Andalusia, The Scruffy Dog of Carmona

It was going to be a long day today because it was a late flight home thanks to Ryanair changing the schedules and cancelling the lunch time flight so we agreed to have a later start than usual and we didn’t meet in San Fernando Square until ten o’clock.

Like the previous days the sun was out and already there were groups of men beginning to gather and sit in the sunshine in the square and in the pavement cafés around the perimeter.  Because we hadn’t seen all there was to see in Carmona yesterday we decided to split the day in two and complete the sightseeing in the town before driving back to Seville to see some more of the city that we had missed on our first visit on Saturday.

First of all we walked to the town’s market place and I was distressed to find scruffy dog following us again.  Christine had been fussing it and it must have considered this to be an invitation to tag along.  I tried to get rid of it, Kim tried to get rid of it, but we both failed.  I’m not sure just what Micky did but he took it around the corner to get rid of it and we didn’t see it again for the rest of the morning.  Micky has an understanding with dogs it would seem!

We went to the fortress and fished around in our pockets for the admission fee only to be told that today the entrance was free, so how glad we were that we hadn’t visited yesterday.  It wasn’t a big castle but it was a good place to visit with commanding views in all directions across the Andalusian plain.

This place had been chosen well as a castle of strategic importance.  It had been restored and modernised of course, some time in the 1970s, but that didn’t spoil it one little bit.  The sky was blue and it was warmer today so we had a good time climbing the towers and taking in the breathtaking views.

It was late morning and we had missed breakfast earlier so we walked into the new part of the town and to a cake shop that we had found yesterday.  Inside it was pure bedlam, all of the tables were occupied and there was a babble of noisy activity that made me fear for attracting service attention.  We found a table and ordered our food and struggled to make ourselves heard over the incessant racket of animated and theatrical conversation.  And suddenly it cleared and everyone left and I was more than impressed to get the right bill because I have no idea how they manage to keep a correct account of things in all that pandemonium – it must be a special skill that they possess.

We walked back around the southern perimeter road to take advantage of the warm sunshine.  We passed the law courts that were in full session today and the local riff-raff were hanging around the entrance with their solicitors waiting for their case number to come up.  Then we returned to San Fernando Square where the sun was trapped between the surrounding buildings and everywhere had warmed through nicely.  It was so good that we stopped at the café next to the hotel for a final drink in Carmona before booking out of the hotel.

It was lovely sitting here in the sun and even the dog joining us didn’t spoil the moment.  Micky and I were the first out of the hotel and as we walked to the car I was astounded to find the mutt following the pair of us.  This was astonishing because out of all of us we were the two who disliked it the most and had made that very clear indeed.  As we sat on a bench it sat down with us and to be honest I couldn’t help admire him a bit, it was almost like a final defiant gesture on his part as though to say, you people come and go all of the time but this is my territory – permanently!  After Christine had fussed it for one last time we loaded the car with our bags and set off for Seville.