We had a very easy, quick drive from Granada to Seville this morning.....freeway all the way. Not really much happened on the journey, and not really any scenery to worry about. We dropped the Skoda off at the rental company near the train station and caught a cab into the old Santa Cruz area, and our great boutique hotel, Hotel Casa 1800.
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| Hotel Casa 1800 |
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| The Beautiful Interior |
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| Lovely Little Room |
As usual, we just dropped off our bags and went exploring the area around the hotel.. There is just a maze of little streets and plaza's, and everywhere seems to be full of restaurants, cafes, and bars....our type of location!!! Again, being in Southern Spain, Seville has a fantastic mix of Moorish and Christian architecture and food, which means it is a great place to look at, and an even better place to eat!!!!
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| Plaza De La Alianza |
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| Plaza De Dona Elvira |
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| Near The Hotel |
Only metres from our front door is the massive, and very impressive Catedral y Giraldo....we found it was impossible to walk around here without being constantly approached by the horse drawn buggy drivers encouraging you to take a city tour with them....they are nearly as bad as the beggars we keep coming across, but still a lovely place to look around.
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| Views Around The Catedral y Giralda |
Also not too far away are the beautiful gardens of Jardines de Murillo and Jardines de Catalinade Riberta...a very popular walking area for the locals.
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| Walking Through The Gardens |
As we made our way around Santa Cruz we were constantly coming across the most stunning buildings, and many with interesting history....the University was the original tobacco factory and the first place in Europe where tobacco was introduced.
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| Antigua Fabrica de Tabacos - Universidad |
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| Hotel Alfonso XIII, Too Expensive For Us! |
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| Puerta De Jerez |
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| Reales Alcazeres |
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| Stunning Building In Avinida De La Constitucion |
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| Plaza De Virgen De Los Reyes |
We also came across the Christmas market stalls all setup in the Plaza Nueva....I am sure that Lesley will be bringing be back here for shopping........oh, that should be fun....loll!
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| Christmas Stalls In Plaza Nueva |
After quite a few hours of walking we went back for afternoon tea at the hotel in their great looking common area.....as part of the deal Lesley found for this place we get free afternoon tea each day.......plenty of great tasting cakes, so I am happy!!
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| Afternoon Tea |
This evening we decided to go to a tapas bar only 30-40 metres away, Bar El Pasaje...it is rated as one of the best eating places in Seville........and we were not disappointed! The food was amazing! We ordered a few different dishes of tapas with some local wines recommended by the staff......when they bought out all of these good size plates of food we queried them as we ordered tapas NOT meals.....these were the tapas sizes!!!! The food tasted fantastic.....I can see why this place has the rating it has....and it is so cheap!!
In not time at all the place was pretty full, we noticed a few familar faces from afternoon tea at the hotel, so got talking to them...there was a couple from Sydney, Peter and Jaynie, their son Harry, and another guest from Kuala Lumpur, Thatch........well we made a bit of a night of it, we all had a great time!!
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| Bar El Pasaje |
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| Great Interior |
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| The Gang from Hotel Casa 1800 |
We finished off the night the Bodega Santa Cruz and were thrown at at closing......
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| Last Drinks!! |
We have all agreed to get together again tonight, and try and hit a few more local tapas bars, should be another good night!
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