Showing posts with label Flamenco. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Flamenco. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Sevilla es maravilla!

Sevilla es maravilla as Spaniards says. Probably it is when day is sunny and hot - not as rainy as it was about noon on 7th of April when we arrived to the city.
Don Paco hotel was not so easy to find, but after circulating the city for about 15 minutes I've found it! I've chosen this hotel, because they offered a parking space. Of course it was true. They've underground garage for... 5, maybe 6 cars! And hotel is really big! About 30-40 rooms on each of 3 or 4 floors. Can't imagine where people park their cars considering crowded and narrow streets around the hotel.
Another advantage of the hotel is its location in walking distance from the city center. Actually it's about 30 minutes to the Cathedral (and Giralda), but you've to get through the most beautiful old part of the city or a more modern commercial district passing stores like El Cortes Ingles and others.

First we headed to Parque de María Luisa located next to Plaza de Espana, Hotel Alfonso XIII and Universidad. I insisted on stopping by Hotel Alfonso XIII and it was a good idea. Hotel is really nice and encouraging to stay. Next time I'll think it over, because it's even not so expensive off season (considering its 5 stars rating). Then we get through Universidad and headed to the park. Again had no luck - park was closed - I still don't know why?!?! In this circumstances we had to spend time on visiting Plaza de Espana that is really great and has a lot of interesting details to look closer.

Next destination was the area close to river Guadalquivir. It was not as interesting as it seemed to be, so we quickly went for some late lunch in Starbucks Coffee. After short break we had a closer look at Cathedral, Real Alcazar (closed on Mondays!) and Giralda. Unfortunately it was too late to enter the Cathedral and see it from inside.

The only thing we had time for was a flamenco show. This time we prepared better and called the Casa Carmen Arte Flamenco to make some reservation. It was a good choice. Casa Carmen is located in the small venue that usually has a role of nightclub, but early in the evening it transforms to flamenco show that lasts about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Besides the flamenco itself, they had a good choice of tapas for people coming an hour before the show (20:00). And what's even better, they allowed to take some pictures at the end. If you want to see a good, traditional flamenco in Sevilla, I can definitely recommend Casa Carmen Arte Flamenco. It's really worth 16 euro you've to pay for ticket (picture on the right).
After the day full of attractions we came back to the hotel and early morning left it for Malaga Airport. This was a really nice weekend in Spain and I definitely would like to get back there soon for some longer stay!

Friday, March 28, 2008

Backpacks, Jerez and Sevilla...

As promised I visited torbylowepro.pl shop this week. I spent there over an hour watching different bags and backpacks, then I went out even more confused. It appeared that Orion AW is good in pictures, but complete disaster when you see it live.
I checked Off Trail 2 very carefully and it seems to be final solution for trip to Havasu Falls and maybe some other trips, but I still think it's not a perfect solution for day hikes, like one to Wave or Subway. My decision is getting closer to Tamrac Adventure 10, but it's unreachable in Poland. Maybe Tamrac Adventure 9 will do, although it's a bit smaller and I still don't know how to attach tripod to it. Maybe S-113 will help?
I should harry up with choosing my new backpack, because wanted to put it to the test during the trip to Spain.
And talking about Spain, I must brag about my hotel reservation in Jerez de la Frontera - I had luck to find quite a nice looking place with parking and breakfast included in price. The hotel is called Guadalete and is close to the city center and Bodegas - places where sherry is produced. Now I want to find some good place for Flamenco show and a good hotel for last night near Sevilla. Hotel Don Paco looks nice, but price is a bit too high - over 100 EUR including parking! If I don't find anything better, I'll reserve it. At least it's not far from the city center - as reported by maps.google.com it's in the walking distance:


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