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<\/a>Seville Cathedral<\/p><\/div>\n
Today we head to Seville, but before we get into the \u2018cultural center\u2019 of Spain<\/strong>, we stop at an olive oil farm, which produces not the most, but some of the best, olive oil in Spain.\u00a0 An on-site guide walked us through their olive orchard, as well as their \u2018press room\u2019 and gave us the history of the olive farm as well as the process for producing different kinds of olive oil.\u00a0 At the end of the tour, we go to the tasting room where we sample some of their latest harvests and were able to buy some \u2013 can\u2019t wait to try it at home.<\/p>\n It’s back on the bus as we head into Seville, the fourth largest city in Spain.\u00a0 We check into our hotel, another \u2018H10\u2019<\/strong>, which I had not heard of before, but we stayed in several of them on this trip and I\u2019d highly recommend them, especially the rooftop bars!\u00a0 We visit the Seville Cathedral<\/strong>, which is the largest Gothic cathedral in the world<\/strong>, it took over 100 years to build; it is huge and awesome!!!<\/p>\n Columbus tomb in Seville Cathedral<\/p><\/div>\n There\u2019s some controversy about where his final resting place is, but the Spaniards claim that the tomb of Christopher Columbus <\/strong>is here in the Seville Cathedral \u2013 it is quite a display.\u00a0 There is no controversy as to the fact that Columbus left from Seville on his famous exploration of the New World.\u00a0 But, you say, \u201cSeville is 30 miles from the ocean, how can that be?!\u201d\u00a0 Yes, it is, but it is connected to the ocean by the Guadalquivir River<\/strong>, which is deep and wide enough to handle the largest of Spanish galleons.\u00a0 In fact, this in-land port was preferred by sailors as it was a great protection against pirates.\u00a0 A pirate would have to come 30 miles up the river to steal anything and then would have to go back the only way out, which was heavily fortified and in fact blockades could be set up to keep a ship from getting to the ocean.\u00a0 So, Seville became a very popular and profitable port.\u00a0 Some of us made the 40-story hike to the top of the church tower, which provided a panoramic view of the entire city as well as a test of the lungs and legs.<\/p>\n Mirador Setas<\/p><\/div>\n We next visited Mirador Setas<\/strong>, a huge wooden structure in the middle of the city square, built in 2005.\u00a0 We were able to walk on it and get some spectacular views of the city, it is quite an interesting structure.\u00a0 There is a small theater at the bottom of the structure where we watched an amazing video of Spain \u2013 very reminiscent of the Disney ride, \u2018Soaring Over California\u2019<\/strong> video where one is \u2018flying\u2019 over the city and into several of the historic structures \u2013 awesome!!<\/p>\n I don\u2019t recall the name of the restaurant where we had dinner (some Spanish name I think!!), but the meal was possibly the best dinner I\u2019ve ever had \u2013 the main dish was salmon, but I was so full with all the delicious tapas that came before it, that I could barely finish it \u2013 it was all so delicious, including the wine!<\/p>\n We next have a local guide give us a city tour and then we get do a carriage ride<\/strong> through another part of the city, that took us to Plaza de Espana<\/strong>, Maria Luisa Park and many other sites of interest \u2013 beautiful.\u00a0 Excellent weather the entire time helped make everything that much better.\u00a0 Prior to dinner we have a flamenco lesson, which was given by a local teacher and showed most of us that we are not even close to being coordinated enough to do this dance.\u00a0 Our dancing looked more like flamingos than flamenco! \u00a0\u00a0We then go to a theater and see a flamenco show, complete with guitar player, a singer and a male and female dancer.\u00a0 For me, the dancing was awesome, as was the guitar playing, but the singing left a little to be desired.\u00a0 It was more whaling than signing.\u00a0 When the female singer started, Linda turned to me and said, \u201cSomeone should fall 911, this person sounds ill\u201d, but others seemed to like it.<\/p>\n Plaza de Espana<\/p><\/div>\n For dinner, we were free to go anywhere in the city.\u00a0 Before I tell you where we went, I need to tell you what our tour guide, Daniel said about being a visitor to a foreign country.\u00a0 \u201cKnow the difference between being a tourist and being a traveler?<\/strong> \u00a0We made a few guesses, but he finally told us, \u201cA tourist tries to make the country adapt to him or her, a traveler tries to adapt to the country.\u201d\u00a0 So, mostly we tried to be \u2018travelers\u2019, but after a week of foreign food, we saw a place that had a sign that said, \u2018Hamburgers \u2013 different, but delicious\u2019; that\u2019s where we had dinner \u2013 it was a little different, but delicious!<\/p>\n Next time we leave Spain and head to Portugal . . .<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Bob Sparrow Today we head to Seville, but before we get into the \u2018cultural center\u2019 of Spain, we stop at an olive oil farm, which produces not the most, but some of the best, olive oil in Spain.\u00a0 An … read more![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Columbus-1.jpg\")
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