37 22.2 N 005 59.8 W Sevilla, Andalucia

Monday, 17th May 2010

We are in Seville and it is stunning. We left Portugal at Vila Real and sailed to a place called Mazagon. Not much there but it was a useful staging post to coming here. The marina there is one of a group run by the Junta de Andalucia or the local government. They are modern, clean, well managed and cheap (comparatively speaking). We stayed only one night then headed for Chipiona at the mouth of the Rio Quadalquivir.

Friday 14th May. First though we had to open presents. It was Richard's birthday , so cards first - thanks to all including little Lucas for his. No wifi connection there and phone off, so other messages would have to wait. He got a few good little presents and then we set off. It was cool and very breezy - we sped along at 7-8 knots on mainsail alone. Approaching the mouth of the river, the wind was increasing to eventually F7 with wind over serious ebb tide in the river, the sea state was decidedly lumpy and we went for an unceremonious dump of the sail as we approached the harbour. I felt too precarious up by the mast in those seas, so stayed there for as short a time as possible. Berthing was difficult (being blown off) so we eventually decided the only way was to go alongside the next boat and winch ourselves across. It worked. Chipiona a good overnight stop but we didn't linger as we wanted to make our way up the River to Seville.

It is 50 miles upriver. At the end you have to go through a lock and then a bridge that needs to open for you. The lock opened at 7pm, the bridge at 8pm, so we had to make those. You theoretically have 7 hours of flood tide to make the journey. We had 4 against and 5 with and did it in 9 hours, getting to the lock at 6.30pm. Phew. The start was very rough at the mouth of the river, still very windy with overfalls. Apparently it can get so bad, the huge 4m high marker buoys get obscured and dragged under. As it was we corkscrewed enough. But further upriver was fine, a bit dull with only massive storks and silver flying fish for company. We went through the lock in splendid isolation and Seville traffic was halted just for us to pass through the opened bridge!

We are berthed just beyond the bridge at the Club Nautico de Sevilla, a small but active club with superb facilities for its members. We are also only a ten minute walk from the centre of Seville.

To go back to the start - it is one beautiful city. The public spaces are wide, the gardens are vast and offer quiet shade; the inner rabbit warren of old cobbled streets by contrast are incredibly narrow and colourful - a real labyrinth of calles and paseos.

Sunday - first full day here, we explored the Santa Cruz area of the city, one of the oldest quarters that contains the largest Christian cathedral in the world, umpteen convents and local churches and also the Real Alcazar. This contains the original Moorish palace with its intricate archways, plasterwork and azulejos (tiles) as well as gardens and inner courtyards. Later Christian additions and styles were added with subsequent Spanish kings and queens to provide what is now a fabulous record of the city's history in one setting - and stunning with it. We have put up too many pictures I know, and none of them actually do it justice. The place is a maze, very difficult to find your way around and one can
imagine all sorts of ancient intrigues happening there. We wanted to explore the Cathedral as well, but there were services on and by the time we left the Alcazar it was too late. We'll go back...

Monday - today. We got the bikes out to do a grand tour to get the feel of the whole city. Went along the Rio to the bull ring (still very active, with about 35 fights a year), to look at the museum and do a tour. Whatever the rights and wrongs (and I would not wish to go to one now) it was fascinating to hear and see detail of what is a very established tradition, that began life as a means of training the army in horsemanship!

On to La Macarena, a long stretch of original wall that surrounded the city. And back through the winding streets to some sumptuous squares and gardens designed to celebrate the Spanish link with the "Indies" or rather the new world. So there is the Plaza de America, Plaza de Chile, de Peru, etc. The grandest and most ornate was the Plaza de Espagna, unfortunately work was going on in the foreground to it. I thing building gardens and fountains and the like in the plaza. Exhausted, nice to cycle back over the river to the quiet and cool of the boat. After the cool weather of last week, Seville is pure sun and temps in the high 20's, low 30's deg C.

Tomorrow, it's another go at the cathedral and a visit to the Torre del Oro - golden tower by the banks of the river. Will put a few of today's pics up with tomorrow's then.

I was never much good at history at school. This is a much better way to learn!

W & R xx