Seville 2 of 8

We took a Cruise Critic coach tour of Seville. The drive from Cadiz Port to Seville took about an hour and 45 minutes and passed through some beautiful farmland countryside as well as villages and a few towns.

It was a really warm and sunny day with cloudless ever so blue skies. The countryside was a patchwork of various shades of green, yellow, brown and orange. Farmers were turning the soil with tractors with special hoe attachments,  cows were grazing in the rich pasturelands and there were vineyards on many of the low lying hills . We saw paddocks of tall standing corn fields and fields of wheat stalks as well. Adding colour and interest were huge areas of sunflower fields which we assumed are for vegetable oil and margarine products. These stunning sunflower fields reminded us of Van Gough's paintings that we'd seen in Amsterdam a few years ago. Dotted across the drive we also saw several large olive tree plantations and orange groves. All in all this part of Spain appears to be 'the pantry of Spain' where the Mediterranean weather and conditions are perfect for growing a range of food crops and products.

We arrived quite early into the centre of Seville when locals were setting up stalls for the onslaught of tourists. It was interesting to watch them working enthusiastically together. Our lady guide Julia, led us along some cobbled streets at a great pace because she wanted us to see the Plaza de Espana before it filled with "thousands of visitors".  

We entered a beautiful park with established gardens and huge trees. At the entrance stood a beautiful white horse hitched to a shiny black Spanish riding carriage, awaiting passengers. Before our tour was over we'd seen at least six carriages being drawn by stately horses around the square and parkland areas. We didn't have time for a carriage ride as we'd come to see a magnificent building that had been erected  in the plaza in 1929 for to house exhibits at Expo 29 but it's architecture exceeded the expectations of everyone at the time.

The Plaza de Espana Is a semi-circular  brick building which arcs around a huge open plaza area. At both the northern and southern ends of this Renaissance- Neo-Moorish style arced building an impressive tower has been erected. These two towers are so high that they can be seen from almost any area around the city. These landmark towers are beautifully designed

What makes this plaza building stand out is its 500 metre canal which passes in front of the multi-arched curved building, following the arc curves of the building.