The streets of Seville
The Real Alcazar
Clockwise from top left: The Flamenco show; the controversial Metropol Parasol (otherwise known as the Mushroom thing); our Japanese rock star with an adoring fan
The Plasa de Espana
A few logistical issues meant that we had to reshuffle some of our
holiday and annual leave plans for the year, primarily meaning that we had to
ditch our plan to do the Greek Islands in October. While this was initially
disappointing, we soon got over it after we replaced it with a trip that
included a couple of days in Seville, five nights on the beach in Portugal, and
then a few days of checking out Lisbon.
Arriving in Seville was amazing for the sheer fact that it was
stinking hot.
Absolutely scorching.
After being in Europe for just about two years now, we were well in
need of some proper sun (proof of how long we’ve been away can be found in how
I constructed that sentence). Our situation had become so dire that Monique had
actually been diagnosed as being Vitamin D deficient (to which she glared at
the doctor with a look of ‘how on earth am I supposed to get more sun in
overcast London’ on her face).
Seville was just the tonic. We squeezed the absolute most out of our
day and half in the city by walking our feet off, exploring the very
Moroccan-esq Real Alcazar palace, seeing a Flamenco show, and relaxing at the
very beautiful Plaza de Espana.
As a side note on Seville, it just so happened that we experienced
one of the stranger moments so far on our adventures. Towards the end of the
Flamenco performance, the MC came up on stage and announced that we were going
to have a special Japanese guest join the performance.
Hmmm…how perplexing.
We watched in astonishment as they rolled a piano onto the stage and
up got a Japanese man wearing what can only be described as a matching pajama
set (we’re not making an impolite culture reference – he was actually wearing
pajama shorts and shirt, with oversize white basketball boots and bright red
socks pulled up). He took his seat at the piano and started playing one of the
cheesiest four-chord piano ballads we have ever heard, while the phenomenally
talented Flamenco dancers and musicians politely looked on.
When the song was finally over, they then proceeded to do a
Flamenco-style rendition of said cheesy four-chord piano ballad which they
managed to make sound (comparatively) quite good.
Apparently the Japanese guy is a celebrity, but unfortunately we
missed his name through the accent of the MC. It’s a real shame – we would have
loved to get some more of his stuff from iTunes.
