Learning to rollerblade in Seville

One of the great things in Seville is that it’s flat and its Sevici cycle lanes are surprisingly extensive. These lanes are not only used for cycling but also for running, for skateboarding, for wheelchair users, for luggage pullers and … rollerbladers. I had always wanted to learn how to rollerblade and when I got my job in the language school it was decided: I’m going to sign up to a club.

The classes were held in a park where there was a special flat concrete area for the rollerbladers (pista de patinaje). This is where we met every Friday at 18.30. There were many classes for many different age groups, many of them are kids who were already masters at rollerblading. 

Interestingly, in the beginner group there were many ladies around my age, mostly mothers of the children in the kids’ classes who wanted to enjoy the sport with their offspring. We were doing our warm up circles slowly and carefully with trembling legs, holding onto each other, eyeing every little bump on the ground as a potential cause for a fall while the kids were whizzing around us chasing each other, doing amazing tricks and just generally behaving like they were born to do this. So unfair! It always made me smile when the instructors shouted 'Watch out for the adults!' after the children. Somehow the roles were reversed here.  

It was a very interesting experience as my Spanish was quite basic at that time however my instructor, Javier, was very patient and repeated everything about a hundred times for me. Also, rollerblading is a physical sport, so when all the words failed, he simply used his body to demonstrate what he wanted to teach.

After a few months of falling on by backside many times but slowly getting better at controlling myself I decided to try the ultimate challenge, the Ruta de Iniciacion, or the Initiation Route. All the girls in my group had been whispering about it and those of us who actually tried it were treated as superheroes. It is basically a two hour long rollerblade through the streets of Seville, using the cycle lanes. It sounded terrifying, very tiring but definitely something absolutely AWESOME!

After the class I got into the car with two other girls, Carmen and Merche, and drove into town. We met up with the others in the centre at Puerta de Jerez at ten in the evening and when everybody got ready, we hit the town.

I was still a beginner so all the way through I was holding my instructors’ hand (well, ‘clinging to it with my dear life’ would be a better description), thankfully avoiding any fall. It was an indescribable feeling to whizz through Plaza Espana at night with 50 other people, making tourists jump and stopping the traffic while all of us flew through the zebra crossings. It was a kind of sightseeing tour as we sped over bridges, through parks and along the river. We waved to the groups as we passed them and the waiters at the restaurants stuck their hands out to get 50 hi5s in a row. I glided along with them, swept up in the experience but trying to stay balanced.

We had a break half way at a bar (getting a drink on your rollerblades is quite a challenge!) and got back to Puerta de Jerez around midnight. All the Spanish kids were still going strong while I was already yawning and wishing for my bed. While walking slowly home on the Avenida de la Constitucion I thought that this was one of the best things that happened to me in Spain.

The lovely Avenida de la Constitución

The Constitution Avenue in Seville is a busy, wide road that connects the Town Hall on Plaza Nueva with the square of Puerta de Jerez. This 600m long road is probably the most well-known street in the whole city as most of the big fiestas, such as the processions of the Corpus Cristi or the Semana Santa, goes through here. It is always nicely decorated during Christmas, too. 

It´s also one of my favourite places as the houses are all very pretty and well kept.

The street went through huge changes since the 18^th century as it seems that every generation wanted to make its mark on it. This is where all the new innovations came alive first in the town, the first buses, the first metro at Puerta de Jerez, the first stop of the tram, the Sevici bike stations… Apparently there was even talk about installing a pedestrian conveyor belt here. Fortunately this didn´t come to fruition.

The first house you come across when you turn your back to the Town Hall is the Adriatic. This is probably the most photographed private house in the whole town. It was built in a ‘neomudejar’ style between 1914 and 1922 by José Espiau y Muñoz, the same architect who built Seville´s most expensive hotel, the Alfonso XIII. The bottom part of the building is occupied by a great pastry shop. 

Marvel as you pass the numerous gorgeous buildings as you walk down here. You will find the Cathedral and the Archivo General de Indias on your left.

Don’t forget to have a look at one of the loveliest secret squares of Seville, the Plaza del Cabildo. It´s all hidden behind the tourist shops and even some of the Sevillans themselves don´t know about its existence! It used to be a private area where priests were trained, however a few years ago it was opened up to the public and now everybody can access it. If they can find it!

Seville’s bikes, the Sevici

As I have mentioned before, Seville is a city without hills, meaning it’s completely, utterly, totally flat. This is an advantage that comes handy when you climb to the top of the Giralda tower, the highest point of the city, and can see 360 degrees for miles and miles. It is also great when you want to do sport, for example running or cycling. And this is what led the city to set up an extensive and ingenious cycling network, the Sevilla bici, which is shortened to Sevici.

I have always been a fan of city bikes however in London I never considered it successful. There are just simply too many people and the distances are too big to really take advantage of the scheme. Here however it works perfectly well. The city is small so during your allotted free half an hour you can actually cover quite a distance. The stations are numerous and close to each other and there’s a great app that you can download to help if one of them happens to be full. The network is surprisingly extensive and goes all the way out to the suburban areas. And the best thing, the cycling lane (called carril de bici) is part of the pavement, not the road, so you don’t have share your space the road with the cars. Hallelujah!

