April 3 - Seville

Hola Seville! This is the hottest place (I mean the weather) during my entire 3-week vacation. 33 degrees Celsius - warmer than Singapore. And dry. Those who know me and certain aspects of my life, would know that I tan very, very easily. So I got scarily tanned in Seville. The sun was relentless.

The taxi wouldn't take me from the bus station to my hotel 'cos it was too near. Not that I knew of course. (I'd changed plans at the last minute, taking the bus instead of the train to Seville from Cordoba.) So I dragged my luggage across the parking lot, across the main road, through a park, up some stairs & through some alley, guided by nothing but my often-faulty sense of direction (I didn't have a map), in the general direction where the trying-to-be-helpful-short-of-driving-me-there cab driver (and another stranger) pointed (& gestured & said something repeatedly in Spanish). Amazingly, I found the hotel.

After walking around (and getting lost, and having a mother with a pram apologize to me in Spanish 'cos she didn't know the place I wanted to get to), I finally find my way to the Museo de Bellas Artes. Which turned out to be quite disappointing, so no photo here (see album if you're interested). I didn't, however, get lost while trying to get to the Torre del Oro (pictured above). It was a lookout tower along the river built in the 13th century. Today, it houses a maritime museum. 

Here's a view from the top of the tower. I learnt that the more sides a tower had (during those days), the more important it was. This one has 12. So it was mighty important.