We arrive in Sevilla at 9pm, and find our hostel right away. It is luckily only a few blocks away. Oasis Palace is a very clean, very beautiful hostel, and we are happy with our little room, and HUGE bathroom. There are also many planned activities for us, which we didn’t get at our last hostel.
So our first day we join the free 10:30 am walking tour offered by Pancho Tours, through our hostel and many others in the city. We meet Sam, our tour guide, a history major from the U.S., and also another Canadian, David, at our hostel, then head to meet with others for 11am. We meet with the group at “the fountain”, and then branch off into smaller groups. There are a lot of us on the tour, considering its January, and we have been having a bit of a cold week.
We take a short walk to Catedral de Santa Maria de la Sede, The Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Sea, and beside it; Alcazar palace complex. We get a brief History overview, Sam sure does know his history, and advice on avoiding gypsies, LEGIT GYPSIES, that are wandering outside the Cathedral. Interesting Fact #1; the Cathedral is the finally resting place, of the ashes of Christopher Columbus, who set out from Alcazar in 1492, to discover America.
All around the streets we go, to Rio Guadalquivir, past many consulates, and to Mary Louisa Park. The park is unfortunately closed for the day because of debris, according to Sam; the Spanish are not used to dealing with rainy stormy weather, and tend to panic a bit. We end our tour at the old tobacco factory, now a school, where Sam invites us along for lunch with him to a local Tapas bar. Yes Please! Interesting Fact #2; the tobacco factory in Carmen, the musical, is this one in Sevilla Spain.
Sam takes us and several other tourists to Huelva Ocho, his favorite little Tapas place. We enjoy cheap sangria, and Salmorejo Cordobes, a cold tomato soup similar to Gazpacho but blended with egg, and a few small sandwiches, while listening to stories about the Running of the Bulls. Sam our tour guide apparently took part in these festivities in 2012, and plans to do it again this year.
It was a great tour, and very informative. In a city so full of history, we were lucky to have Sam as our guide. Thank you to Pancho Tours and Sam. Good luck in The Running of the Bulls this year, and remember don’t look back!
For more information on the tours, and the different cities they are in, go to;
www.Panchotours.com
(34) 664 642 904
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