Sevilla is southwest of Madrid about 2.5 hours by train. Valencia may be the name of an orange, but Sevilla is the first city I’ve seen where every street tree is an orange tree, and most were full of ripe or nearly ripe oranges. We approached through the newer city, then drove into the old city which was Spanish, with extremely narrow streets at times, cobblestoned streets, and windows bordered by shutters.

We arrived late afternoon (in the rain of course..rain in Spain is not always on the plains, but is a pain when trying to take photos holding both a camera and umbrella!). We went directly to the Sevilla Cathedral which is the largest Gothic church in Spain. It was not only large, but beautiful. It took over 100 years to complete and it was obvious why. We walked up to the bell tower which had ramps all the way up except for a short flight of stairs at the top. The views of the city were great even though it was raining and twilight.

After visiting the Cathedral we went to a flamenco show, Spanish tap dancing and singing It was quite interesting and the intricate  dance steps, and singing, tapping and clapping by the singer and guitarist were nicely choreographed Often these dances are done in open air courtyards, but last night it was covered due to the rain.

The day ended with a walk around old town and some tapas for dinner, which were quite good. I think that pigs must be the national animal, legs of cured ham are everywhere in grocery stores, tapas bars, restaurants. We saw a few trucks full of pigs going to market on the drive to Sevilla.

Sun rises late this time of year in Sevilla, around 8:20. It rained all night but stopped around dawn and the sun even came out.  On my way to the royal castle, I saw lots of motorbikes, perfect I went to see the outside of the royal castle, and on the way saw the outside of the Cathedral in the sun, which was beautiful, and found a courtyard lined with orange trees near the castle which was peaceful. There were a lot of horse carriages around the castle, cathedral and Plaza de Espana. I only had time to take a photo of a horse, not take a ride. 

I had only about an hour left before we needed to leave to catch a train to Madrid and hotfooted it to the Plaza Espana. On my way I passed by the lovely Universidad to Sevilla. The Plaza  Espana  is near a park that looked lovely to stroll though. The Plaza Espana is an expansive semi-oval with a canal running through it and a huge fountain in the middle. I was out of time though and had to run to get back to the hotel.

Now I’m on the train to Madrid, and it’s a fast train, we are going 250 kmph right now or about 180-200 mph. I would say it’s a very fast train.