We arrived in Seville on Friday before noon, a taxi took us straight to our little Pension Catedral, situated in a good place at the bottom of a small alley. It was nice and tidy, the staff were very friendly ( and spoke only Spanish)- we also paid a small extra fee for heating, and that was a really wise thing to do!

The room was ok, but very damp and cold- but it was nice and warm when we got back in the evening!

We headed straight to town, walked for miles,there was really a lot to see and the atmosphere in this town is unique- I do think I lost my heart to Seville!

There was also lots of tourist, all year around I suppose, so it was a bit odd that that maximum 10 % of the staff at museums and restaurants spoke english,french or german- mostly only spanish..

In the evening we went walking in the small alleys, pubs,bars and restaurants side by side, full of people, but we decided to return to the hostel by midnight in order to party on New Years eve.

Saturday morning we got on a sightseeingbus for two hours, it was really worthwhile and gave us an overall picture of this lovely town.

After the tour we went walking to see a lot of different sights, had a good lunch( as we had not reserved any dinnercards) and returned to the hostel early evening to make us ready for the big feast.

We then went out to celebrate - but it does not always go as you have planned!!

We walked for a while pasted closed bars,restaurants and pubs, no locals in sight, only tourist looking thirsty and lost with maps in their hands - only places that were open were cafes where they served New Year cakes and icecream. The locals do eat lots of icecream in the evenings outside even if it is only a few degrees outside!

We continued walking, saw a few open restaurants with sign private or dinnercards sold out but not a single bar that was open.

We were thirsty and wanted to party and were almost desperate, we saw a lot of nice sights and really fine Xmaslights- but we were looking for something else...

We heard some spanish music coming from a street so we went there and found a small bar-restaurant open with seating outside- , finally we got drinks and something to eat,and three spanish girls singing and performing flamenco with only a man accompaning with a cajon. The girls were were good, really enjoyed themselves too but it was getting cold and they sang for an hour so loud and high that they started loosing their voices so they went away- and so did most of the customers!

We decided to continue, it was cold and I wanted an Irish coffee. We saw a place that was open, looked more like a cafe but had liquerbottles in the window so we went in. Most of the customers were drinking coffe with cakes, a few had a beer in front of them.. I asked for an Irish coffee, they had never heard of it and I tried to explain with the few words of Spanish i have picked up- and then they came with some coffee in a glass and poured some whisky on top.. Well the taste was not what i had wanted but it did warm me up!

No partying, no atmospher so we decided to find something else , it was already close to midnight. Outside we saw lots of people coming from the alleys, all heading in the same direction so of course we followed them. We ended up in a big square, everybody had their own drinks with them( except us, of course!)and at midnight everybody was cheering ,hugging and toasting each other, a few small rockets and some big bangs and that was it.

Everybody went home again, the only thing that was left was a lot of empty glassbottles and a lot of rubbish!

We had no alternative , we slowly walked to the hostel- no open bars or anything on the way- the same street that had been crowded the night before..

Well, there is always something good as well- no hangover next morning!

Afterwards we found out that the New Year is celebrated among family and friends, this year as New Years day was on a Sunday so the Monday was a holiday,too.

There are 10 official holday days in Spain and the countys can choose 4 extra days- in Andalusia they have an extra holiday everytime the real holiday is on o Sunday..

So everybody was celebrating New Year in advance on Friday evening in the streets and then they had still a long weekend Saturday-Monday with family and friends!

We had asked a girl at the turistinformation where the big celebration is but she did not really know- or understand- but now we know!

The customs also varie a lot in different parts of Spain.

We were up early Sunday morning with all the other tourist that had spent a sober night and walked for kilometres, a lot along the riverside- there really is a magic feeling in Seville, lots and lots of parks ,a lot of open space and so much to look at, it is really extraordinary, absolutely worth visiting!

There is lots of lovely bicycle routes and a lot of bikes to hire- I really want to go there again!

We arrived back in Mazagon on Sunday night, we had planned to stay until Monday- but our feet were sore after walking tens and tens of kilometres so we decided to come back. We had a lovely motorcykle trip yesterday, the weather is so nice, around 18-20 and sunny and the wind has gone away, so we are really enjoying our last days here!

Now we started loading Fantti again, and tomorrow is big cleaning day in the house, Saturday morning off to Gibraltar!