Insight Vacations Review – Treasures of Spain, Portugal & Morocco

Insight Vacations Review – Treasures of Spain, Portugal & Morocco – Lisbon to Seville

WJ Tested: Insight Vacations – Day 6: Lisbon, Portugal to Seville, Spain

Insight Vacations Review – Treasures of Spain, Portugal & Morocco – Lisbon to Seville
16-Night Motorcoach Trip in 2011

Lisbon to Seville in Spain
Today we were leaving Portugal and returning to Spain. This meant we would lose an hour as we switched our watches to Spanish time and jumped an hour forward. So, our wake-up call was at 6:30 am with breakfast at 7 am and departure from the hotel at 8 am. We had a new Portuguese driver, Philip, who would be our driver for the remainder of the tour. Very quickly, we all became quite fond of Philip’s smiling face, fun personality and excellent driving skills.

En route to Spain
This was another full day of sightseeing from the coach as we drove south through the Alentejo region (with cork, pine and olive trees galore), then skirted along the Algarve with its sandy beaches and whitewashed buildings. Along the way we had a 30-minute comfort break at a service station on the highway and then arrived in Spain in time for a 50-minute lunch break at 1:30 pm at another service station with a restaurant. As we drove, Javier continued to entertain us by playing Fado music in between his commentary about local history and points of interest. We learned all about corkbeing used for much more than wine bottle stoppers – it is also made into purses, bags, shoes and jackets. More interesting facts were discussed regarding the agriculture of the areas we passed through – pointing out fields of tomatoes and strawberries in the region of Huelva and orange trees near Seville.

Insight Vacations Review – Treasures of Spain, Portugal & Morocco – Seville

Seville, Spain
Driving onwards to Spain’s 3rd largest city, Seville (with a population of 1.5 million), we arrived in front of the bull ring by 3:30 pm. Our local guide, Sylvia, met up with us to take us on a 90-minute city walking tour. After posing for a group photo with the bull ring as the backdrop, Sylvia guided us down the streets of the old part of the city towards what is considered by some the world’s largest Gothic Cathedral. After touring inside the cathedral we walked through the Alcazar and a small section of the old city before meeting the coach and driving to our hotel. By 5:30 pm we arrived at Hotel Melia Lebreros (for a 2-night stay) where we had an hour to ourselves before meeting Javier in the lobby at 6:30 pm for the included Flamenco highlight dinner.

Insight Vacations Review – Treasures of Spain, Portugal & Morocco – Flamenco

Flamenco Highlight Dinner
A quick drive through the city to the Macarena area of Seville and we arrived within a few minutes walk of El Palacio Andaluz, where we enjoyed a highly entertaining 90-minute Flamenco show. During the show, dinner was served. We dined on a meat and cheese plate, salad, bread, an entree of chicken or pork served with fries and sauteed carrots, flan, coffee and red or white wine.

Arriving back to the hotel around 9 pm we slipped out onto the streets of Seville and into a nearby bar filled with locals. What a great way to wind down!

If You Go:

– Insight Vacations

– Spain Tourism

– Portugal Tourism

– Gibraltar Tourism

– Morocco Tourism

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