We were near the Santa Maria de Sede Cathedral in Seville and there were horse-drawn carriages for hire. We thought maybe we would take a ride if it wasn’t too expensive. We were with another couple and we talked about sharing the ride and checked it out. Between us it was fairly inexpensive so we decided hey why not.

The horse-drawn carriage took us through some of the sites of Seville. It was a slow saunter throughout the centre of the city with cars and buses going around us as we went along our way.

We then went through the Maria Luisa Park and enjoyed the views of the gardens and flowering trees.

We then headed around seeing a few of the unique architectural buildings including the “Torre del Oro” which is a dodecagonal (12 sided) military watchtower.

We then came to the  Plaza de Espana which is located in the Maria Luisa park. The amazing structures are beautiful and were built-in 1928 for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929.

After the “Plaza de Espana” we headed back to towards the Seville Cathedral. Along the way we went through some of the old quarter of Seville.

Once we were back we thanked our driver and headed to the Seville Cathedral the third largest church in the world for a tour.

“adios y que tenga un grand días”

We went to Seville and had an opportunity to see a flamingo show. Seville is where flamingo dancing originated and we were going to see one of the authentic flamingo dances. The venue was small and allowed for an excellent view of the show.

The show was about two hours long and was non-stop. The music for the show was a single guitarist and two vocal singers along with stomping of feet and clapping of hands.

The music was amazing and the voice of the singers was tremendous. The raw emotion of the guitar music and the singers was captivating. The songs told the story of love and betrayal and was filled with emotions. Below are some of the stunning dance photos we took during the show.

The whole show was choreographed to the story that the songs  were telling. It was beautiful to watch and quite captivating. We truly enjoyed the show and at times the dancing gave us goosebumps from the raw emotion, music and stunning maneuvers of the dancers.

What made this performance very interesting was the fact that the whole show was by one family. They have been dancing the flamingo for over several generations. They were known for their dance and original flamingo style.

Below is a short video clip of the music with some photos of the show.

https://youtu.be/FFBMV5WNLKs

“Adios y que tenga un grand días”

 

We were in the commercial district of Alicante and decided to stop for lunch. We came across a Mexican restaurant called “Cactus” which looked interesting and was busy. That is always a good sign when the restaurant is busy. We stopped to see if we could get a table. The waiter brought us to our table and we settled in for lunch. The decorations were very colourful and quite charming.

We ordered a drink and looked at the menu.

I was looking at the special of the day “Cuchara”  which in Spanish means spoon.  I asked the waiter who only spoke Spanish what was cuchara? He looked at me like I was dumb and said it’s a spoon. I smiled and tried to explain in my best poor Spanish what was in the dish called cuchara and he told me it is like a stew. I decided to try the special of the day “cuchara” and Shelley ordered a taco salad.

The special of the day included a glass of wine, main course (cuchara) and a dessert with coffee or a tea for $6.50.

Because my meal came with dessert I was obligated to have some… a chocolate pie with layers of a cream type filling, it was very tasty!

The meal was tasty and the atmosphere was unique. It was good spot for lunch and we are glad we stopped in.

“adios y que tenga un grand días”

We went to see the Alhambra which is a palace and fortress complex located in Granada, Spain. It is located above Granada and overlooks the city. It was constructed as a small fortress in 889 AD on the remains of Roman fortifications. In the mid 13th century it was rebuilt by the Moorish emir Mohammed ben Al-Ahmar, who built its current palace and walls.

The Alhambra was an amazing place with numerous buildings and scenery that is absolutely breathtaking. Once inside it was easy to see just how complex the Alhambra site was. It is a self-contained city with a Fortress, Palace and array of other support building and areas.

There were flowering wisteria vines, flowering trees and assorted gardens throughout the entire Alhambra and the smells were amazing.

We walked through the grounds of the Alhambra, for about 3 hours  admiring the architecture and historic buildings. One of the areas we saw was the Palace of the Moorish emir. The Palace contained a centre courtyard with a water feature which you could see the reflection of the building.

The Palace was beautiful with spectacular detailed arabic designs. There was a pool of water in one of the rooms of the palace that reflected the ceiling which was designed with an intricate star pattern surrounded by windows letting light reflect off the design.

Rooms were adorn with detailed arabic designs.

The covered terrace area was also very detailed and intricately designed.

Once the  Christian Reconquista occurred in 1492, the Alhambra  became the Royal Court of Ferdinand and Isabella the King and Queen of Spain.  Ferdinand ordered a Palace built for them to live in Alhambra. They began building the Palace but it was never completed because the King changed his mind.

We walked through several other garden areas and smaller buildings that were just as beautiful.

We walked to the upper garden area of Alhambra and we came across some beautiful views and gardens.

We finished our tour of Alhambra by walking along the path on the upper section of the garden. There was a long hedge system with beautiful scenery all along the way.

It was a very beautiful spot and we really enjoyed our day exploring the ancient buildings and history of Alhambra.

“Adios y que tenga un grand días”

A few weeks back we were searching the internet for local activities to do in Alicante and we came across a web site called “Internations”. They are a global organization connecting expats in all areas of the world. It was free to join and so we thought, hey why not!

We signed up and before we knew it we were welcomed to the group and informed of an upcoming event in Alicante.

So on Friday night we went to our first event with some of the local expats in the area of Alicante. When we arrived we were met at the door by the organizers and welcomed in with a drink of sparkling wine.  There was lots of tapas and people were gathered around so it didn’t take long to start a conversation with someone.  It was very enjoyable and we met lots of people who were from all parts of the world but now live in the area. We spoke to people from Australia, United States, Brazil, Swiss, German and many others. They were all very friendly and most of them spoke english, (definitely a benefit for us).

It was also nice to be able to talk to people about the challenges and rewards of moving to a foreign country. They were very friendly and happy to point out some tips and the pitfalls in getting settled in. We stayed for the entire event and had a wonderful time. We will definitely be attending future events when possible.

“adios y que tenga un grand días”