We decided that because of the Fair and our inability to move freely around the town that we would head to the station and catch the train to Seville rather than wait until later in the day. So we headed to the station and caught the 10.40am train to Seville. It would arrive about 12.50pm in Seville. The train stations at Madrid and Malaga are beautiful and clean and no one is allowed on the platform until the train is there and ready to board, so everyone sits in a seating area until their train is called for boarding. This creates a bit of mayhem in the boarding process as everyone is looking for their carriage and their seat, but it means people are not hanging around on platforms and it seems to work well. We also had ticket and baggage checks on entry to the station, so only passengers are in there. A bit like International travel at airports. Spain Is so safe and there are no pesky gypsy’s or pick pockets to worry about.
The train trip was quite pleasant and only about 30 minutes longer than the fast train. During the trip we passed olive groves, citrus orchards and desert country. The remote houses are just like you see in the movies. White haciendas surrounded by cacti. Passing through Alora we saw the massive canyon Caminito del Rey in the Elchorro Gorge with a walking track attached to the side of the mountain about 100 metres above the river below. It has only been recently re-opened after safety upgrades due to the number of fatalities that had occurred. It was like a narrow boardwalk attached to the mountain. We could see people walking along it and stopping to take photos. Apparently the walk is 5km long and was originally built for workers to walk between two hydroelectric stations.
The trip continued passing through lovely countryside and we arrived in Seville on time. The station was beautiful and clean and just like Malaga and Madrid. We went to the tourist information booth to get a map and the girl charged me 1 euro for a map! This is the first time we have had to pay for a map! We worked out where the Hotel was and headed off to walk to the Hotel. We only had to walk for about 15minutes and we were there, but it was very hot as by now it was about 1pm. We followed the map and went down this side street, no Hotel! Of course not, it was straight ahead with a big sign on the wall.
So the mystery four star Hotel in the centre of the city turned out to be the mystery 2 star hotel on the outskirts of the city in the dodgy part of town. The room was old but clean, the bathroom was nice, fairly new and very clean but the décor was from the 1970s and it was in need of a serious renovation and the corridor outside smelt like mouldy old socks. The reception area was ok but not air conditioned and the bar and restaurant were closed and we decided not to have breakfast there, and I am not sure if we could have if we wanted to. The TV was the large box type, not a flat screen and every now and then you would lose the sound for a few seconds. Apart from that it was ok.
We needed to do some laundry, so we found the nearest laundromat and headed off to do the washing. It was a long walk in the heat, about 30 minutes, but we got there and found a great Speed Queen laundromat, lovely and clean and right next door to a grocery shop where we could buy croissants, grapes and beer. We had a snack while our washing and drying was done and then walked back to the Hotel.
We went out to a local restaurant that got a good review on the internet and had some tapas of calamari and pork. They were delicious!
