James' in the UK

After some transport dramas we made our way over the Spanish border to Seville, via Madrid, a plane and a high speed train. The streets of Seville are an incredible maze of small lanes and we were very lost for the majority of the time we were there. But when ever we lost our way we'd find some where to eat or have icecream or a drink so we didn't mind, and it was a beautiful place to get lost in. The streets are very alive and the city is very vibrant. We spent one night along the river drinking beer watching the sun go down which was very cool.

Being the fan of Tapas that I am I dragged Adrian out for dinner as soon as we hit town and we had some mixed results - I guess when we ordered calamari cooked in it's own juices we should have taken that a bit more literally..... It was 3 or 4 cm long baby squids stuffed and cooking in squid ink. I don't think Adrian realised they were stuffed, took one bite and almost spat it across the room because he thought he was eating squid guts. He managed to digest the rest of the dishes and even some of the dodgy vino we got when I ordered Sangria.

Seville has some pretty impressive architecture, particularly the Alcazar and the HUGE cathederal. The Alcazar is a collection of palaces that have been built at vastly different times using vastly different architectural styles. It sounds ugly but it was actually incredibly interesting and it had the best gardens within the palace walls. Looking back at the photos it's hard to believe that were all taken in he same place. We could have spent ages walking around in the palaces and gardens taking photos but they were closing the gates so we had to leave.

Different aspects of the Alcazar

The cathedral in Seville was the biggest cathedral we had ever seen and was very impressive inside. We climbed the Giralda which was easier than you'd expect. Apparently when it was built the guy who had to climb it (the bell ringer maybe?) wanted to be able to ride his horse up it everyday. So intead of stairs the whole way up were ramps gentle enough for a horse to climb. Very civilised I say!

Inside Seville Cathedral

Another hightlight of our stay in Spain was a visit to Ronda, a town purched on high cliffs that were in some places 100m high and disected by a deep gorge - incredible that a town could be built like that. There were parts of the town on either side of the gorge and bridges connecting them.

Ronda

After Seville it was time to catch a plane back to England and start to establish life there.

Food of choice in Spain: Tapas