A Road to Seville.

A dawn start and a 2.5hr bus ride costing €15 each return, landed us on the eastern edge of the city of Seville. The landscape en-route was very different to our expectations; we could easily have been driving through Somerset countryside with the view of patchwork agricultural fields covering rolling hills. Arriving at 10.30am we found a coffee shop for refreshment while we studied our guidebook and map of the city to hatch a plan of action. There are three main sites to see in Seville if time is limited:

1. The Cathedral - previously reckoned to be the third largest in the world after St Paul's in London and St Peter's in Rome. However, new calculations in cubic measurements have now placed it in the number one position. Inside we viewed an enormous nineteenth century Monument to Christopher Columbus, which may or may not be the navigator's tomb as there is much controversy surrounding the whereabouts of his remains.

2. The Giralda - now the bell-tower to the Cathedral, thought to be the most beautiful building in the city and one of the most important examples of Islamic architecture in the world. After recently reading the novel 'Digital Fortress' by Dan Brown, Wayne was most disappointed by a major discrepancy in the author's description of the tower. He describes someone running up the steps of the tower and there are none. You ascend to the bell chamber climbing a series of 35 gently inclined ramps.

3. The Alcazar - a fortified Moorish palace thought to be founded in the eight century on the ruins of a Roman barracks, with the surrounding walls being added in the ninth and greatly expanded during the eleventh century. Sadly The Alcazar was closed; it had totally slipped our minds that typically in Spain places close on Mondays and not Sundays.

We strolled the narrow alleyways of the old city in the Barrio Santa Cruz, the medieval Jewish quarter, before enjoying a spot of lunch alfresco style, watching busy city life from the pavement. As the heat of the day intensified we headed down to the riverfront. Our short walk led us past the Plaza de Toros de la Maestranza, the most famous and beautiful bullring in the world, a statue of 'Carmen' from the opera set in Seville and the twelve sided Torre del Oro - built by the Almohads in 1220 as part of the Alcazar fortifications. Oddly, there was less breeze riverside so we ducked back into the city to see our last site of the day. The Plaza de Espana, a vast flamboyant semicircular complex of fountains, majestic stairways and a mass of tile work. Built for a trade exposition between Spain and America in the 1920s, that never happened due to the Wall Street crash.

Finally, virtually dead on our feet, we enjoyed a refreshing ice-cream and made our way back to the bus station. We felt pleased with our trip and what we'd achieved in one very hot day (40degC). Our Andalucian Rough Guide proved very worthwhile, allowing us to do the sights of our choice, alone and on foot, but there are also very good city tours by open top bus or horse and carriage.

Rota - a diesel spill and a fire all in the space of a couple of hours!

Our next port of call - Rota - just nine miles away was in reality more like sixteen, due to having to skirt around many shoals. Although a gorgeous sunny day, it turned out to be one of those days when we wished we'd stayed in bed. With very little wind we motored the whole way again having to be on constant watch as the sea was full of carrier bags and rows of fishing nets marked only with clear plastic water bottles. We survived the passage without trauma, arrived safely and tied up to the reception pontoon. The marina office was closed for siesta so we decided to fuel up while we were waiting for it to re-open at 4pm. An easy task as the fuel pumps are located on the end of the reception quay, but due to an air block, we had diesel spewing out of the filler and flooding the decks. Totally embarrassed and panicked, we tried desperately to stop it from spreading, mopping up huge puddles of diesel with our bath towels, but the water around us was already very polluted. Suddenly we could smell burning and were horrified to see blackened smouldering tread master on one of the cockpit locker lids. Wayne had placed his sunglasses there whilst working in the opposite locker. We had our bimini rolled back and the direct sun was so strong on the lenses that it had started a fire! What a lesson to learn - the consequences could have been much worse, we are now much more conscious of what we leave in direct sunlight. Later, while tidying ship Wayne discovered that the diesel trauma was far from over when he found diesel inside the cockpit locker too! As friends Alex and Fran, who we had not seen since July 2005 appeared on the pontoon with a chilled bottle of wine, we put it to the back of our minds, mopping up could wait 'til morning. Alex had also owned a Warrior 35 until recently, crossing the Atlantic with her twice. 'The Fox' was one of the Warriors we'd met in La Coruna last summer, where three Warriors berthed in a row. He and his girlfriend Fran now offer skippered and hosted sailing holidays on 'Choa Lay', their new Beneteau 47. We put the disasters of the day behind us over drinks, nibbles and catch-up conversation followed by dinner aboard Choa Lay, entertaining ourselves until the wee hours of the morning.

After spending a whole hideous day ridding ourselves of the diesel spillage we finally found time to explore Rota. A pleasant enough town but quite unremarkable, unless you're really into churches. Streets close to the harbour and seafront are lined with traditional Spanish dwellings but the town then sprawls further inland becoming more modern and lively. Amongst the many bars and clubs there are some interesting clothing and craft shops, but it was the first time we had come across a KFC and Ben and Jerry's Ice-cream parlour! Installed in the 1950s, the American Naval Base close by has had an obvious impact on this town; we were even able to tune in to the Base radio station.

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