The Purple Penguin

When I booked tickets for the Real Alcázar, there were several options including Cuarto Real Alto and la Cripta Arqueológica. I could not get the site in English, but it looks like the Arqueológica is only available to people living in Seville. However, I could get tickets for the Royal rooms. I assumed it was just smaller appartments set up. The tickets were a bit unclear so I checked – they had a large 11:00 on them but said we could get in the monument up to 60 minutes or 30 minutes after, but had to be there 15 minutes before. So I thought it meant we could enter the Alcázar at 10:00 and had to be at the Royal Rooms fifteen minutes before 11. I was correct so we headed off for the Alcázar, with a stop by the post office.

There was a huge queue for the 9:30 entry and the 10:00 entry was growing so we joined the 10:00 one figuring that’s what time we’d get to the entrance. We actually got to the entrance about 9 minutes early so they asked us to step to one side until 10:00. At 10:00 we were allowed in and the guide gave us information on how to find the royal rooms. To get into the Alcázar you have to go through security – bag check and metal detectors like an airport.

So we looked at the courtyards and rooms while going toward the royal rooms – the guide was so strict about the time we had to be there we were a bit stressed about time. I was expecting a smaller set of rooms, with a queue, and timed entry. It wasn’t like that at all. We headed up and got a stern lecture about how we were not allowed to take anything into the rooms – everything had to be left in lockers and absolutely no photos. After being scanned again! I got told off because I headed straight for the lockers. So got bags scanned and everything secured in lockers, then through a metal dectector again, then grouped in front of a door – there were around 10 to 15 of us in a group. We were all given audioguides and told to start them at the same time. The first bit of the guide was the rules and that’s when I found out we were going into the rooms currently used by the royal family when they are in Seville. I’m so used to current royal accommodation not being open for tourism that it was a surprise. So our little group was accompanied by two guards who directed us through the rooms, led by the audioguide. The best bits were the balconies and walkways overlooking areas of the palace – the gardens, the Courtyard of the Maidens, and the Ambassadors’ Hall. We really only saw the public royal rooms, but the views were lovely.

We then spent the rest of the morning wandering around the building and gardens. It gets quite crowded! By lunchtime our feet were hurting so we headed off, stopping at the gift shop, to search for lunch.

We ended up in a small Mexican restaurant – Sede Mexico – where we had a brilliant lunch. Margaritas to start (Hibiscus for me and chillimango for Joe) both had chilli salt which was spicy. Then a huge salad to share and main courses. It was a really lovely meal and the staff were very nice. In fact, all the staff in Seville were nice, even the stern guards at the Alcázar. We then had a slow walk back to the hotel where we ended up just watching bad films (in Spanish/Spanish dubbed) and packing.