador on Oct 12, 1492. Not what you’d expect in a pottery/ceramic museum, but the tapestry was enormous and there is a perfect space to display it here. I suspect that’s Queen Isabella at the top as she commissioned the journey.

Tapestry of Christopher making landfall in 1492.

Next, we rode under an overpass and were surprised and a bit puzzled by a large group of chuckwagon folks preparing for some sort of event. They probably don’t call them chuckwagons here, they were more of a whitewashed Andalucian wagon. There were flamenco costumes galore too. And people milling about taking photos and setting up. What the outcome was to be is anyone’s guess!

We carried on and came across the Olympic Stadium, built as part of a failed bid for the Olympics. We could hear roars from the fans so some sort of sporting event was taking place.

On our right, we came upon Isla Magica, a huge theme park, complete with a scream machine. When we pulled up for a closer look, we saw a whole car full of thrill seekers hanging upside down, ready for the biggest dive and twist of their lives. The screaming started as soon as the car took the plunge and entered the corkscrew. Beyond the ride, we could see a tethered balloon taking people high up in the air overlooking Seville. That looked much more tame.

There was a rocket too, because.. why not? Actually, the theme of the ‘92 expo was Age of Discovery, so that makes sense.

Moving on, we came to a golf course that was connected to another large park, Alamilo Park. What happened next will remain with us as one of those feel-good moments. We were cruising through the almost deserted byways of Alamilo Park when we heard music. Soon, we came upon a group of music lovers who had set up a small bandstand and tables and chairs. There was a 5-piece band playing American folk music, celebrating Pete Seeger’s birthday. They invited is to join them so we did. Out came the beer as the band played on. They plied us with food, too. We had potato chips, marcona almonds, and chicken strips. There would have been more if we wanted it. We (I) danced because, who can stand still when the band is playing Bob Dylan? We stayed for four songs, then thanked them and waved goodbye to our new friends.

Antonio made sure we had beer to go with the music.

In another part of the park, we came across this enormous black egg sculpture. It looked so austere, but I could make out some sailing ships so there was a good chance that it was to do with Christopher Columbus. Indeed, it marked the 500th anniversary of that fateful voyage.

This austere sculpture was a gift from Moscow on the 500’th anniversary of Columbus’ voyage.

Each bridge has a unique design. This one is from the Expo in 1992.

We continued the tour along the canal where it looked like a paddling competition was about to get underway. Fans were cheering on their favourites.

Lots of recreation goes on here. Fishing, paddle boats, running, roller blading, kayaking and paddling to name a few.

We headed away from the canal in search of the Macarena Basilica. There had been a wedding this morning, judging by the shredded coloured papers on the sidewalk, but the church was now closed. The basilica sits at the Macarena Gate, an ancient entry point to the city. The streets behind the gate looked like a rabbit warren, so we steered clear.

Macarena Gate, one of the last remaining from Roman times. This was the view to the new city.

The ancient protective wall with the distinctive design remains in place. The wall was built by the Moors on a Roman foundation from 68 AD.

Protective wall, still intact, from the Roman period.

The Parasol, or the Mushrooms as it’s now named, is one of the iconic installations in Seville. It is made of Finnish pine wood and as the sun hits it throughout the day, light filters through to the elevated plaza below. I was surprised to find it embedded within the network of small streets in the jewish Quarter. It is such a modern contrast with its surroundings.

From the Mushrooms, we cruised along the cobbles towards home. We stopped in at the Church of San Salvador where David went in to reflect on the sudden passing of his older brother a short time ago. It’s a beautiful church and allowed for some thoughtful reflections.

The final stop of the day was the Plaza d’Espagna. It was only a few minutes walk from our room. The building now houses government offices. In front of the building, which was built in 19—, lies a huge open plaza. Around the plaza is a canal where you can rent a paddle boat to see what the ducks and swans see. The attraction that drew the tourists were the tiled alcoves, each one with a vignette representing a different region of Spain. David manged to snap a shot of Barcelina’s alcove before the next tourist jumped in and claimed it.

One of the ceramic tile vignettes in the Plaza d’Espagna. There is one for each region of Spain.

We chose a restaurant for tonight from a recommendation by our food tour host for dinner tonight and it did not disappoint. Top marks in every sense.

Spanish menus have the weirdest translations. We were told the sauce on the mussels is very hot.

Our first caprese of the trip. Shlurrrp!

The Cathedral pops into view as you stroll the neighborhood.

Today's ride: 25 km (16 miles)
Total: 25 km (16 miles)

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Steve Miller/GrampiesWe recently found GPS MyCity, which gives highlights of things to see in many cities worldwide. They have a system of red and green marked places, a little blurb about each one, and even suggested walking tours between them. We found it great to use and interesting to follow any of their routes.
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4 months ago

Anne AnastasiouGlad you had such a great and interesting day. I enjoyed seeing some familair spots and some new ones. The music experience sounded so fun. Plan B certainly turned out well.
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4 months ago

Debbie BriggsYour pictures are so beautifully clear and the content amazing . What a glorious city .
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3 months ago

Anne MathersTo Debbie BriggsThanks, Debbie. We had a great time in Seville.
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3 months ago