The city of oranges

Having completed the first full day of our visit, and after our short visit with the little shepherds of Fatima, it was time to bid farewell to Portugal and to move on to neighbouring Spain.  First though, we needed to bid farewell to Antonio (right) the driver who met us at the airport and who faithfully transported us until day 3 of our tour.  Taking his place was Davide, one of the youngest drivers I've ever met (he's only 23 years old).  As it turned out, Davide was to stay with our group for the rest of our journey through Spain and Southern France.

Both the drivers were Portuguese, so it's understandable that they were particularly proud to show off their native land.  As we moved toward the Portugal-Spain border, Davide proudly pointed out the towns, making sure to tell us about the wine and flower festivals which are so well known in each of the villages.

When we reached the border, we had to set our watches ahead an hour, and then it was off to Seville, the site of the 1929 Ibero-American Exposition and the Worlds Fair that was held there in that year.  One of the stops on our tour of the city of oranges was Maria Luisa Park and particularly the Plaza de Espana.  Despite the rain, we still got some wonderful pictures:

Plaza de Espana

The Plaza de Espana is also a place which gathers (even today) buskers and other artists, each of whom offers arts and crafts for the tourists and visitors alike.  On this particular day, there wasn't much happening out on the plaza, but inside the covered areas of the structure, we found a man who had laid out his collection of fans.  Each a different colour, he asked me to bless them, and then invited other passers-by to consider purchasing them.  He was so happy with the sales that resulted that he began to play music, and it wasn't long before one of us started a jigg of his own.

All good things must come to an end, so it wasn't long before we were off to visit in other parts of Maria Luisa Park, but that's the subject of another post.