Seville

May 10, 2024

Hasta Luega, Madrid

We were up at the crack of dawn, quite literally, today. When David opened the curtains at 6:05am, it was still dark out. We had to be out the door by 6:45 today because our high speed train to Seville is scheduled to leave at 8:50am from the Atocha station and we need to leave extra time to make sure we pull it off.

It was still dark when we left the hotel.

Here’s a daylight shot of the view from our hotel window, overlooking the Gran Via.

Now, what possibly could get in the way of today's plans? Well, for starters, we had to navigate Madrid traffic to get to the train station. For some bizarre reason, the second lane from the curb is where cyclists are supposed to ride. The buses and taxis get the lane next to the curb, along with anyone who identifies as ‘taxi’ or ‘bus’ and the rest of the traffic shares the second and third lanes, along with bikes. It seemed over the top for me to put my trust in Madridian drivers at that time of morning but I knew I could make something work.

Next, we would have to fold the bikes and put covers over them and cross our fingers that the train folks checking bags wouldn’t wag their fingers at us. After reading the rules on the IRYO website, it sounded like a risky proposition at best. Lastly, we had to hope the storage space on the train was large enough to hold our bikes.

So, essentially, we needed time to come up with Plan B and still get to Seville today with our bikes, should the worst case come to fruition. If it all went smoothly, we would have time for breakfast at the station.

The bike is folded and she’s ready to lug, bike in one hand and panniers in the other. Front pack is slung over the shoulder.

And, I am happy to say it went as well as it possibly could have, we had a good breakfast at the station and we disembarked the train in Seville right on time.

These trains are modern and have lots of overhead storage, but not so much for large luggage.

In Seville

The first few km of a tour always feel a little wobbly, adding to the stress of navigating a loaded bike through unfamiliar traffic. Today, we were treated to a good bike path as we exited the station, one of many that make up the 140 km bike network in Seville. It was almost dreamy what with the warm air, the jacaranda blossoms, the sounds of birds chirping and even the odd wafts of BBQ’d meat scents, that we ended up taking the long way to our B&B. Yes, we got lost 😜.

We were met at 12:30 by our super host, Lucia. She and I had been exchanging WhatsApp messages for the last few days to iron out some booking issues and juggle the check-in time to coincide with our arrival in Seville. What a lovely woman and what a beautiful place to stay for two nights. I booked this room so long ago, I had forgotten it was located just steps from two of the main attractions in Seville, the Cathedral and the Alcazar.

View from our suite in Seville. These building are truly ancient.

The popular way for tourists to get around this neighbourhood. The horses canter here and keep up a good speed, unlike the Tally-Ho tours in Victoria.

One view of the Seville cathedral, which is far too big and sprawling to photograph in its entirety.

Unidentified church, not far from the Cathedral.

We took some time to get organized and book a flamenco performance for tonight. Sadly, the travel agent didn’t think to pre-book the Seville Cathedral or the Alcazar (it's the only way to gain entry) and when we tried to find tickets, the shelves were empty. There are no tickets available for either place while we are here so the next best thing we could come up with was sightseeing today and a self-guided bike tour tomorrow to take in the major Seville sights. With that cleared up, we went out looking for nibbles.

The temperatures had been rising all morning and topped out at 30 degrees today. We strolled the old Jewish neighbourhood and along the Guadalquivir River.

Dinner was at a tapas bar nestled in amongst the many bars and restaurants in this quarter of Seville. From there, we strolled over to the flamenco show at 10pm. I had wondered if this might be a bit of a touristy thing to do but the dancers and musicians were fantastic and it was worth every penny. Visions of their mind-bending manoeuvres will be etched in our memories forever.

Flamenco show. We guessed the female dancer was in her mind 20’s. The male dancer was probably in his late 30’s. What physiques they both had!

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Anne AnastasiouI'm so sorry I didn't think to tell you to book ahead. Perhaps you can join a "free" (donation expected) walking tour. We enjoyed ours. Glad you enjoyed the flamenco show. And, glad you made it safely to Seville.
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3 months ago

Patty BarronI was holding my breath, wondering if you would make your train connection! Yikes!
It seems so unbelievable that most of the major attractions require advance bookings these days!
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3 months ago