Archives for April 2015

Well after a terrible nights sleep I was finally able to get started on my Camino. The walk out of Sevilla is easy once you get your bearings. Most of the guidebooks tell you that after the Isabel II bridge you will see a sign that says rio rio. That is not the case. You need to follow the yellow arrows and cross the river before you see the rio rio. Once you to cross the bridge over the river you can take the path to the right and follow the arrows.

Todays walk was beautiful but very muddy in the beginning. It was so muddy that the tips of my trekking poles got sucked off.

The trail ends in Santiponce which is a very nice city. Near Santiponce is the ruins of Italica. I actually took the time to walk through the ruins. it was interesting to see the ruins of this very important ancient roman town. Two roman emperors were born there. Trajan and Hadrian. The balance of the walk was mostly on farm roads. 23k seemed like a long walk today as it was the first day. By next week I will be thinking that I cannot plan on such a short walk. I am staying at a private albergue in Guillena called Luz del camino. Pilar the owner is very nice. for 12 Eur you get a room, hot shower and most importantly laundry service and breakfast.

Had a very nice lunch at a local bar. 6 euros pilgrim meal. Now that is a very cheap meal. It was really good. The salmorejo was awesome.

No back at the albergue and ready for that most important of all Spanish traditions a siesta!

Tomorrow is a nice short day only about 18k. Then we get serious with a 30k day for day three.

Cheers for now and Buen Camino.

ps. Dana stoping at Italica was this days version stopping to smell the Roses…

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Location:Calle de Federico García Lorca,Guillena,Spain

Today is may last day in Sevilla. I managed to see all of the sights in detail.
First I attended Mass at the Cathedral. It was beautiful. There were at least 6 priests and many more monks who sang and did the readings. I really enjoyed it.

Since the line to get into the Cathedral was almost a city block long I went to the Alcazar first. Wow is all I can say. From the outside it is very deceiving. The Alcazar was originally built by the Moors so the tile and architecture are beautiful. It is huge, and the gardens are simply amazing. The smell of orange blossoms are totally intoxicating. Strangely the oranges are not sweet as you would expect but bitter and highly prized for marmalade in the UK.

After the Alcazar I went back to the Cathedral. I wanted to climb the tower. There are 37 ramps that lead to the top of the tower. It was designed that way by the Moors because they needed to go to the top 5 times a day to make the call for prayer. By using ramps they could have a donkey carry them up to the top of the tower. There is even a place for the donkey to stay while the call for prayer is made. It was amazing. You get a 360 degree view of the city. Since I had gone to Mass I had seen most of the Cathedral already. It is the third largest Catholic cathedral in the world.

Location:Calle Federico Sánchez Bedoya,Seville,Spain

Today was my first day in Seville. After a very long travel day I was able to get a very good nights sleep and was ready to see the sites.

I started the day with a free walking tour of the city. Of course we all know that nothing is free but it is a great concept. The free tour guide earns his/hers living from being friendly, engaging in informative. At the end of the tour they ask for a show of appreciation in the form of a tip. It really works well as if you are not happy with the tour you don’t have to pay. All of that being said, I have taken many free tours in many different cities and have always been happy.

I was amazed at how many people there were. We were split up into three groups. English, French and Spanish speakers. I would guess that there were at least 50 people total. This company is genius in that they offer hotels a free pickup service so that the hotel can say that they offer free city tours daily.

All of that being said, we saw the cathedral which is the 3rd largest in the world. The bull ring, the golden tower, and the plaza España which is totally amazing. Along with learning about the history of Sevilla and its occupation and influence by the Moors and Christians. We heard about the significance of Sevilla in the 1400’s as it related to the rest of the world and more. It was a great 2 1/2 hours. And for free…

I spent the rest of the day walking around the city and exploring the different barrios. All in all it was a great day. One more day in Sevilla and then the walking begins.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Calle García de Vinuesa,Seville,Spain