About 30 minutes south of Cordoba, you can find a very small town called Ecija with several churches, all with very colorful towers. It’s also know for it’s horse stables and there was even a horse fair at the time, but it wasn’t taking place till the evening, so I missed it.
After walking around town and checking out the church towers, I hopped in to a bakery and tried something VERY different; Yemas ecijanas. Basically, these are egg yolks, which are dropped in a hot sugary liquid, so the heat from the liquid slightly cooks the yolks making them a little harder and once removed, the sugar coating hardens as well so it looks like a white candy filled with an eggy yolk!
The next stop on the route was another small town called Carmona, where a roman Necropolis (cemetery) can be found. I’m not really the biggest fan of cemeteries though, new or old, so I didn’t spend too much time here, just long enough to stretch my legs before driving on down to Seville.
This has to be one of my favorite cities on this trip because it has it all!
The people are friendly, the weather was great, the buildings are absolutely stunning, the Plaza de Espana (where they shot a few Star Wars scenes) is awesome, the parks are huge, the Cathedral majestic, the Alcazar mystical (also a GOT location btw) and the Flamenco was the highlight!
After doing the usual tourist tours here and seeing the main sights, I spent an extra day for myself to walk around the more “local” area of the city across the river and really noticed how friendly the people here are. I returned from my little walk with cheap vegetables, fruits and some free Tuna Steaks (which were delicious) and of course Olives!!
The people took their time to understand what I was trying to say and even if I didn’t end up buying anything, said good bye with a very kind smile.
Since this extra day, was MY day, I went to watch some Flamenco for the 3rd night in a row. I had discovered this great bar/art center called “La Carboneria”, which features different Flamenco artists every night, who give a 30-45 minute show. It was really interesting to see how different the shows were from one night to the next. The first night was very classical and focused on the dancer’s elegance and style, while the next night was more about the singer’s voice, which was definitely impressive, and the last night was more about the dancer’s extremely fast footwork. The best thing about this place is that it’s not a very formal or touristic location. The people are normal, a mix of locals and travelers, the prices for food and drinks are affordable and the show is free!
Downtown Ecija
One of Ecija’s many colorful church towers.
Signs of better times in Ecija… probably when horses were more important to royalty and daily life.
Take me up, before I go go.
They had the sun shades here too.
Crossing the bridge to Sevilla.
The Guadalquivir river…
… and it’s fans.
You can find impressive architecture like this building almost everywhere you look.
And of course, even the bottom of the balconies are decorated.
The gold tower.
One of the many World Expo pavilions around the city, which have been re-purposed to make use of the impressive architecture.
An of course the most impressive pavilions is the Plaza de Espana.
You can find ceramics like this all around the complex.
There are 48 benches in the complex representing the Spanish provinces. This one is for Barcelona.
It’s a really cool place to hang out for a few hours and enjoy the details and watch the tourists.
I ran in to this impromptu concerts while walking through one of the many parks in the city.
The famous Seville Cathedral and ex-Mosque as well.
The old Minaret turned Cathedral tower.
They had the sun shades here too.
Now entering the Alcazar.
Similar to Alhambra, the decorative work is very detailed.
One of the halls’ decorated ceilings.
Here’s another ceiling.
And of course the elaborate Alcazar gardens.
I managed to end each of my days in Sevilla here at La Carboneria, watching, listening and feeling the Flamenco vibe. Simply Mesmerizing.