Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Today we took a 5:30 pm bus from Helvo across the border into Portugal to the town of Faro. We had a taxi drive us from the Mazagón Parador to the Huelvo bus station. It picked us up at 3:30 so we had most of the day to continue to relax ocean front in Mazagón. As we did yesterday we went down to the beech for a walk.

We had lunch at the hotel and coffee at the bus station while waiting for the bus. That’s coffee in the glasses.

Neither Duke nor I have been to Portugal before today. In Spain I have relied primarily on Duke’s excellent Spanish. I’ve been studying a little bit of Portuguese the last couple of months but I suspect we will primarily be relying on English!

Our hotel in Faro is right on the bay overlooking the old town.

Tonight we had one of the best dinners so far at the restaurant on top of our hotel. The view was great too. I liked the way they served olive oil with the garlic in a spoon.

Duke and I shared the soup of the day and a salad of arugula, cashews, ham and oranges.

Then we also shared our main courses. Mine was chicken on top of figs, potatoes and tomatoes with an excellent sauce.

And Duke’s was sea bass on top of potatoes carrots and beans.

Monday, February 1, 2016

Today we spent the whole day relaxing at the secluded and very quiet Parador at Mazagón. They have steps down to the beech so this morning we went down and took a long walk on the beech. Other than the fishermen on their boats we were the only people in sight. The beech had a lot of beautiful seashells. The Parador is on the edge of the Doñana Nature Reserve so there were no buildings to be seen either.

Sunday, January 31, 2016

Today was primarily a travel day. We took two buses and walked. As we were leaving Seville we passed the runners competing in a half marathon. The pictures are through the bus window.

For the next two nights we are staying at the Parador Mazagón. It is right on the coast. It is surrounded by the Doana National Park a big wetlands area. Columbus lived in this area for a while and left from near here on his voyage of discovery.

Tonight we ate at the Parador restaurant.

Saturday, January 30, 2016

Today we explored Seville. Our first stop was the Archivo de Indies which Lonely Planet describes as

“The main archive on Spain’s American empire, with 80 million pages of documents dating from 1492 through to the end of the empire in the 19th century”

They had a fascinating exhibit about the Battle of Santa Maria and the sinking of the treasure ship Mercedes in 1804. An American company salvaged 17 tons of gold and silver from the Mercedes. They were sued by the Spanish government and the gold was returned to Spain.

There was a long line to buy tickets to go in the cathedral but the tourist office told us yesterday that you can buy tickets at the church at Plaza Salvador with no line and get into both places so we visited the Parroquia del Divino Salvador.

Next we went to the Metropol Parasol a giant recently built structure that is supposed to be the largest wooden building in the world. They have a long viewpoint walkway on top of the structure with great views of Seville in all directions.

Next a quick book store stop.

Then on to the Cathedral. It is enormous! We saw Columbus’ tomb.

Then we climbed up the former minaret, now a bell tower. To get to the top a ramp winds around the inside of the tower. A ramp was used so that guards could ride horses to the top

When we took a break in our hotel room Property Brothers dubbed in Spanish was on TV!

For dinner we had tapas with sangria. My favorite was the grilled peppers.

Friday, January 29, 2016

This morning we took the train from Cádiz to Seville. On the way to the train station Duke got a good picture of the Torre Tavira that we visited yesterday.

In Seville we are staying near the Cathedral in the old Jewish section of town called Barrio de Santa Cruz. After checking in to our hotel we went for a walk to do some exploring.

Here is the Cathedral.

The Bull-ring

On the way back to the hotel we stopped for beer and olives. They cost about $2.80.

Tonight we went to a flamenco show.