IDMA Excursion in Portugal 2006
After our last lunch together in Quinta da Calma, 26 of us took off in a bus down the road to Seville. Passing storks sitting on their nests on top of telegraph poles, gradually the landscape became dustier and there was a very definite energy shift in the land as we enter Spain. Getting to our hotel in the old part of the city involved a number of circuits around narrow streets but Mark had done us proud – a lovely swanky hotel in the best location for exploring old Seville. Following a delightful dinner in a typical Spanish restaurant, the evening finished with a post-prandial stroll around the narrow streets. Finished, that is, for those of us who didn’t discover the top-floor sauna in the hotel!
Monday, after an open-top bus tour, we headed off in small groups to explore the many and varied sights of Sevilla: the Bullring, impressive even for the squeamish; the Cathedral, gilded and ornate but with an overlooked side rotunda through the centre of which flows powerful feminine energy; the Roman Baths, the City Walls. And everywhere the opportunity to buy beautiful Spanish shawls and fans. Flamenco that night for its passion and the Johnny Depp look-alike flamenco dancer had to be the highlight of the trip. And obviously proved inspirational for Roger and Brenda!
Next morning there was just enough time to explore a typical Andalusian Mudejar style palace, the Casa de Pilatos, and its gardens, before heading back to Tavira, a sleepy little town with fascinating doorknockers and wonderful flowers on the banks of the Gilão river in the Algarve,. A beautiful meal in the warm balmy air with lots of laughter and fun wound up our time together, before farewells had to be made to friends old and new for another year.