Spain in January: from Madrid to Sevilla

Friday is a journey day. We leave the apartment (cosy, perfectly clean, convenient, quiet) and walk the 3 minutes to the top of Calle Montera where there’s a bus stop on Gran Via for the 001 cero bus which is free and takes us right to Atocha railway station. An excellent service. We get there about an hour before the train is due but in January it's quiet, the security check coming in from the side where the bus leaves us is superficial and so we are soon in the waiting area for our Avant train to Sevilla. The toilets in this area (first floor) are modern, with large cubicles you could go into with a large case, and spotlessly clean. Only travellers with a verified ticket for a train departing within 90 minutes are allowed in.

At about 20 minutes before departure the platform number comes up, we queue up, tickets are scanned, nobody seems to show interest in the amount or size of luggage, and we can go onto the platform and the train. It’s not new, but it’s clean and comfortable and we set off on time. The view is nothing special at first, more interesting after Puertollana and then Cordoba. It’s a smooth journey and we arrive at Sevilla Santa Justa a few minutes early.

It isn’t a long walk to our apartment, but I miss the convenient free bus in Madrid. I seem to have accumulated extra weight to carry in Madrid, mostly connected with food preparation and it’s a tiring walk. Our apartment is Calle Esteban and although we can have an early check-in, it’s disappointing. Smaller and shabbier than the pictures and decidedly cold. Even once the hot air has been going for an hour or so, my thermometer shows less than 14°. The other problem is that leaving the apartment turns the hot air off, but we didn’t come to Sevilla to stay in to try to warm up the apartment.

We had some bread and jamon on the train but a snack more than lunch so go out in search of food. The place we had chosen with the help of Google Maps turns out to be closed long-term, thank you Google, we almost go to a Cerveceria nearby but the free tables are in the shade or chilly wind and the nice ones are reserved. We are both tired and hungry and can’t agree on anywhere so end up in Mercadona, thank heavens for Mercadona. We get back to the apartment and eat vegetables and fried fish at about 3.30. After coffee, we feel a little better.

We go out at about 5.30, towards the centre, Jardines de Murillo, Real Fabrica de Tabacos, now a University building, Palacio de Telmo from the outside 

and then along the river with a view of the Giralda, then Triana, and the bridge in the soft dusk light, as far as Plaza de Toros. 

Here, we head towards the centre, stopping at Bodeguita Antonio Romero for two glasses of Pedro Jimenez and a tortillita de Camarones for a total of 8.50 euros, but there’s a nice atmosphere there. Now it’s getting dark, so we stop for some fine photos of the Giralda before making our way through the narrow streets and the Alfafa district to our chilly apartment.