Good-bye to Ceuta/Morocco, Hello to Seville/Carmona

Back on the ferry, we say "good-bye" to Ceuta and Morroco and head for Carmona/Seville.  We had no trouble at all finding and getting on the ferry.  As we waited for our boat to pull away from the dock another ferry from a different line was coming in.

We looked back at the mountains of Morocco where we entered the country the day before.

After we got under way we settled into our seats and dozed briefly, so the trip went very fast.
In the car, we found our way to another Parador.  The Parador de Carmona-Alcazar del Rey Don Pedro (Fortress of King Don Pedro).  It's a 14th century Arabic Fortress which was used as a temporary residence of the Catholic Monarchs during their siege of Granada. The grounds are fasincating and very well kept.  Lots of tropicals and fruit trees.

This morning we ventured into Seville to find a little piece we needed for the iPad.  Seville is a very beautiful old Spanish city.  We found a place to park and even found the store without too much trouble.  We set out to explore a bit of Seville.  There are exquisite churches, plazas  and old buildings.
The Cathedral of Seville is the third largest Christian church in the world.  St. Peter's in Rome and St. Paul's in London are larger.  It was originally the Great Mosque built in 1184-1196 and when the Moors were driven out in 1248 it became the cathedral.

The Plaza de Toros de la Maestranza (Bullring) dates from 1762 with updates over the years.  It is considered to be one of the finest in Spain and one of the oldest and most important in the world.

The Alcazar of Seville is the oldest royal palace still in use in Europe.  It was originally a Moorish fort.  The upper levels of the Palace are used by the royal family as the official Seville residence.

On the flip side, Seville is also a  vibrant modern city.  There are several interesting bridges over the river Guadalquivir which runs through the city.

For our grand finale in Spain, we treated ourselves to dinner and a Flamenco show.  And what a show it was.  Flamenco dancing was born in Seville and still flourishes there today.  The show was at Tablao El Arenal and featured live music with two supurb guitarists, three singers and five fantastic dancers.  We got there early because no pictures were allowed during the performance.

Tomorrow we leave for Nice, France with an overnight at the last of our Paradors in Tortosa, Spain.