Porto - Barcelona Day 13 Seville - Cordoba

On Day 13 we will be catching a train in the afternoon, so we went for another sight seeing in the morning. And the target was Plaza de Espana.

The Plaza is situated inside Maria Luisa Park, so let's set the direction to the park.

Plaza de España is a semi-circular brick building, Renaissance/neo-Moorish in style, with a tower at either end (tall enough to be visible around the city, these towers - north and south - are major landmarks). 

In front of the building, following the curve of its façade, is a 500-metre canal crossed by four bridges, and in the centre of it all is the Plaza itself. You can rent small boats to row in the canal - the Plaza is known as "the Venice of Seville".

 Another major tourist attraction is the horse-and-carriage rides.

This massive building is Seville's most impressive after the cathedral, for its sheer scale and grandeur. Whether you like it or not - you have to visit it when you are in this place. Plaza de España was built for the Ibero-American Exhibition of 1929 (Expo 29), along with many of the pavilions you can see in and around the Parque Maria Luisa.

Bollywood-ing beside the canal with one of the towers behind us.

At the heart of the plaza with a huge erupting fountain and if you are lucky you might see rainbow over the fountain.

For your information, the Plaza has been used over the decades as a location for filming. Several movies such as Star Wars, Lawrence of Arabia, and the more recently Sasha Baron-Cohen film were filmed here.

Time to go back to the apartment, pack and set for the next destination.

It was time to leave the apartment at Calle Gallera and cycle to the train Station at Sevilla Santa Justa.

All set and we were on our way to the station and will be bidding good bye to Seville.

We had a brief photo shot with the mounted policeman half way during the ride.

We cycled as much as possible on the dedicated bicycle lane to the station.

And finally in less than 3km we were near to Santa Justa.

Santa Justa is located at Calle Joaquin Morales y Torres with a GPS : 37.391835, -5.976257. We were early and have time for something to bite.

There goes my front brake cable and it went kaput while coming to the station. Now I had to ride with only one brake and I hope I can get it repaired when I reached Cordoba.

Let's forget about Big Mac and try this joint 100 Montaditos, it is a food chain specialising on sandwiches and there are more than 350 retail outlets in Spain.

Fenn on the travelator to the train platform.

Within one and the half hour we arrived at Cordoba Station with a distance of about 130km apart.

In less than 4km we located our place of stay in Cordoba, it is called Como en casa sited at Calle San Pablo GPS : 37.885788, -4.775366

Córdoba also spelled Cordova in English, is a city in Andalusia, southern Spain, and the capital of the province of Córdoba. It was a Roman settlement, taken over by the Visigoths, followed by the Muslim conquests in the eighth century and later becoming an imperial city under the Caliphate of Córdoba. 

The city served as the capital in exile of the Umayyad Caliphate and the capital of the Islamic Spain, the Almohad and various other emirates. 

The Roman bridge taken from the northern end at Ronda de Isasa.

During these Muslim periods, Córdoba was transformed into a world leading center of education and learning, producing notable figures such as Averroes, Ibn Hazm, and Al-Zahrawi, and by the 10th century it had grown to be the second-largest city in Europe. We were guarding the southern point of the Bridge Gate (Puerta del puente).

A tourist from China joined the guarding guards for a photo shoot.

Today, Córdoba is still home to many notable pieces of Moorish architecture such as The Mezquita, which was named as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984 and is now a Cathedral. The UNESCO status has since been expanded to encompass the whole historic centre of Córdoba. 

Much of this architecture, such as the Alcázar and the Roman bridge has been reworked or reconstructed by the city's successive inhabitants.

While the group were still busy enjoying the scenery of the historical structures of Cordoba, I took time off to visit a bicycle shop for my brake repair. Thanks to the apartment caretaker who he gave me the location but I had to wait after siesta time which was after 5pm) for the shop to re-open.

The mechanic managed to replaced the front brake cable and the damage was 10€ for the fix. I am back with a full braking system and need not have to worry about going down hill ride anymore.

The shop front of the bicycle shop "Rent a Bike" which apparently its core business is renting bicycles such as e-bikes, mtb and also segway. The location is at Calle María Cristina, GPS : 37.884984, -4.776949

Then I went back to the Roman Bridge to join the group, it was just in time for the sunset . At the far end of the bridge is Torre (Tower) of Calahorra.

This Roman Bridge has been featured in the popular HBO TV series - Season 5 of Game of Thrones

As it was getting dark we decided to eat first before we get back to the apartment and we picked a restaurant called Bodegas Mezquita (Ribera) located at Ronda de Isasa, GPS : 37.878843, -4.776842 approximately 200 metres to the Roman Bridge.

A nicely decorated interior with white painted tables and chairs, we pushed our folded bicycles to the rear portion of the restaurant with private room good for our group to dine.

The food was awesome together with the lovely house wine, the food were cod fish salad, brinjal fritter, small squid, meat balls, a little bit of lamb, some like of paella rice and a local dessert.

It's back to Como en casa Apartment and a good night to Cordoba.

Porto - Barcelona Day 12 Second Day in Seville

Good morning Seville - I was taking a look at the weather outside the apartment and it was pretty cloudy with slight mist. We have arranged for a city walking tour later in the morning meanwhile we were gamed for a short ride.

