Tag: Spain

Mazagon to Ayamonte

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.

Seville to Mazagon

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.

Seville

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.

Madrid to Seville

It rained off and on all day today. We walked to the train station in Madrid and then from the station in Seville to our hotel.

I love European high speed trains. Our trip from Madrid to Seville was fast and easy. Once we found our hotel we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring Seville with occasional stops for tapas.

We had a great dinner at Chic&Olé.

On the way back to the hotel the rain had stopped and the cathedral was lit up.

Madrid

Our friends Butch and Myra joined us today. They will be traveling with us for the next two weeks. We met their plane and then spent the day showing them Madrid.

We stopped for chocolate and churros at Chocolateria San Gonés.

I especially enjoyed walking through San Miguel Market. They have such beautiful food.

The weather today was cool and it rained this morning but this afternoon it cleared some. We walked through Retiro Park.