Walking tour of Seville

Good day out today in gorgeous sunshine. We joined a walking tour and tramped around with a big group of English speakers, including Tim and Vicky. Unfortunately, they look as if they are trying to creep away from us in the photo, but they didn't escape and we stuck with them all day.
We learned a lot about Seville and maybe the local guide was a bit biased, but it was a very, very important city, with loads and loads of history. Hard facts escape me at the moment, but it was all very interesting.
We enjoyed yet another excellent tapas and wine lunch and then spent the afternoon looking around the cathedral.
The tower used to be a Muslim tower that was over 100 metres tall and was used five times a day to call the faithful to prayer. At one time the caller was very old and struggled to climb to the top, so the stairs were replaced with a ramp so that he could ride up and down on a donkey.
It was a very busy ramp, with no sign of any modern day donkeys on it, and we joined the throng heading to the top and got some great views of the city.
Back down in the cathedral we found the tomb of Christopher Columbus, who appeared to be carried by four large warriors. It seemed to be the tradition to pat the front two soldiers feet, so not wanting to miss out I gave one of them a good polish - hopefully for luck.

Flamenco in Seville

We met our friends Tim and Vicky for wine and tapas at lunchtime, and then we were off for a march around the Alcazar - a huge castle in the centre of Seville. We had a rubbish map that no one quite got to grips with, but had a lovely time looking at the grand rooms, enclosed courtyards,  exotic gardens and fancy tile displays.
We then had a stop for more wine and tapas before heading to the highlight of the day - a top rated flamenco show.
We were very keen so got there nice and early and bagged front row seats, although we thought it strange that everyone else was avoiding them.
The show started with just a guitarist and singer, and within a few seconds the guitarist looked in great pain and the singer was wailing at the top of his voice and looked ready to burst into tears. We were only a few feet away from them and I started to giggle. I was trying to hide my mouth behind my hands, but fortunately they both had their eyes screwed tightly shut, so I think I got away with it.
After a very long time the song came to a sudden end and then a lady dancer appeared. She was right at the front of the stage, so within touching distance of us. She stamped so loud and dramatically, sweeping up and down the stage at brakeneck speed, swinging her dress, swirling her arms and clapping her hands. She was incredible to watch, her feet were tapping so quickly that they were a blur, then suddenly she came to a dead stop.
When she started again it was really slowly, tracing circles on the stage in front of us with her red dancing shoes. It was up close and very personal, quite disconcerting really. 
All too soon she had finished and then a tall, dark and handsome male dancer took to the stage. He strutted and leapt majestically, just inches from our noses.
After it was over we were all a bit gobsmacked, none of us were sure if we had enjoyed it, but it was certainly memorable.

Seville

According to mythology, Seville was founded by Hercules. Not sure if this is true, but it definitely is now the capital of Andalucia and the fourth largest city in Spain.
We arrived here this afternoon and have parked in a glorified car park about 20 minutes walk from the city centre. It is part of what looks like a car storage and delivery company and they have set aside a corner for campervans. It is popular though, as there are about 25 vans alongside us, and for £12 a night, who can blame them (and us).
After settling in we walked to Seville, and the first thing that caught our eye was a beautiful park full of orange trees - presumably the famous Seville oranges.
Just behind it was the Plaza de Espana. We didn't go inside, but admired the exterior of this very grand semi circular building. It had a fountain, semi circular lake with rowing boats on it and beautiful tiled seats all around the base of it of the building. Each seat depicted a different city in Spain and it made us realise how much more of the country that we haven't got around to visiting yet.
Looking forward to an exciting weekend as we are meeting some friends who are flying in from London in the morning.

White stork in Merida

Firstly a correction from yesterday - Darren was outraged at my description of Merida as just any old 'Roman town'. 
He pointed out that the town was founded in 25bc on the orders of the Emporer Augustus, and was called Emeritas Augusta. It became the capital of the Lucitania Province and was one of the most important towns in the Roman empire.
It was like calling London a town, and explains why it had such fantastic facilities. Please take note.
Today, we cycled into Merida to check out the sights that we missed yesterday. We saw some original roads and mosaics, but the best thing was the white stork on a nest on top of a ruined aquaduct pillar.
A friendly old Spanish man gave us a long winded explanation as to why it was here and not with its friends for the winter in Africa.
Unfortunately, he spoke very quickly and waved his arms about dramatically, but it didn't help me to understand what he was saying. In a break in the lecture I said 'si, gracias', which must have been the wrong answer as he suddenly realised that we weren't taking it in. We smiled each other and he started his lecture again, but fortunately some of his friends appeared and we made our escape.
So we are non the wiser, maybe it is a lazy stork, or perhaps poorly,  but I was really chuffed to see it anyway.

Merida, ancient Roman town

Today we are in Merida, a town that was founded by the Romans over 2,000 years ago.
Their buildings were made to last and there are dozens of them, scattered all around. They are by far the finest in town and they crop up in the most surprising places.
The Temple of Diana, picture 1, is completely surrounded by shops and bars and has been used by many different people over the centuries. It now had an elegant townhouse from the 1,500's nestled amongst it's columns.
The beautiful aquaduct in picture 2 is approached through a dodgy subway under a railway and is amongst industrial buildings. It also has a couple of giant white stork nests on the top of its ruined arches.
The theatre and coliseum,  pics 3 and 4 were right next to each other in the centre of town and have been reconstructed and repaired over the last 100 years.
There was a really interesting display that explained all about the different types of gladiators and their weapons, as well as the gate that the victors used to leave the building.
We also saw remains of Roman baths, a swimming pool and an enormous circus where chariot races used to take place - just like in Ben Hur.

Caceres

'The rain in Spain lies mainly on the Plain.'
I don't know if this is strictly true, or even if we are on the Plain, but the area around the city of Caceres is flat, and the fields are all green and fertile looking.
They contrast nicely with all of the brown scenery that we have been seeing for the past few months.
It has rained a few times overnight recently, and it even wet the ancient streets Caceres this morning.
Caceres is an ancient walled town in South West Spain - not too far from Portugal. It is a completely walled city that is full of  plazas, churches, museums and a few buskers.
We had a look around a beautiful church, a strange museum and underground Roman cistern full of pillars and water, but the information was only in Spanish so I can't tell you anything about them.
We also stumbled across two buskers, one with a guitar, who wailed through a very atmospheric tune at the top of their voices. It echoed around the old buildings and when Darren gave them some coins they smiled and ramped up the volume even more than I would have ever believed possible.