AfricaSeville 2025
Our room
Friday 31 October 2025, I spent the morning working from home. I walked to Farringdon and caught the 12:34 Thameslink service to Gatwick, meeting Tammay at London Bridge on the way.
We had some lunch in the lounge before catching the 15:40 flight to Seville.
We landed at 19:20 and had no trouble getting a taxi into town where we were staying at the Radisson Collection Hotel, Plaza de la Magdalena.
Montana cocktail bar
After checking in we walked the short distance to the Montana cocktail bar where we finished the day with a cocktail.
After cocktails we went for a walk and Tammay embarrassingly insisted on picking up a McDonald’s. The place was filled with youngsters dressed up for Halloween. We quietly ate it on our balcony.
Morning run
Saturday 1 November, I started the day with a 8.8km run along the river to the north. There was a nice wide paved path alongside the river.
Plaza de Espana
Our first activity was a walking tour of Seville (from 12:00 until 14:00) with a meeting point at Calle Almirantazgo 8. The end point was Plaza de Espana.
We took a short walk along Guadalquivir River while making our way back to the hotel.
Lunch on our balcony
We visited the supermarket opposite our hotel and bought a baguette, burrata, hummus, tomatoes (plus some grapes that weren’t to Tammay’s taste). We sat on our lovely balcony and had a picnic that was reminiscent of Italy (in the 90’s!).
We had a wander around Calle Sierpes and Calle Tetuan (two pretty shopping streets near the hotel).
That evening we went to The Second Room Seville Cocktail Bar which was tipped as having the best mojitos and Pisco sours in Seville.
On our way back to the hotel we found that Sibuya Urban Sushi was busy and had a 1 hour wait for a table so we instead went to Mamarracha for a light meal.
Morning run
Sunday 2 November, I once again started the day with a run but I was feeling quite tired so only did a 5.8km run along the river to the south.
We had breakfast at Amazonia, a small cafe just around the corner from our hotel. I picked a medium sized ‘Natural Bowl’ which seemed more like a dessert (I’d missed the drizzle of chocolate in the description) and Tammay opted for the avo on toast.
Walking tour
That afternoon we took another walking tour, this time of Santa Cruz (from 12:30 until 14:00).
The meeting point was Plaza del Triunfo and the end point was Church of Santa María la Blanca.
Walking tour
Walk around Barrio Santa Cruz:
* Plaza de Dona Elvira
* Callejon del Agua
* Hospital de los Venerables
Parque de Maria Luisa (including Garden of the Lions) https://www.marialuisapark.com/
On the way back to the hotel we picked up 4 pastel de nata and found a supermarket (after much hunting that included going several floors underground into a car park!) for more provisions. This time only costing us €9 for our entire lunch!
Setas de Sevilla
As the sun started to set we made our way to Setas de Sevilla (for a 18:00 entry).
These modern wooden ’mushroom’ structures were growing out of the street and the walkways all over the top gave us lovely views of the setting sun.
Setas de Sevilla
Once the sun was down there was a slightly underwhelming ‘AI powered’ light show.
Setas de Sevilla
We decided to skip the very end of the light show and found our timing perfect to enter the venue’s screening room just as the 15 minute video was starting.
Various clips of drone footage panning over the Seville skyline, and local activities such as dancing were shown on the 180 degree screen.
Hotel Alfonso
Afterwards we walked to Hotel Alfonso and had a couple of lovely cocktails in their very quiet bar.
Morning run to Parque de María Luisa
Monday 3 November, I again managed to start the day with a run and again headed south along the river. I took a detour to enter Parque de María Luisa where I completed a couple of loops.
Mercado de Triana indoor market
After freshening up back at the hotel we headed out and crossed the river at the Puente de Isabel II (Puente de Triana) bridge.
We stopped at CoffeeUp Triana for a couple of lattes before walking around the Mercado de Triana indoor market.
There were lots of stalls selling fresh fruits, meats, bread and cheeses so we soon found something for our lunch!
Triana
CoffeeUp Triana was very good so I stopped back at the cafe for a second cup to keep me going on the walk around the area.
Walk around Triana - including
* Mercado de Triana
* Calle san Jacinto
* Triana Ceramics Museum (free with Alcazar)
* Calle Betis
Puente del Cristo
We walked north along the west side of the river and crossed at the Puente del Cristo de la Expiración bridge.
On the way back to the hotel we stopped at the supermarket for a tin of tuna and a burrata and our picnic selection was complete!
Royal Alcazar of Seville
After another lovely al-fresco lunch on our balcony we walked to the Royal Alcazar of Seville for a 14:45 / 15:00 entry for a self-guided tour.
Royal Alcazar of Seville
The palace was used as one of the kingdoms in Games of Thrones and has subsequently become very popular with tourists.
Royal Alcazar of Seville
https://alcazarsevilla.org/prepara-la-visita/
https://notaboutthemiles.com/real-alcazar-seville/
https://carrotsandtigers.com/2023/05/08/real-alcazar-de-sevilla-what-to-know-before-you-visit-sevillas-top-attraction/
https://realalcazarsevilla.cliqueo.es/en/patronato-del-real-alcazar-de-sevilla/visita-real-alcazar-de-sevilla/
Hotel Alfonso
As we were near to the Hotel Alfonso we then decided to stop for a few late afternoon cocktails in their terrace bar.
After getting back to the hotel we had to spend an hour or two deal with a few emails relating to our BTL.
We ate some of the remaining bread and tomatoes before headed back to The Second Room cocktail bar for a couple more cocktails.
Sibuya Urban Sushi
In what must be an ‘expert level’ achievement we decided we were hungry and found that many of the restaurants were closing …in SPAIN!
We ended up back at Sibuya Urban Sushi where we were told we would need to finish eating by 23:45 which gave us just enough time for a lovely meal.
Tuesday 4 November, I started the day with a really nice coffee from Syra Coffee which was just around the corner from the hotel. After a walk around the block it was 10am and Amazonia opened for breakfast. Tammay once again had the avo on toast while I decided to try the ‘Protein Bowl’ which was nice but still tasted far too much like dessert!
Before heading to the Archives of the Indies Tammay picked up a coffee from the same cafe. We should have realised that Tammay wouldn’t be able to take it in the archive so we sat in the sunshine on the steps outside.
Seville Cathedral
Next we went to Seville Cathedral and La Giralda for the ‘Rooftop Tour’ (from 12:30 until 14:00). This was probably the best activity we did in Seville.
Our guide was very good and surprisingly relaxed. He could often be seen doing a head-count to determine how many of our group had lost their way!
It felt like the kind of tour that would have been cancelled on safety grounds many years ago in many western countries.
Seville Cathedral
We were able to walk all around the roof of the cathedral, ascending and descending via tight stone spiral staircases and passing through lots of tight passageways.
The views from the top were great given that Seville had so few tall buildings.
https://www.catedraldesevilla.es/
Seville Cathedral
Somehow Tammay was already getting hungry so we left the cathedral and headed back towards our hotel, stopped at Placentines for lunch along the way. Some of the portions were a little larger than we were expecting so we left feeling very full!
Finally it was time to head back to the hotel where we had time to change before getting a taxi back to the airport for our 19:10 flight to Gatwick.