Last Day in Seville
Our month in Seville had flown by. Our last day was sunny and warm, a perfect day for visiting the gardens at the Royal Alcázar. (They had been closed on the day of our guided tour due to rainy weather.)
We checked out some spots we hadn’t seen on the tour, like the upper level of the House of Trade, where there was an excellent exhibit on tiles and mosaics, and the House of the Assistant. And on our way to the gardens, we couldn’t resist returning to the Mudéjar Palace for another look at our favorite spots, such as the spectacular Hall of the Ambassadors.
The gardens were huge - encompassing about 15 acres. There were at least 18 named gardens in map. It was still early in the year, so there weren’t too many flowers, but there was a wide variety of attractive plants - reportedly more than 20,000 plants and 187 different species! We walked through a series of sculpted Renaissance gardens and a hedge maze. Then we climbed up to a raised gallery and admired the gardens from above. Gorgeous! (Fun fact: these gardens were the setting for the Water Gardens of Dorne in Game of Thrones.)
When we’d had our fill of gardens, we left the Alcázar and had a delicious lunch at Casa Antigua, a place near the cathedral with excellent tortilla al whisky. We sat outside, enjoying the sunshine and the street performers. After lunch we walked home to the apartment, amid the fragrance of orange blossoms, grateful for our wonderful month in Seville.
