Seville!

Up relatively early for a day in Seville!  The plan was to visit the Cathedral, shops and take a boat trip along the river.  But the best laid plans as they say ...

As we approached the outskirts of Seville the heavens opened and the rain came down in buckets.  We parked a little way outside of the centre of town for a while to see if the rain would subside but it didn't and the skies didn't look like it was going to pass over any time soon.  Added to this we noticed that all of the shops we'd passed were decidedly closed and boarded up.  Hmmm.  We began to think that we might have lost a day somewhere at the beginning of the week, and this was Good Friday, which we knew would have meant everywhere was closed down.

There wasn't much more to do except to head back to Estepa, get the last bit of shopping in, replenish the fridge with the drinks we'd used and chill out there.  We managed to find a MacDonalds open just outside of Seville and had loads of fun trying to find out whether they had any veggie options.  'Vegetariano' was just producing blank stares from the staff and my hand gestures just made them laugh so I settled for 'papas frittas' instead. 

Back in Estepa we made our way to the Supermercado to stock up for the final couple of days.  It was shut.  It doesn't even shut for siesta time usually.  Simon paid a visit to Hazel and Kevin who sheepishly revealed that it was Maundy Thursday and also a bank holiday, and they did mean to tell us the day before, but thought we were out all day ...   Mild panic ensued.  A quick inventory of the food in the house revealed half a packet of pasta, one tomato, a bit of cheese, and some biscuits I'd bought to take to work for the girls there.  There was loads of pop and beer, so at least we could get drunk if nothing else.

Hazel mentioned that one bar would be open later and serving food - The Bone Bar.  We did wander down there in the evening, and Becky came out of her shell and helped us order our food.  Jenny went for Scrambled Eggs with Asparagus, I went for the same but with Mushrooms.  Becky and Simon went for chicken and chips.  When the meals came, both the scrambled eggs had the veg but also loads of little bits of bacon mixed in with it.  Oh not good!!!!   Jenny wouldn't even eat hers, so that was chips for lunch and for tea for her today.   I managed to pick out most of the bits of bacon and eat the rest.   I explained to the waiter when he looked askance at our half eaten plates that 'Yo no comer carne' and he just looked at me in disgust and rolled his eyes.  Hazel had warned me at the beginning of the week that the locals didn't understand the concept of 'vegetarian'.    

We stayed for a while and the place filled up with loads of locals which was nice, and there was a great atmosphere with Spaniards of all ages chatting and passing the time of day.  Pudding was cornetto's - we made the waiter giggle trying to order those, but managed it in the end.  The cafe's in Estepa really are cafe's - we didn't find much in the way of a proper restaurant, but it made do when there wasn't really any other option!