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A month or so ago Lottie and I got the creeping need for a holiday. We had expected not to be able to afford an overseas trip, opting instead for something a bit more local, but as luck would have it, Lottie found a pretty good deal for a trip to Seville and as neither of us had been before we jumped at the chance to visit the famously beautiful city. A bit of research and some booking, and our unexpected holiday was set, and a few weeks later, we found ourselves packing our bags. When booking, we decided against paying for hold bags, this option adding up to almost £100 each! Madness. We decided instead to get a pair of backpacks that matched the airline’s criteria for cabin bags - £20 each, much better. We also packed all our stuff in extra-large zip lock bags, squeezing the air out to save space. which worked incredibly well. After lots of shoving things in our new bags, we set our alarms and got a relatively early night.
Day 1:
Beeping woke us up as planned at 1:30 am, and after shaking of our drowsiness and packing our last few essentials and readying ourselves, we heaved our bags down to the car and set off to the airport parking company we had booked with. The drive was very quiet, as expected for the time of day, and within 40 minutes we were dropping the keys off and boarding the transfer bus to the terminal. Once we have cleared security, we made our way to one of the airport restaurants for breakfast, peach melba porridge for Lottie and a full English for me. The waitress asked if I wanted toast with my meal, my mind changed immediately when she told me it would cost an additional £3.50… NO THANKS! The food was lovely regardless of the optional gouging, and after that we had a brief look around the shops. I picked up a neck pillow as recommended by the chiropractor I had been seeing the week prior, having almost crippled myself exercising. This brought back memories of our trip to Portugal in 2018 in which I was hospitalised while we were queueing to get our plane home, so the thought of this reoccurring hung over us for much of the leadup to the holiday. Luckily, no such emergencies cursed this trip! Along with the pillow we grabbed some water, a magazine for me and word search book for Lottie, and made for the gate, the time seeming to go, as always at the airport (sans delays), very quickly.
Boarding went very smoothly, as did the flight, which was almost half an hour quicker than expected, and after a big bag of chocolate fingers (which had become a kind of tradition as it feels like the best value stack), a coffee, a bit of reading, and the all-important nap, we arrived in Seville at about 9:30am. The forecasts for the week prior to our arrival had the temperature at well over 40 for most of the time, but as luck would have it, it got just a tad cooler while we were there, and stepping off the plane we were met with that wonderful holiday heat. Swift passage through the airport got us to the taxi rank, and there we found a cabbie to take up straight to the hotel, which only cost about €25. After arriving at the hotel (of which we had very good first impressions), we dropped our bags off and set out again - we had to check in at 2pm so had a bit of time to kill, and as we were hungry and eager to gain our bearings, we decided to have a little wander around the immediate area, exploring a local park and a couple of minimarts and finding a café to grab a second breakfast (we’re hobbits).
After fortifying ourselves with a bit of food, we wandered back to the hotel to check in and to properly investigate the facilities. As I’ve mentioned, our first impressions were good, and these were confirmed by the overall quality of the hotel (it being the ibis Styles Sevilla). The décor, fittings, facilities, the food, the bar, the pool, the bed… all of it was very good. We wanted to refresh ourselves before setting out again and also wanted to take a little bit of time to relax after the busy morning, so we made for the roof terrace and enjoyed a quick dip in the pool there. Feeling very refreshed, we changed and set out once more to explore, making for Barrio Santa Cruz, passing through the Murillo Gardens, the surrounding area there, passing through the charming narrow streets, peeking into the various shops, taking in the sights of the cathedral, and getting an all-important ice cream before entering the Royal Alcázar of Seville, the stunning historic royal palace and beautiful gardens within which it is situated.
