Andalucia Diary – Seasonal Travel Notes

A Road Less Travelled to No8Do

Last year it was Renaissance Andalucia. This year we were to celebrate my birthday with a long weekend in Seville & Huelva – the last Andalucian province on my list to explore!  Ronda_to_seville_2
We took the slower, but less busy route to Seville; the road north of Ronda, through mountainous, wooded and pastoral scenes.  Seville is the fair capital of Andalucia and already in mid-March, it was showing that it really is one of the hottest places in Andalusia, with temperatures in the high 20s.  Birthday drinks, tapas and laughs were enjoyed in a late night out, including, inevitably for a visitor, a few copas in an old bar called La Carboneria, in Calle Levies, one the narrow streets of the Jewish Quarter, where an old girl was singing her heart out, sharing famous Andalucian folklore songs. The city centre really has an energy – even in early spring, the narrow streets retained some of the warmth of the sunny day and people spilled out of bars enjoying the night. As we walked to another bar, we passed a group practicing for the Semana Santa religious parades.  Thirty men or more were carrying a huge platform (or "el trono" – see my photo album on Semana Santa for examples) laden with concrete bars to mimic the weight of the huge decorative Madonna that will feature in the easter parade – all this at past midnight!
(BTW; The No8Do is Seville´s crest and gives an interesting insight into the people.  The icon is everywhere from city posters, public buildings to street furniture.  It´s an heraldic pun and if you google this you get a series of explanations. Basically the figure 8 when drawn more creatively, actually represents wool hank or twisted skein (hey?) that is called a "madeja" in Spanish – so if one reads the combination phonetically, it sounds likes"no me ha dejado", meaning you´ve not abandoned me.  This is a reference to the city´s support of King Alfonso when he had a spot of bother with is son. All very clever & witty  and "capital city" and so not Andalucian olive picking, down to earth.  The city´s finest hotel also carries the name King Alfonso…)

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Andrew ForbesTravel & Lifestyle Marketing Communications Consultant | Travel Editor Web: www.andrewforbes.com Twitter : @andrewaforbes Instagram @andrewaforbes and @luxurynavigatorView all posts by Andrew Forbes »