minamax10

Greetings!

Trying to finalise our Seville's program itinerary. Our guide suggests "the Mudejar route" but I could not find any detailed information online as to what it is and what can be seen there.

10:00- Macarena`s basilic
walking tour for the Mudejar route with differents palaces, squares, churches and convents
10:45- Metropol Parasol

I'm stuck undecided as to whether I should try to add Macarena Basilica to our day. It's in the opposite direction from everything else I want to plan for the morning (short Metropol Parasol photo stop > Casa Pilatos > Salvador Church > Seville Cathedral > Lunch > Free time for shopping). By adding Macarena Basilica and the walk to the Parasole we increase the time by at least 1 hour, which means we can't fit all of the other locations.

Is the area between Macarena basilica and Metropol parasols an interesting area and adds some uniqueness to the program?

minamax10

oops, hit sent too accidentally before typing "thank you for your help"!

kimhe

<Is the area between Macarena basilica and Metropol parasols an interesting area and adds some uniqueness to the program?>

You have a packed program, but this is one of my absolute favourite parts of town. The Macarena basilica is home to Sevilla's most beloved virgen, Virgen de la Esperanza Macarena. Seeing her gives you an idea why Semana Santa/Holy Week in Sevilla is one of the greatest - if not the greatest - Holy Week celebrations in the world. http://www.lonelyplanet.com/spain/se...de-la-macarena

The area down from the old city walls up at the basilica towards Metropol Parasol is very local atmosphere, tons of small churces and mudejar architecture. Calle Feria is perhaps my favourite street in town with the market, the small shops etc., use to stay as close as possible to this area, and now again in September/October. https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2...macarena-spain

El Palacio de los Marqueses de La Algaba (the mudejar center): http://azahar-sevilla.com/centro-del-mudejar/ http://www.diariodesevilla.es/sevill...cutegenes.html

Calle Feria:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGEkQ9KXxZM
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calle_Feria_(Sevilla)

The excellent Feria food market, the oldest in town, and also a huge outdoor market here on Thursdays, has been going on for centuries: http://azahar-sevilla.com/shopping/mercado-de-la-feria/

Narrow and parallell Calle San Luis: http://www.visitasevilla.es/en/lugar...an-luis-street

Where to eat in the Macarena district, in and around Calle Feria and Calle San Luis: http://devoursevillefoodtours.com/wh...alle-san-luis/

kimhe

... and here, Macarena leaves the basilica, the Macarena procession from Thursday night long into Friday morning (the 'madrugá') is the highlight of the huge Semana Santa celebrations:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIm7Z-cHbqg

And here she comes back to the basilica the next day after having been carried around the streets of Sevilla for some 14 hours: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0Jd4A4d5iA

A little more about the very special and historic Macarena district, ten times more interesting to me than the cliches of the touristy Santa Cruz district (I admit it is beautiful though...): http://www.andalucia.com/cities/seville/macarena.htm

kimhe

You got me going now, can't wait to come back here in a couple of months ;-) And here is the excellent tapas bar in the Feria market, sit along the 13th century church walls. Highly recommended: http://azahar-sevilla.com/sevilletap...ry/la-cantina/

minamax10

Dear Kimhe, apologies for a delayed reply to your kind posts! Thank you for the information and links! Your enthusiastic thumbs up for the Macarena district made me take a second look at the area.

The sea of people waiting for the Madonna is amazing! It'd be a very special and moving time to be in Seville for the procession. A few weeks ago, there was a program on Japanese TV where they showed a bit of the Macarena Basilica. They showed residents in the area practicing carrying the floats. Very serious business

Feria market and the La Cantina look amazing. Again, regret the fact that we have breakfast included in the rate. I doubt we'll be able to have another bite so soon after breakfast.

Now the tricky part is again to figure out the itinerary for the only 1.5 days of real sightseeing we'll do with a guide.
✴︎　9am till about 4.30pm on day 1.
✴︎　9am till 1.30pm on day 2.

we'll have some time in the afternoon/evening on both days, but unless we visit the attractions with the guide, I cannot guarantee what we'll see them on our own. I think most ladies will opt for shopping / resting. So main attractions must be visited during the guided tours.

Back to the drawing board trying to juggle everything we want to see in Seville!

kimhe

You'll have to make some tough choices, would be sad if you tried to squeeze in too much, always a bad idea. Good luck!

minamax10

Okay, so here's the new adjusted itinerary which includes a walk though the Macarena district. Since we'll be accompanied by a guide, it means we'll cover more ground in shorter time than an independent tourist can. Hopefully, our guide will keep us on track with the schedule

How does this sound?

day 1 /
18.00h hotel check in
20.30h Dinner at Enrique Becerra

day 2 / The Alcazar + Cathedral
09.00h Deapart for the Alcazar area on foot
9.30h -11.30h Alcazar (including the 30min Royal Apartment tour)
11.30-12.00h- Giralda tower (for those who are up for the climb) OR souvenir shopping /coffee / rest.
12.00-13.00h Seville Cathedral
Walk through Santa Cruz area to the restaurant
13.30h lunch at Vineria San Telmo
15.00h-15.45h Horse carriage ride (Tabaco factory, Golden Tower, Maria Luisa park)
15.45h-16.15h Spain Square
Depart for the hotel by taxi
16.30 – 18.45h Rest at the hotel
18.45 Depart for Casa de la Memoria by taxi
19.30h-20.30h Flamenco show at Casa de la Memoria
20.30-22.00h Dinner at Cuna 2 Restaurnt


Day 3 /

09.00h Deapart for Macarena area / Muralla de Sevilla by taxi
09.15-10.15h Macarena Basilica followed by a walk through Mudejar route (including Feria Market stop)
10.30 Metropol Parasole photo stop (15-20min) w/possible peak into the Roman ruins museum .
11.00h-12.00h Casa de Pilatos (1 hour tour w/2nd floor. Tours start every 30min). possibly buying nun cookies at Convento de San Leandro next door.
12.30h Salvador Igleseas Church
Explore more of Santa Cruz before lunch
13.30h-15.00h Lunch at San Marco restaurant
Free time to shop / rest
19.00h depart by taxi to Eslava tapas bar (possibly moving to La Azotea for the tapas-hopping experience )

kimhe

Tight scehdule but doable, and you have put in some good resting time.

And the kitchen in Eslava doesn't open before 19.30. And if you want a tapas-hopping experience, you should rather go down two hundred meters to popular and fun Bodegas Dos de Mayo. Here local atmosphere tapas bars are almost wall to wall in the small Plaza de Gavidia and along narrow Calle Baños. La Pajarita, 80 meters from Dos de Mayo along Calle Baños is one of our old favourites and usually not that crowded, and not many tourists find this one.
Bodega dos de Mayo: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaura...Andalucia.html
La Pajarita: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaura...Andalucia.html

The places down here would also be great for just a cup or glass of something and for relaxing and taking in the Sevilla atmosphere after the Eslava experience.

minamax10

Excellent suggestions Kimhe! And it's interesting that many of the great places with high ratings are on that side of the city. Bodega dos de Mayo, La Azotea, Eslava, Az Zait. They are all in walking distance.

I want to time our arrival to Eslava before it gets crowded so that we can score a table. I don't think my ladies would be able to eat standing after a gruelling day of sightseeing. Then moving to a new place would mean that we'd be arriving with no reservation around 8.30-9ish.... Still haven't made up my mind whether we should just stick to one location as I fear that moving places with a group of 7 (not very young people might be challenging.