Seville - Plaza España and Metropol Parasol

Hola

You want to know what else is very very important on a long term motorhome trip - Laundry Day!! Staying in the one place long enough to get a combination of spare time, weather, breeze and sunshine, washing machine time, space to string a line, etc. Well today is that day and 3 loads later it’s mid afternoon before we are done.

We then cobble together enough coins (just) to catch the bus back into Sevilla Centro (only cash on bus) - we are spending the day having a look at Plaza España finally (we had a quick look the other day) and get more cash from ATM - we're literally down to 63 cents in cash.

Plaza España is lovely in the late afternoon - it's a huge semi circular structure with beautiful plaza in the middle. Here's a bit of history about it -

The history - designed and built and finished 1 year early (!!!) for the Ibero-American exhibition of 1929. The purpose - the exhibition was to make symbolic peace with Spains former American colonies. The Design- Spanish Renaissance style; a diameter of 200 metres in a semi-circle; multiple towers; surrounded by a row of 52 benches and mosaics of typical Andalusia Spain azulejos (tiles) which depict all 52 Spanish provinces.
There is a round canal crossed by many bridges and you can even rent a boat and sail through the canals - hello design inspiration for Expo 88 - but it’s dry at the moment while they do some refurb work.

Plaza España - with horse drawn carts going around

Kerrie relaxing on tiled seat in Plaza España

Kerrie and Bob on curved balcony at Plaza España

Curved walkway at Plaza España

One of buildings around Plaza España

Boats along canal at Plaza España - no water at the moment

We also see a flaminco dancer having lots of twirls - you pay a tip afterward if you want.

Flamenco dancer in Plaza Espana

After that stunning architecture we need a walk through the natural environment- handily the Plaza España was built on the edge of the Parque de Maria Luisa which is a huge and beautiful park with many trees from around the world including Oz with some huge examples of eucalypts, Norfolk Island pine, and some of the biggest Moreton Bay figs you will ever see (we did spot others on the walking tour the other day).

Beautiful park - Maria-Luisa Park

Okay let’s find that other damn plaza where the Metropol Parasol is (where we had to meet the tour guide for the Tapas Tour last night where Bob ended up waving his hands in the air like a fruit loop!!. Bob suggests we follow the tram line to the centre and low and behold - we get there without much trouble at all. It was so easy compared to yesterday. So advice for the unaware - stay out of the tiny lanes as GPS gets all bitter and twisted, will think you are somewhere you are not, and will keep changing the little blue line, you will lose all sense of direction, you will go through the 5 stages of grief, you will breakdown and cry, until finally you stumble into the light.

Anyhow, we are here to see the Metropol Parasol (Las Setas) and it’s pretty stunning - it’s a huge timber structure that acts as art, shade, and with huge seating area to listen to street musicians. Worth the trip back to check it out. We are on a schedule though to catch the 7.45pm bus (otherwise we have to wait for 9.15pm), so we do something that we have never done before, and may never do again. We spy a small pizza shop in the edge of the square selling pre-made pizza, €2.50 per slice, they put it in a very hot pizza oven for about half a minute, whack it in a box and there you go. And guess what? It’s not too bad at all, and we quite enjoy it 🙂😮‍💨.

Metropol Parasol - amazing

Another shot of Metropol Parasol

And one more of Metropol Parasol - made of wood

We scoot back the way we came - it may not be the quickest in theory but it’s easy to follow - have enough time to stop and quickly buy a gelato to eat on the run, and we are back to the bus stop with 6 minutes to spare (oops with a slight wrong turn -otherwise we would have had 8 minutes to spare!).

Adious for today.