Oh Babushka - trips within a trip - Thailand, UAE, Oman, Spain, Portugal, UAE again, Sri Lanka and Singapore

Wednesday 12 December 2024 - Obidos-Seville We Take a Road Trip

Today we will drive to Seville, about 4.5 hrs to the east.

We stopped in to visit the old town of Obidos, which would have been great with an old aqueduct (had we not been totally spoilt by Elvas) and a nice castle and city walls (had we not been spoilt by Sintra) 🤭.

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That's not an aqueduct!!!

Still, a cute town for a stroll, especially as it was decorated for Christmas.

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Yes, I did succumb to a couple more fancy bottles of Ginja!

Gold filigree jewellery in the local style was also a popular item for sale, and it is beautiful - light and delicate.

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I am happy to say a pair of beautiful earrings embedded themselves in my ears and refused to leave until they were purchased by Mr Seat 0A as a wedding anniversary gift. I haven't worn them much, as it turned out that the little clasps on the back of the post are extremely close-fitting and are all but impossible for me to remove without serious pain to my ears. I keep meaning to take them to a jeweller here for adjustment, but haven't quite made it yet. I honestly don't know what I am doing with my time these days!

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Next we strolled around and enjoyed the bookshop in the main cathedral - it could easily have been in one of those bibliophile posts on Facebook (that tells you a bit about my Facebook Feed - it's all fantastic book shops/libraries and advertisements for learning Japanese!)

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Wandered around the old town and noted the old, old, lemon (or maybe orange?) trees in all the house gardens, appreciated the pretty outdoor dining areas that must be lovely in the warmer months, and finally admired the tiled chapel in the city wall.

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Then on the road to Seville for a complex route planned to minimise tolls and maximise coffee stops:

A8N - A15E-AC25_EN366-A1S-A10E-A13S-A6E-A5-N630S-A66 for which we paid EUR 23.90 in tolls.

Boy were we glad to arrive in Seville.

Stayed at the Ibis Styles, which was great. A big room with a very comfy bed, which made me realise in retrospect how uncomfortable our bed in Obidos was. A nice rooftop pool and bar area where we enjoyed our Accor welcome drinks.


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1 night including breakfast and parking EUR52.80 and some Accor reward points.

Today's Steps: 5,996

Goodbye Portugal. I really enjoyed the time in Portugal. It has never really been on my radar as a destination until Almost DIL came into the family. I now think I will be back a few more times as there are still plenty of amazing places to visit, and I would happily go back to Elvas, Lisbon and Sintra again.
that photo of the ?chapel with the arch and blue tiles is just beautiful
 
that photo of the ?chapel with the arch and blue tiles is just beautiful
Thanks @VPS. It was a little chapel inside the town wall. The town wall had a couple of right angle turns, presumably to prevent raiders just storming in. This was tucked away on the back wall of one of the turns.
 
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