My bike has been set up and ready to roll just waiting next to a Gespa and a locked Dahon Speed P8 at another block nearby.

The 6 of us who came out this morning for a ride were posing in front of the bull fighting ring at Plaza de Toros de la Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla.

Went over to the pedestrian lane along the river and had a view at bridge Puente San Telmo.

It was a short ride in deed to just our itch to pedal before going for our walking tour, Kevin passing by Torre del Oro.

A stroll to the the old city for the walking tour.

The meeting point for Seville Free Walking Tour was at the statue of  King Fernando III (King of Castilla and León) located at Plaza Nueva, GPS : 37.388606, -5.995604

City Hall of Seville - Visitors to Seville will notice a symbol on many signs around the city, from taxis and buses to sewer covers, consisting of the letters ´NO8DO´. This is the city´s logo, and legend says that it originates from the 13th-century coat of arms awarded to Sevilla by King Alfonso X the Wise. He bestowed it in gratitude for Seville´s support in his battles against his son, Sancho IV of Castile, who wanted to usurp his father´s throne during the Reconquest. Between the ´NO and ´DO´ is an 8-shaped bundle of wool (madeja in Spanish). Add the three together, speaking in Seville´s fast, elliptical accent and you have ´no-madeja-do´, more correctly, ´no me ha dejado´ which means ´it (the city) has not abandoned me´. The motto was his reward to the people of Seville for their loyalty.

Iglesia Colegial del Salvador, the second largest church in Seville, after the Seville Cathedral.
This baroque church was built between 1674 and 1712 on the site of Muslim Ishbiliya's main mosque. The tiered red-brick facade is actually Mannerist in style, while the interior reveals a rich display of carving and gilding. 

Entrance to the Alcazar

Patio de Banderas - During the Muslim era of the city, while they lived in the fortress, Abderramán III ordered this space to be built as a palace during the 10th century. It came to be known as the Dar Al-Imara or Prince’s house, or the house of the Governor which was accessed by another door.

Within the surrounding of Plaza de Doña Elvira GPS : 37.384833, -5.990486

Grocery store giving free food sample to try so were the pigeons enjoying themselves with the goodies. GPS : 37.384716, -5.990563

The building that houses the museum was originally a house in the central Seville neighborhood of Santa Cruz , built in 1918, which was acquired in 1973 by the Granada-born painter Amalio García del Moral to establish his studio there. The choice of this particular building was due to the views of the Giralda that it owns, which were of great relevance to the artist, since most of his work revolved around the mentioned monument.

Listening to more stories - In 1480 the newly-emerging kingdom of Spain sought to strengthen itself through enforced conformity to Catholicism, many Jews had already left or converted to Christianity, but suspicion among some Christians that these conversos were not true converts, and hoped to bring about a restoration Judaism, had recently led to the creation of the Spanish Inquisition, charged with rooting out heresy and religious dissent wherever it was to be found. Don Diego de Susona, a wealthy merchant, was one such converso, and alarmed by the threat to his position, he convened a secret meeting of prominent conversos to discuss the possibility of armed insurrection.

Susana Ben Susón, nicknamed La Susona and the skull of Susona in the door where her old home was. Photo credit : Anne Cheong.

Susona daughter of Don Diego de Susona, however, had a Christian boyfriend, a young noble, who she feared would be put in danger by an uprising, and she revealed the plot to him. Her boyfriend promptly reported them to the authorities, and the conspirators were duly arrested and brought before the Inquisition, tried and executed.
Stricken with remorse at the consequences of her action, Susona never again left her house, and when she died she had her head hung up outside the house (where it remained as late as the 18th century) as a testament to her grief and the duplicity of Christians.

GPS : 37.384830, -5.988709 Jardines De Murillos entering Calle Antonio el Balarin

Walking along Calle Antonio el Balarin.

I guess this is at the fringe of  the Royal Alcázar of Seville at Paseo de Catalina de Ribera GPS : 37.382818, -5.988582

The Royal Tobacco Factory is an 18th-century stone building in Seville. Since the 1950s it has been the seat of the rectorate of the University of Seville. Prior to that, it was a tobacco factory: the most prominent such institution in Europe, and a lineal descendant of Europe's first tobacco factory, which was located nearby. It is one of the most notable and splendid examples of industrial architecture from the era of Spain's Antiguo Régimen. GPS : 37.381628, -5.990955

Thank you so much for an interesting walking tour where we get to listen the history and stories of beautiful Seville. Photo credit : Anne Cheong.

Hotel Alfonso XIII -One of Spain's most prestigious hotels in Seville - A luxury hotel located next to the Royal Alcázar of Seville.

The flamenco dancer in action, one after another waiting for their turn to performance and earn some money.

Fenn was filling up her tumbler from the drinking water tap at the road side.

Horse carriages commonly seen and making distinguish noise as they rolled over the cobblestone.

The Andalusian Parliament of Seville where politicians debate over issues before implementing new rules.

Me & Joe went out to get our laundry done at one outlet near our apartment.

A night where we went two places to eat when tummies were not fully filled at the first restaurant.

The first tapas restaurant.

The second restaurant, the waiter looked like Richard Gere. And finally we were done with our dinner for the 12th day. Good night Seville.