We booked tickets for this in advance of our arrival, it apparently filling up very quickly. What we soon realised was that Seville is VERY quiet in August. Apparently, the city’s busy period is during the spring, as it is usually a bit too hot during the height of summer, but with our luck giving us a slightly cooler week (heights of 41) we had the wonderful combination of incredible weather and far fewer tourists. This meant that almost everywhere we went had a nice atmosphere, but without the teeming crowds, allowing for us to really appreciate the attractions - the only downside of this being that the many orange trees that have been planted across the city were bearing small green balls instead of colourful orange ones… this wasn’t really a deal breaker though as the hotel had a ready supply each morning. The palace, like the complementary oranges, was quite a bit bigger than we had expected, but it’s just as stunning as you might imagine, featuring a variety of architectural influences, all of which combine to create a truly beautiful building, and the gardens compliment the palace and its adjoining structures perfectly.
After spending a few hours exploring the myriad rooms and areas of the palace and grounds, we set out in search of sustenance, finding a lovely local bar for a drink and some tapas – chorizo, alioli potatoes, olives, and bread. After that, we then wandered the city a little longer, finally stopping for some afters and some more drinks in another bar before somewhat wearily making our way back to the hotel. When we got back, we sifted through the channels on the telly and found two options in English – the BBC world service, and a channel showing cartoons (although the adverts were in German) so we switched between these two while in the room for the rest of the trip. After a bit of Sponge Bob and Futurama, we finally settled down to sleep, ending a very lovely, but quite tiring day.
Day 2:
We decided to book an excursion for our second day as it was going to be my birthday, so we put our alarms on early again and got ourselves up and ready for a trip to Ronda. After a hearty breakfast downstairs in the hotel we made for the pickup point and after a brief wait at the tour companies building, our guide took our group down the street to where the coach was parked, and joining the rest of the group aboard, we set off, out of the city to our first stop off at Zahara de la Sierra, visiting an olive oil press for a tasting. After this we took a quick drive into the village for refreshments, a little nose around, and a little break. Unfortunately, three of our group failed to return on time, which meant we had quite a bit less time in Ronda later, but they got a sufficient telling off from our guide upon their eventual return – God knows what they got up to, there wasn’t all that much to do in the village!
Anyway, after that we made for our next stop, which was to get lunch at a lovely restaurant in another little village a few miles away called Grazalema. We only had about an hour to eat, and my meal didn’t arrive until about 45 minutes had passed, which meant a rather swift bit of eating on my part. A bit of a shame to have to rush, but the food and atmosphere was lovely, and everyone else seemed to have a lovely time too. After that, we had a couple of minutes to get to the coach pickup point, and before long we were on our way to Ronda itself.
Due to the aforementioned lateness of a few of our group, we had about half an hour less to explore, which meant we had less than two hours overall, and with the walk from the bus station, we really were pressed for time and didn’t quite have enough of it to fully explore the city as much as we’d have liked. We wanted to explore the trail to the old bridge, for example, but that would have taken up the majority of our time there, so we opted for nosing around the underside of the new bridge (El Tajo de Ronda), the gardens (Alameda del Tajo), and a few other sights, such as the bull ring, which we saw for free via the roof terrace of the overlooking hotel. Despite having such a brief time there, we were very happy to have been able to visit, and what we saw was beautiful, and the area around the gorge is well worth the visit alone – stunning views and the whole area is steeped in rich history.
Before long we found ourselves trekking back to the bus stop and on our way back to Seville we enjoyed a well-earned nap – there’s nothing quite as nice as sleeping on a moving vehicle, especially when you’re used to being the one whose driving. When getting back, we weaved through the city making our way to one of the minimarts to grab a bunch of snacks to take back to our hotel room - crisps, nuts, sweets, biscuits, beer, and iced tea, and we made quick work of these while laying back in bed and watching more cartoons.
Part two will follow next week - as usual, I’ve written too much. Have you ever been to Seville? What did you do while there? We had planned on visiting Cádiz on one of our days but couldn’t get train tickets… Turns out we packed quite a lot in anyway.
As always, a big thank you to the TYPEDBYTOM Patreon/BMAC supporter(s) this month:
Jamie B