Seville 4 of 8

La Plaza de Espana is impressive in its size of about 59,000 square metres (the size of 5 football pitches) and its backdrop of the beautiful curved building and its romantic canal. Tourists and locals were enjoying rowing around the canal with families and friends. There was a festive air as boats passed under the ornate bridges and welcoming waves and shouts filled the air. It costs 5 eurous for the 45 minute rowing water course route and 9 Euros for motor boat hire. Boats hold up to six passengers on average so it's an inexpensive ride. By the end of our tour of the plaza about 12 boats could be seen moving throughout the canal route. 

An interesting bit of trivia is that La Plaza de Espana and the expo building have been used as a filming location. Some scenes of "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Star Wars" were created here and in recent times the latest Sacha Cohen-Baron movie "The Dictator" used a Plaza de Espana as part of its setting. 

Just before leaving the plaza area our guide led us to an area all along the wall between the building and the canal where outdoors brick alcoves with dividing benches have been erected. There are 48 alcoves, one for each provence in Spain. The back wall and floor of each alcove have been decorated with colourful, painted ceramic tiles which provide a map of each province and tableaux displays which relate to historical events facts and lists of what each province is renounced for. Sometimes flowers, fruit and leaflets of the region are added by locals or visitors who love to visit their provincial alcove for family photographs. We found these very interesting and spent some time comparing and locating different provinces of Spain. 

As we left this lovely historical area we passed the central water fountain with yet another beautiful horse and carriage enjoying the backdrop vista of the stone building that stretches so majestically across the area.

Heading for the coach to continue our tour of Seville we once again passed the blue and white ceramic balustrade safety fence beside a section of the canal. We heard children laughing as their dad endeavoured to glide them safely through the twisting water canal. We're sure that just like us they will remember this warm sunny day for a long time to come.