 

Not to mention the fact that it is very cheap, it only costs 30 euros for a whole year! As far as I remember in London it was 30 pounds for only a month. Even in Barcelona it was 45 and it was said to increase to its double soon. Even when you consider the price of the Seville Metro (only about 70 cents for a single journey) that you’d have to use daily for me it was still a great deal cheaper to use it to go to work.

So, how does it work exactly?

Very easy. You go online, find their official website and fill out the form (you can do this all in English, God bless them!), pay the required amount and wait. After 30 days your card will be looking at you from your mailbox with your name neatly printed on it. All you need to do now is to rock up to the closest Sevici station, activate it (the instructions on the screen will be in English if you filled out the form in English, NEAT!) and you’re ready to hit the town! When you get where you wanted, dock your bike in an empty spot, make sure you hear the double beep that signs that the bike is properly docked and that’s it!

An added bonus is that the people here are actually bike-aware, meaning they won’t stand and chat in the middle of the cycle lane like the tourists do in Barcelona, which is always helpful. The cyclists are very patient and won’t ring their bells if you don’t start within 2 milliseconds of the traffic light changing to green, like they do in London. It’s all very civilised and relaxed.

Just like everything else here in this gorgeous city.  

The Royal Alcázar of Seville

If you don’t get a chance to see the Alhambra in Granada, you can at least marvel at its little sister, the Real Alcázar, which is one of the most visited sites in this gorgeous city. This is the oldest royal palace in Europe that is still in use (the top floor is the royal family’s residence in the city) and we always made sure to send all of our visitors in.

Originally the palace complex was built in the beginning of the 8^th century by the Moors in order to control the River Guadalquivir. This is one of the best remaining example of the mudejár architecture (the mix of Muslim and Christian motives).

The following monarchs all added a building here and there. It ended up having five different palaces built in five different centuries.

Just like everywhere in Spain, you can find some interesting legends here in the Alcázar, too. Such an example is connected to the Patio de las Doncellas, or ‘the Courtyard of the Maidens’. According to this every year the Moor king demanded 100 maidens every year as a tribute from the Christian kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula.

We had to search for a while but eventually found the ‘Los Baños de Doña María de Padilla’, or the Baths of the afore mentioned lady. These are basically water tanks that look very interesting with its many arches.

Another interesting building is the House of Trade (La casa de Contratación). This was built by the Catholic monarchs to regulate the trade between Spain and the New World. In fact, this is where Ferdinand and Isabella welcomed Columbus after his second voyage.

The Gothic Palace is also worth a look. It is basically a huge, rectangular room. The walls are covered with gorgeous tiles and even more gorgeous tapestries that are just huge! They look so old! Walking around this room will make your jaw drop.

Finally, the Arabic style gardens. They are pretty extensive but definitely worth a look. In every corner and niche there´s something to discover, a line of trees, a little statue or a fountain.

There´s a café in the garden where you can sit down and relax after walking around. Don’t be surprised though when colourful peacocks come to beg you for some food!

Some more photos about the Alcazár.

For more information have a look at the official website here.

10k run in el Parque de Maria Luisa

Seville is a great city to be active in. It is completely flat and there´s a surprisingly extensive cycle lane system so you can cycle, rollerblade, or even skateboard easily. There are also many parks where you can do your morning run and they often organise sport events. Amongst these are the ‘popular runs’ or carreras populares which include an organised run almost every month in different parts of the city. We heard about this first from our Spanish teacher, Pilar. You can sign up for 5 of them together, just like she did, or individually. We had been waiting for an occasion to join but due to our busy weekend schedules we just couldn’t find the right time. Finally we signed up for the last run of the year. For 5 euros we got a T-shirt, this time it was red, and a number. Bargain!

It was the last run but it lead through my favourite park, el Parque de Maria Luisa. This is the one that’s in front of Plaza España. Apart from it being very lovely it also had an advantage, its trees provided us shade in the blazing sunshine which is always welcome during a run.

On Sunday morning we headed up to the park. During my Barcelona run most of the participants wore the top we were given, here there were hardly any red topped people. Most of them were wearing their club Tee which made it a very colourful crowd.

Learning from my mistake in Barcelona I actually managed to start in the right place, the under 60 minutes group. Thanks to this I ran with almost the same people around me as our rhythm was the same. First we ran on the streets, then finished it off in the park.

Paul started off with me then went ahead as he runs faster. Here are some of his photos he took during the run.

Unlike in Barcelona, here the kilometres were signed and I was able to pace myself better. I knew when to start to push and on the last few hundred meters we all sped up. I flew over the 10k mark. At the end of the race we got a banana and a piece of paper we could swap for a beer (!!!), a soft drink or a sport drink.

At the end of our run we went to see Pilar and her sister, they were just getting ready for their run.

We had such an amazing time that have already signed up for the next run, this time it will be a night run. It will be held on Friday, our very last week in Spain. A great way to say good bye.

If you're interested in these runs, check out the official website here.