We set off in the morning and hopped on the bus to head in to town. We arrived beside the Plaza de España and decided to check it out first. We had noticed it on the map provided by the campsite, but it wasn't recommended in our guidebook – a big omission in our opinion! It was incredible! The plaza had been built for the 1929 World Fair and was impressive. It was built in a horseshoe shape and was huge. We started from left to right because along the wall there were tiles depicting scenes from each of Spain’s regions. The tile work was quite neat and we looked around for the places we would be visiting. There were also tiles along the sides of the bridges which really made them stand out. We enjoyed looking at all the details and then headed up to the first level for some great views of the plaza. The ceilings were also quite neat and fun to look at. The plaza wasn’t too busy – I can only imagine how packed it would be in the summer! There were ladies trying to sell sprigs of rosemary to everyone passing by, but Anoop was great about signalling no, he wasn’t interested, and they didn’t pester him further which was really nice.

After we had taken tons of pictures of the square and its details, we made our way in to the centre of town. We stopped off at the university which used to be a tobacco factory and had a look inside. It was a neat building compared to universities back home. We stopped off at the TI to pick up a map of Seville and a few maps for the surrounding area. We tried to hunt down a grocery store to pick up some buns to have with lunch, but couldn’t find the one on the map (or else it was shut for lunch). Instead we passed by a nice looking kebab place and had a delicious pita which we ate in a nearby square. It was really nice to be able to sit outside in the sun and not have toques and gloves on! We then headed in to the Alcazar. The Alcazar is a palace that was built by Christians in a Moorish theme. The outside wasn’t anything incredible, but as soon as you step inside, you are wowed by all the intricate decorative work. It was definitely cooler inside all the stone walls so we popped our fleeces back on. The details in the stone were just incredible. There were details in the tile work, arches, ceilings, walls – everywhere! We didn’t know where to start taking pictures. We wandered through the rooms looking all around – it was hard to focus on any one thing because there was just so much to look at. After quite a while we decided we should move on to the gardens. They were nicely shaded and I can imagine would be quite welcome in the heat of summer. We passed by a peacock who was obviously used to tourists as he didn’t move away and just strutted on past. There were lots of orange trees which our guidebook said are the type used to make marmalade. I wonder if the fruit stays on the trees longer than other types of oranges because they were everywhere! Or perhaps it is just to discourage tourists from picking the fruit!

We then wandered through the Santa Cruz neighbourhood which was a winding maze of streets. Some of the streets were called "kissing streets" because they were built so close together; no cars would fit down those ones! We kept popping out onto cute squares with more orange trees all around. We thought they would be quite the bustling places in the summer but there was hardly anyone around when we wandered through.

After we finished there we walked around the cathedral and admired the tower and all the façades. It was quite a neat building. I stopped for an ice cream and sampled an orange/mango mix which was quite refreshing. We then headed over to the main shopping streets to wander for a bit before heading back to camp. On the way we passed by an Orange store which had the recommended sim card. Since we were in Spain for a while longer, we decided we should stop in. It was just as busy and just as long a wait as phone stores back home! Eventually we got our sim which will make it much easier to keep in touch. We then headed back to camp for a late dinner of leftover coconut curry.

The next day we set off from camp a bit later than usual. We needed to check email and get in touch with a guide for our upcoming day-trip to Tangier in Morocco. We stocked up on food at the nearby grocery store and set off. We had a very pretty drive through the countryside passing by lots of olive groves. We arrived in the more hilly area in Andalusia known for its white hill towns. We camped in a nice spot outside of Ronda and were greeted quite enthusiastically by the campsite owner. She chatted away in Spanish until she saw we were from Canada when she then switched to French (it was much easier to have a discussion after that and Anoop could follow along). We put out our picnic table for the first time since Dad & Tan left in September and sat in the sun basking. It was about 20^oC and was wonderful! We had a cup of tea and then Anoop headed off on a bike ride while I wrote some postcards. It is just about 7 pm and not quite dark yet! There is something to be said for travelling further south!