Seville to El Bosque

Wednesday was a sunshine and showers sort of day. We walked through the Parque de Maria Luisa which is a large park in front of the Plaza de Espana and then to the Museo Artes y Costumbres Populares (Museum of Art and Costume) and then Museo Arqueologico (Archiological museum) which were both at the far end of the park. Between the two museums was the Plaza de America, another nice plaza which had hundreds of doves flying around. In the afternoon we went in search of a supermarket, we were getting low on fresh food but only bought the essentials as the prices were extortionate! Later on we went to get some water, taking 8 x 5 litre empty bottles with us. Luckily we’d found a tap about 5 minutes walk away earlier in the day so we didn’t even need to move the motorhome. So were able to fill up the tank with enough water to keep us going and will probably keep topping up each day now that we’ve found water so close by.

Thursday and Friday were both lovely sunny but breezy days and we did lots more touristy stuff, the main visit was to the Alkazar and gardens. It originated in 913 as a fort but later became a palace. The palace was similar to the Casa de Palatos that we’d visited a few days previously, but on a larger scale. The Alkazar is surrounded by lovely gardens. From what we’ve seen over the last few days, Seville is a really nice city with lots of lovely buildings, plazas and gardens/parks. It’s also appears to be completely flat, we haven’t seen a hill in days!

Saturday was a lovely sunny day and hot, probably the warmest day since we’ve been in Spain. We decided to leave Seville and head South to Jerez de la Frontera which is famous for being the home of sherry making and also Andalucia’s horse capital. During our time in Jerez we visited the flamenco museum and the Gonzalez Byass Bodega (sherry makers). The Bodega visit was really good and included a tour around several of the Bodega’s in Jerez via a mini tourist train. Gonzalez Byass are famous for Tio Pepe sherry (plus lots of other brands including Croft Original).

On Thursday we drove through some lovely countryside to Arcos de la Frontera and had a walk around. It’s billed as one of the prettiest villages in Andalucia, we thought it was ok but not fantastic although it had some lovely views over the countryside. We then drove onto El Bosque which is a pretty village in the hills with some nice walks. We tried to get some route information from the tourist office but it was closed, so we had a walk around the village and then stopped for a well needed drink in the shade. The last few days have been extremely hot, over 30 degrees in the motorhome. Amazingly the locals are still wearing lots of warm layers!