Last year we all went to a small place up in the Sierra Nevada mountains called Mecina Fondales, it was very rural and very enjoyable. This year we decided on a city break so we decided to explore properly the cities of Seville and Cordoba.
My wife and I had been in Seville for 2 days earlier in the year and although the hotel was fine we had to pay extra for parking (19euros per day)so we decided to have a look at a small town about 20 miles outside Seville called Carmona.
Carmona has a very long history, right from Roman times, and has been a favourite of Roman Ceasars, Moorish and Spanish Kings.
We drove from Malaga airport to Carmona (about 2 hours), we had done our research on hotels and we picked the hotel La Alcazar de la Reina.
This is a 4 star hotel and we were very pleased with all aspects, including the themed "Irish Pub" connected to the hotel. Being from "NORN IRON" (Northern Ireland) we need our Guinness. The town itself is excellent and there are lots of places to explore, we found eating out in one of the many bars in the town square really excellent. It was great trying all different types of Tapas and Raciones, and although one of our party was a vegetarian he found enough to keep him well fed and happy. We tried a restaurant the first night that had been recommended in Trip-adviser but we were disappointed. It was expensive and not a lot of it, and we were the only people in the restaurant.So Raciones in the local bars after that, brill!!
The next day was Sunday so we decided to travel into Seville, traffic was light and we managed to get parked next to the bullring. (free all day parking on Sunday) There are large underground carparks close to the bullring and on normal days I would recommend trying to get into those. So we decided to walk around and see the town.
The first place we went to was the Cathedral, there was a service on and we did come back later. It is absolutely amazing, apparently the third largest in the world after St. Peters in Rome and St Pauls in England. One thing about most of these building is that you are not allowed to use a
tripod when taking photographs. I would recommend a small table top tripod you can set on the ground or use to steady against a pillar, I had to use my camera bag as a method to steady the camera for long exposures. A little earlier we went to the "Alcázares Reales de Sevilla" This is a smaller version of the more famous Alhambra in Granada. You can read the Wikipedia info here >>Alcazar<<
There was a bit of a queue to get in and a fair number of school parties but it did not seem to be too overcrowded. Although i t is still always difficult to get a photograph without some people in it. Go early January very few people then.. We walked around looking for photographs and once again tripods are frowned upon, I even tried laying the camera on the ground pointing up at the ceiling and as I sat beside it to press the shutter I was told to stand up.Take your chances!!
Also worth visiting in the Alcazar are "Los Baños de Doña María de Padilla" Now this place is quite dark but you can use a tripod.
When we went back to the cathedral one of the things worth doing is to climb up the La Giralda tower. There are no steps just a sloping walkway, much easier to walk up. Great views from the top.
One other place we visited was the " Plaza de España " , this is large semi circular building which was built in 1929. It is interesting to visit although we did not find that many photo opportunities. But the architecture is interesting and well worth visiting. It was also used as a backdrop in one of the Star wars films. See a clip here >>STAR WARS<<So the next day we decided to go to Cordoba it is a bit further away and it took us about 1 1/2 hours. We did use our Sat.Navs but the place we wanted to get to was well sign posted. We were going to La Mezquita, >See Wikipedia info here
It is interesting to see the differences in style and architecture. There are 
certain areas where you can just about get away with hand holding a camera, but not many.
And the iso rating has to go up quite a bit. Once again I tried to take photos by sitting on the floor and with the camera propped up on my Camera bag. (No Tripods allowed) But I was told to get up. So instead I (as we would say in Norn Iron) "Hunkered Down" and had the camera on the bag and used a time exposure. Worked just fine.
certain areas where you can just about get away with hand holding a camera, but not many.
And the iso rating has to go up quite a bit. Once again I tried to take photos by sitting on the floor and with the camera propped up on my Camera bag. (No Tripods allowed) But I was told to get up. So instead I (as we would say in Norn Iron) "Hunkered Down" and had the camera on the bag and used a time exposure. Worked just fine. The group of us hardly saw each other the place is so big and as usual there is always the problem of tourists and school groups going about, but they can be avoided. We really enjoyed our time there and afterwards we went out into the warm sunshine. We walked down to the Roman bridge that spans the river, there has been a lot of work done on it and from the top it bears no resemblance to an old roman bridge, in fact it looks quite modern. It is only when you go underneath at the far side can you get a feel for how it may have looked.
We decided to move on from Cordoba and we made our way back to the cars. Obviously La Mezquita is in the old town with narrow streets, but on getting back out to travel back we went through the more modern part of the town. It is a very nice city and there are probably lots of places to visit, but we had no time.
We went back towards Carmona by a different route through the country and made a few detours. We stopped at one place and went into a local bar for a beer, we got about 10 beers in total and were given a couple of dishes of what looked like thick Gazpacho soup with bread, the whole lot came to 9 Euros. Wonderful!
So this is now the last chapter in our trip. On the day before we had to leave we took a trip all the way over to the Costa de la Luz area. We drove round Seville and headed towards Portugal taking the A49, E1, road. We left this road at Moguer and headed down towards Mazagon. As you drive through this area it is covered in Plastic tents all growing strawberries, there is a large immigrant North African community here who seem to be the workers in the fields. So next time you see your strawberries in the supermarket and they say Southern Spain, most likely they come from here. This whole area is classed as a National Park but it is mainly a type of small Fir tree. I can tell you now, don't bother going if you want great pictures of landscapes "muy aburrido" in Spanish "VERY BORING" But if you keep going you reach a small town, on the map it says Ruinas Torre Vigia, We stopped here and just lazed around on the beach for an hour or more before getting a "Menu del Dia" and then heading off again. No photographs worthwhile were taken here. We then in heading back towards the main road we had to pass a small town called El Rocio. Now this looks more like something out of a Cowboy film.
All the streets are just sand and there are lots of houses but not that many inhabitants. There is an amazing church, very rich and well decorated and it seems so out of place in this town. But apparently once a year over a million people congregate here to celebrate a sighting of the Vigin Mary. That is where the wealth comes from. If you are in the area then do visit it, a real one horse town and I have the photo to prove it.
All the streets are just sand and there are lots of houses but not that many inhabitants. There is an amazing church, very rich and well decorated and it seems so out of place in this town. But apparently once a year over a million people congregate here to celebrate a sighting of the Vigin Mary. That is where the wealth comes from. If you are in the area then do visit it, a real one horse town and I have the photo to prove it.
After that we headed back to the main road and Carmona. Was very tired when I got back from all the driving so I had a lie down for an hour before going down to the bar to meet the other guys.
It was St. Patricks day and the hotel was helping to celebrate, and so we just had to join in!!!!
A good night was had by all and a late night before we headed to our rooms to sleep it off.
Next day was our last so after breakfast we got packed, paid our bills, and headed towards Malaga by the scenic route. We had only left Carmona a short 
distance when we came across these fields. So we spent a bit of time taking lots of Pictures.
distance when we came across these fields. So we spent a bit of time taking lots of Pictures. We then headed to Malaga for our flight home.
It was a great trip and now looking forward to somewhere different next year.
