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- Stroll along the river port. Seville has been working on restoring the city port, and things are already looking better. The large open space now houses a restaurant and bar with nice views of the Club Nautico on the other side of the river. Behind the port are the Jardines de las Delicias (see above), giving you a buffer from the avenue. And you can see the new aquarium which is being built which will hold Europe’s largest shark tank. On a nice sunny day you almost feel like your at the beach somewhere!
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- Hop on and take a short trip in the Tram! The tranvia will eventually
be extended to make this a more practical option for city travel. For now you can go from the central
shopping district (Plaza Nueva) out to the Prado (gardens next to Parque Maria Luisa). This is also
convenient for catching the airport bus or a regional bus at the Prado station. The system is compatible
with the bónobus pass, so you don’t have to mess with another type of ticket.
- Visit the Museum of Flamenco Dance - A recent tour of this Flamenco Museum had me impressed, with both the quality as well as the technology. A very large server room (the computer geek in me was very impressed) is needed for many of the interactive exhibits including video and music. The Museum also has weekend flamenco shows, an instruction area and conference rooms upstairs. And you will always find changing art exhibits on all floors, including the basement area.
- Connect to the internet for free in many plazas in the center. Bring a laptop with WiFi? Try connecting in Plaza Alfalfa, Plaza de la Pescaderia, Plaza del Pan, Plaza de la Encarnación or Plaza Salvador. There is a new free set of connections so you can surf until your battery runs out. Well, there is a 30 minute time limit for now, but when you run out the next plaza is less than a minute away. Spend your money on a drink - better than spending it to connect in a cyber cafe!
- Take a glance beneath the Plaza de la Pescaderia - It took me a while to figure out what the glass squares were for, I guess to get a quick glimpse of some Roman ruins in the Plaza de la Pescaderia. Just a block from the Alfalfa is the newly renovated Plaza de la Pescaderia which was once practically a parking lot. Now it is a nice open plaza with outdoor dining and a few bars. You will notice a few windows looking into the ground. Below you can see the remains of some cisternas romanas, the system built by the romans to move water through the city center. From above it looks a lot like an underground street! Ok, so maybe it's not so exciting unless you know what it is...
- Eat at the Venta del Alto - Just twenty minutes outside Seville you will find Venta del Alto. As you make your way towards the Sierra Norte natural park you will see plenty of signs for Aracena, Almaden and Portugal. Along with them you can’t miss the indications for Venta del Alto, a roadside restaurant and hotel on the edge of the Sierra Norte. This place has been around for almost 400 years with plenty of history to go with it. It is the site of the capture of a famous Bandolero in the 1700's, who stopped by to rest or perhaps get a drink. Now it is wonderful place to eat with two dining rooms, a nice bar and a large open patio, or corral just behind it. The food is excellent, from the typical Andalusian to wild game such as jabali (wild boar) and venado (venison). If you want to stay the night a room overlooking the corral will only set you back 40 – 50 Euros. There’s even a swimming pool for the warmer months, plus a tiny Plaza de Toros just behind which they are restoring.
- Visit the Jardines de la Buhaira (Buhaira Gardens) - One of my favorite gardens aside from the Parque Maria Luisa, the Jardines de la Buhaira can be found by leaving the Puerta de la Carne (Santa Cruz) and crossing the “Puente de Bomberos”. The gardens were formerly an orchard and there is plenty of space to move around. If you walk around enough you will find a permanent map hidden behind some walls. The map indicates many former sites in the city from Islamic rule, including the location of baths, cemeteries, mosques and more.
- Visit the Casa de Pinelo – on a tour with Conocer Sevilla we learned this was the house that El Corte Ingles saved. Before you give them too much credit, the department store chain offered to save it so they could tear down another one in Plaza del Duque many years ago. A trade off that at least left the city with one casa-palacio in better shape. The 16th century house has been recently opened to the public (guided tours only), and is only a 2 minute walk from the Cathedral.
- Walk down the Calle Parras – This street is probably the best place to see the Macarena procession in Semana Santa. And when you walk the street you’ll have little doubt as to the devotion to this procession and church. Just count the houses with tile paintings related to the Virgin or the Señor. I think at least 75% of them feature something. You can also see the house of the brotherhood (cofrade) which has a nice display window.
- Visit Seville's City Cemetary – Being further out from the city center and of course being a cemetery means this place gets overlooked. But it really is something to see, and many of Seville’s most famous people are buried here – including bullfighters, flamenco singers and dancers, doctors, politicians and more. Impressive are some of the statues and tombs which were constructed. And it is a very peaceful area, with trees, flowers and plenty of space to walk.
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