Day 10 - Deia to Seville

Gelati: 1, Wine: 1 glass, Tapas: 2

Nothing much to report today as most of it was spent pottering around waiting for something to happen.  It started raining last night around 8pm (just as we were about to leave for dinner) and didn't really stop.  There were brief periods of no rain this morning but equally brief periods of hail!  Given that it was cold and wet I spent the morning packing and then pottering around the hotel in the company of most of the ATG crowd.   A taxi came to take me away at midday after hugs and insincere promises all round to keep in touch.

Once at Palma airport I pottered around waiting for my flight.   Once I reach Seville airport I pottered around waiting for my suitcase.  Once I reached my hotel I pottered around the centre of town before an early dinner and heading back to my hotel.  Not a very energetic day, particularly by the standards of the previous week.

I'm feeling a little exposed without my ATG protectors - Sarah and Stephen.  I'm having to plan my own itinerary and navigate my own way there.  I also have to pick my own restaurants and then my own food from the menu.  In one short week I've gotten completely out of the habit and have lost what little Spanish I'd managed to learn.  Neither my taxi driver or my waiter spoke a word of English so I'll have to learn again quickly.

Seville seems rather more run down than I remember.  There seemed to be quite a few shops that were shut.  While some would simply be shut because it is the weekend, I imagine a good few have simply gone out of business.  There is a lot of graffiti around too.  The core city centre is heaving with both tourists and locals though.

My hotel here (El Rey Moro Hotel Boutique) is nothing like the ones I've been staying in lately.  Quirky is probably the best description.  It is a 16th century manor house that has been converted into a small hotel.  My room (Room 27) is on the top floor with windows onto a small rooftop terrace.  This means if I want any privacy I need to keep the curtains closed at all times which makes my room a little gloomy.  Every room in the place is decorated differently.  For some reason my room has a Marilyn Monroe theme.  There are paintings and pictures of her on every wall.  However, it is the biggest of the cheap singles so I can't complain.

On to the food for the day.  I was self-catering so it wasn't a patch on what Sarah has been providing me with.  However, I've walked about all of about 2-3km all day and that all on the flat so I haven't been very hungry.  Lunch was a leftover muesli bar and small packet of biscuits from one of the packed lunches.  I also bought (what I think was) a fruit drink from a vending machine at the airport, more for the fun of watching it work than because I was thirsty.  A robot arm would rise to the row with your chosen item, the move along and take it from the shelf.  It would then move sideways and deposit the item in a capsule which would then rotate so you could take it out.  None of this dropping it into the bottom of the machine for you to fish out here.

For dinner I randomly chose a bar and had a glass of wine and some tapas.  It took a while to find a place to eat at.  Some places had crowds spilling out onto the pavement while another was totally empty.  I eventually found one that seemed to have a mix of local and tourists and, more importantly, some spare seats.  I had a glass of the house red (rough), a plate of pieces of salami (tasty) from pigs fed on acorns with some (stale) bread and then a wedge of cheese with mini toasts.  Unfortunately, the cheese turned out to be a blue cheese which I don't particularly like.  For dessert I had a gelati with a scoop of chocolate-orange ice cream and another of turron (which I this is nougat) from a gelateria near the hotel.  Not bad but I will keep searching for the best gelati place.  There are quite a few to choose from here.

Now to plan what to see and how to get there tomorrow.  Where is Stephen when I need him?