Real Alcazar, Seville

We spent the morning marvelling at the architecture and gardens of the Royal Palace here. It is difficult to do justice to the intricacy of the stone carving and the beauty of the tiling, as the interiors are quite dark and the oldest rooms are relatively small and the whole place is busy with visitors but the courtyard by the main entrance with the swallows swooping and diving here gave some idea of the serenity that must have existed centuries ago.

Afterwards we walked the whitewashed narrow streets of the nearby Santa Cruz district, stopping for a tapas lunch in a beautiful old bar, then took a trip on the Guadalquivir river where the breeze was most welcome. For the second night in a row we ate on the Alameda de Hercules after a drink atour "local".