Spain and Dubai Day 6. Seville Spain. 30 Sept 25

Today was a day to ourselves.
We set out to explore Seville, our first destination was the river. What we thought was the river next to the Bullring was actually Canal de Alfonso XIII, go figure huh, looks like a river to us. But if you look at a map the “canal” comes to an abrupt stop just north of town. So we set out on a mission to see the Guadalquivir River. It is a 657km long river that runs from the Sierra de Cazorla to the Atlantic Ocean at Cadiz. Its the only major navigable river in Spain these days and in the past was a lifeline for the civilisations of the Phoneticians, Iberian, Romans and Moors. By that description it was definitely worth an hours walk! Descriptions can sometimes lead to over expectations, this was a good example. Underwhelming comes to mind. But hey, we saw it in all its “glory”. We walked through a large park next to the river that had a large area of private garden plots (for fruit and vegetables), bike paths, running paths, and grassed areas well used by dog owners.
We headed back towards the canal and Seville City. We crossed the canal on the Puente de los Remedious, and to our joy we walked straight into Parque de Maria Luisa. An instant relief from the 30 degree day. We walked up Av de Rodriguez de Casso to the amazing Plaza de Espana. The Plaza was built for the 1929 Ibero-American Exposition. It took 15 years to build and was the largest and most iconic building of the expo. It is a very large curved building with towers at each end, and is accessed via 4 bridges over a wide canal that fronts the building. In the huge forecourt in front of the building is a fountain centrepiece. We took our time walking around the forecourt and the lower floor of the building, many photos were taken. Its the type of building you have to see in person to appreciate its scale and grandeur.
From there we walked back to our hotel via the Jardines del Prado de San Sebastian, a lush green well treed space.
That finished our Seville experience, it was a 21,706 step day!! It’s certainly a city worth exploring but we both agreed that it probably isn’t a city you would spend months in.