Normally we received reviews on Tripadvisor about the experience our customers lived during our tours, so we thought that maybe it would be a good idea to write in our blog about the experience we had with our own customers this time.
The Murrays (Bill and Tina) is an English family who wrote us an email few weeks ago to book some of our tours to visit Seville. They knew exactly what they wanted to do during their stay and it seemed they had studied our website. They made for tours with us and this was how they spend two days in Seville.
Our guide Penelope received them at 6.00 pm in front of the City Hall to start the flamenco tour. The Murrays said they were in the Alcazar, Plaza España and Maria Luisa Park the morning before but they did not seem tired at all. They were excited about the history of flamenco while walking through the streets and listening with a lot of attention to the guide. We love to explain that Andalusia is the cradle of flamenco and it is one of our cultural identities because it comes from the mixture of the different cultures that were in Andalusia centuries ago. After the explanation they went to a flamenco tavern to drink a glass of manzanilla wine. This tavern is just “a hole in the wall”, but very traditional and many locals meet there. Bill really enjoyed the wine, for Tina the wine was very strong and bitter
Pic from hostaldavinci.es This tavern is located in Mateos Gago St.
Once ready, they saw the flamenco show in Casa de la Guitarra. The duration of the show is and hour and it is compounded by the three most important elements in flamenco: singing, dancing and guitar playing. After the show Bill joked with Penelope: “Do you really like this as much as you say? I totally understand! It was amazing!” Tina and Bill also noticed that during a show the guitar player and the singer have to be looking the dancer and she dances and change the rhythm in order to follow her instructions.
The next morning the Murrays and Penelope met again for “From Seville to America” walking tour. This one starts in front of the Archive of the Indies, and there was an exhibition inside of the Archive about the Spanish galleon Mercedes. Penelope did not see it yet, so she thought it would be a good opportunity to have a look. The Murrays liked the idea, maybe because the Mercedes galleon sunk during a battle against the British Empire . It was really nice to see the treasure found in the ocean.
In the exhibition there were some miniatures of different boats, and Bill started to explain one of them: the different parts a ship has, how they located the different weapons, how to build them to prevent a sinking… Penelope could not be happier: she was guided this time!
Continuing with the tour they visited the neighborhood El Arenal, where the Atarazanas are. It is really difficult to notice where they are because they are closed to the public, but there is a window where it is possible to have a look and suddenly seeing and unbelievable labyrinth of arches. They were just the shipyard of Seville during many centuries. It is not possible to explain the expressions of Tina and Bill’s faces when they saw the Atarazanas.
After crossing the river and once in Triana, they started to visit the most famous neighborhood in Seville. Bill and Tina were lucky because due to the proximity to the Holly Week, the religious brotherhood of Triana was open and the two floats were exposed in the entrance.
ABC SEVILLA. ROCIO RUZ
Triana and Arenal neighborhoods are visited in this tour due to their heritage and history in relation with navigation and sailors as Seville had the Port of America between 15th and 18th century. Actually, the religious brotherhood was the chapel of the School of Sailors.
The other side of the river is also a nice place to taste some tapas. The first tapa was in the traditional market of Triana. There are butcher’s, fish markets, fruit stores, bars and also bakeries, where Murray’s could also tried the traditional lent sweets. The second tapa was in Castilla St. close to the ceramist area of Triana.
Pic from apartamentosshc.com
Bill insisted on visiting the market again before going to the next tour in the City Centre. He wanted to buy a bottle of manzanilla wine, the wine they tasted the day before during the flamenco tour. We supposed that he realized Penelope is a wine lover, because the bottle was finally a gift for her and Sevilla4Real! Thanks so much, we will cheer for you!
The last tour they made with us was The Hidden Gems of the Northern Area and in this case Pilar was their guide. This tour is for people who wants to visit the non touristic paths, where contemporary art and live is mixed with unknown old churches and buildings. Bill and Tina really felt surprised to see such a big baroque church, Saint Luis, in a narrow street. But the historic event they were shocked by was the Plague of 1649.
Saint Luis church is so large that it is not possible to see the blue and white dome from the place the picture was taken.
So this was our experience with Bill and Tina Murray. Really a great experience. It has been also amazing to see their comment onTripadvisor. Hope you come back to Seville and we can meet again.
