Review: Sevilla

Seven days in Sevilla, not quite seven days in the sun, nonetheless seven days of culture, relaxation and lots of walking (and only one day of rain!!) On my arrival I sought out the tourist info for information on buses to the centre. Taxi's were readily available, and there is a set fee of around 20Eur (ca. 22Eur if you require a taxi between 22:00 and 07:00 if I recall), but I had been informed the bus takes you to the centre for only 2Eur40! Once I arrived at Avendia del Cid (the last stop) it was a choice of either finding the bus stop for the central circular route or hailing a taxi - I chose the latter and it set me back a 7Eur as I gave the guy a tip for tolerating my lack of Spanish and for giving me a sense of direction when it came to finding the main shopping area from my hotel.

Sevilla is steeped in much history heavily influenced by the moors. Their biggest mark in mondern day Sevilla would be the minuret which now forms part of the Cathedral. It is a shame that at the time of my visit that so much of Sevilla seemed under construction. They are part way though installing a new tram "network" around Avendia de Constitucion and the Catherdral, as well as many other small plaza's. But the historic sense of Sevilla was not lost and all construction is forgotten when meandering the narrow cobbled streets of Santa Cruz, the old Jewish quater of Sevilla.



Thankfully Sevilla is a small enough city which can be easily walked, and if walking is not your thing taxi's are pretty cheap. If you really feel brave you could always try and fathom the local buses - I'm sure it is straight forward once you've used it once or twice. Driving in Sevilla is not really an option. Crossing a road you risk life or limb - in some cases even on pavements with scooters. Parking is a nightmare and whilst there are public car parks, locals have developed a skill which most of us would only be familiar with in a fair ground. They bump their way in to the smallest of spaces leaving barely enough space to slide a sheet of paper between their bumpers. And it appeared to be a right of passage for your car to have at least one bump or scrape! They are also quite impatient drivers, which suprises me given most of Sevilla is one way and if one car stops (taxi's tend to pick up passengers, and if there is a medical emergency as I once witnessed whilst having coffee the surrounding area grinds to a halt) then Sevilla is brought to life with a cacophony of car horns.