My name is Marion Vermazen. I am a traveler, hiker, reader, Sun alumnus, computer geek, YouTuber, Spanish and French language student, knitter, weaver and genealogist.
Monday morning we headed north out of Zafra and stopped at Feria. The castle there is on the highest point for miles around. We drove through the narrow streets of the town to the top. The castle had a wonderful, interesting four story museum.
We have been seeing colorful spring flowers everywhere.
There is an old tidal mill on the outskirts of Ayamonte. We thought the museum would be open Sunday morning. It wasn’t, but we took a walk on a path in the tidal flats nearby.
We left Ayamonte and headed towards Zafra. After a few miles we stopped for fruit and cheese at a roadside rest area.
We stopped in the little town of Jerez de la Caballeros. We had snacks and walked around a bit. Driving the narrow streets was an adventure in and of itself.
On our way from Jerez de la Caballeros to Zafra we happened to see a sign for a Roman Bridge. We took a short path through the woods and there it was a second century bridge built by the Romans.
Nearby we stopped again to take pictures of a castle on a hill and what the signs said was a medieval bridge.
We are staying at the Parador in Zafra which is built in the 1457 Alcázar de los Duques de Féria.
After we checked in we went down to the Plaza Grande for coffee. Coincidentally they were doing some kind of art installation. First a woman carved a palm tree stump with a chain saw. Then another guy painted it and finally a bass opera type singer serenaded it. The whole thing was rather strange but the people watching was great fun.
We had a typical elaborate and tasty meal at the Parador.
Appetizers
Main course.
Lamb stew.
Veal sirloin.
And for dessert- fried ice cream with chocolate sauce.
This morning before we left Mazagon we spent some time at an overlook beside the Parador. A couple of years ago a wild fire encircled the Parador.
We didn’t have far to drive today so we took back roads. We saw lots of orange groves,
and storks.
This afternoon after we checked in at Parador Ayamonte we sat outside our room and played hearts. For those of you who have played cards with Duke in the past you’ll be interested to know that he lost at hearts both yesterday and today!
This Parador is built on the site of an old fort overlooking the Portugal Spain border. The original fort located here was built by the Muslims.
For dinner we went into the town of Ayamonte and had wonderful paella at Bistro Vintage.
This morning we walked to the train station in Seville, rented a car, and managed to find our way through the narrow Seville streets to the road out of town.
Tonight we are staying not far from the Portugal border at the wonderful Parador de Mazagon. It a beautiful day and we can hear the wave crashing from the open door of our balcony.
This afternoon we took a walk on the beach and played cards on our balcony.
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We had a great dinner at the Parador. The only pictures I remembered to take were of dessert.
We had a very full and fun day in Seville Thursday. We started in the Plaza de la Encarnación where we went up on top of the giant wood structure that the locals call the mushroom.
Underneath the giant mushroom are archaeological excavations and the remains of the Roman town.
After Butch and Myra visited the Cathedral we visited the Archives of the Indies. They are between exhibits so we only got to see the building itself.
Next we all went on a buggy ride around Seville.
It was wonderful. We saw things we hadn’t seen in our other visits to Seville. The Plaza de España was built for the 1929 world exhibition. It is colorful, big and beautiful.
Our final sightseeing stop of the day was the Royal Alcázar. It is a palace and gardens parts of which were originally built in the 10th century. This first picture is of the ceiling in the Hall of Ambassadors. 
From the outside the Alcazar doesn’t seem that big but inside it is an enormous peaceful oasis. We
almost lost Butch and Duke in the maze.
Marion's Blog 