Bienvenida a Sevilla!

The alarm went off at 3.30am and we were showered, dressed and ready to depart by 4am. Luckily Gatwick airport is only half an hour from our house and when we got there, we were amazed at how busy it was, there were thousands of people everywhere. Gavin naively thought it would be quiet as the school holidays are now over, but of course September is a peak travelling time for many without school going children. I have never seen so many people at 4.30am before, I think it is because Gatwick serves airlines that have very early morning flights. Despite this it was so efficient, queues moved very quickly. We picked up breakfast and coffees from Pret, there were many people drinking beers, wine and other alcoholic drinks which I thought was a bit much at that time of the morning, but I suppose people were in a holiday mood or maybe just alcoholics!

The hotel sent a driver to collect us and in no time we were in our hotel - the Hotel Colón - and unpacked. We had a coffee in the hotel (it was awful!) and then set off to walk to see the cathedral and old area of Seville. It was hot, but somehow did not feel as hot as Surrey has been these past few days. The buildings are beautiful, many are UNESCO heritage sites. 

Today the plan was to walk around and get a feel of the city, tomorrow we have tickets booked to enter the cathedral and the palace (Alcazar). It was very difficult conditions for photography with the bright sunshine and deep shadows in the narrow lanes, so it was very contrasty. We had lunch sitting outside in a shady square and it was not great, I think we inadvertently went to a tourist trap kind of place. Walking back to the hotel after lunch the heat seemed to intensify and we were relieved to get to the air conditioned hotel.

After the disappointing lunch we went straight to our hotel concierge and discussed restaurant options with her, and she has now booked all our evening meals at various authentic restaurants recommend by her. She also booked train tickets for us to visit Cordoba on Monday.

The heat and the early start to the day resulted in us spending the afternoon up on the 7th floor pool terrace of the hotel. There is a small plunge pool but better than that are the very comfortable bed like loungers and the continual misting to keep you cool, it was a perfect way to spend the afternoon. Now we are going downstairs for a drink, and to while away the time before we can go out for supper to Mechela - in typical Spanish style no restaurant takes booking before 8.30pm, they tend to eat very late here.