East of Seville - travel account

[olive]

East of Seville

This is my account of a short break pre CV19 to some lovely historic towns of Osuna, Ecija and Carmona east of Seville. There are some good guides to the towns on andalucia.com. I hope to add a flavour and maybe help visitors plan a trip when/if CV19 has subsided.

Our first stop was Osuna. This town clearly benefited from money in the past and this is reflected in the buildings including the ordinary houses. We stayed two nights at a pet friendly hotel well placed for a gentle stroll to many of the main sights. It was the characterful Casona de Calderon. Parking is always an issue in these towns but here we always found a spot outside the hotel.

We always like to take in the unusual. On the outskirts of the town is the old sandstone quarry (el coto las canteras) . Well worth the 2 euros admission. The owners have carved their own frescoes and also have a small museum of artefacts and photos of bygone days. Inside is cavernous and is used for concerts and music events. No toilets or café open. We had a chat with the owners about nearby drovers road watering points in the area, something we were interested in. To our astonishment they produced a colour booklet of them and other interesting oddities dotted around the countryside. They gave us a copy free of charge.

In the day we ate midday in the old casino in the centre. A building donated to the town by a former resident. Don’t be put off from the outside. In the hotter months they have the front open to the street to get an airflow. Some parts of the two storey building are off limits to the general public but there is still plenty of it to enjoy. Evenings we just had drinks and a variety of paid for tapas at Casa Curro. There are plenty of bars doing this. Game of Thrones filmed some sequences in the town.

Before we left we went to have a look at another old abandoned quarry ( now showing scars of drug users and bottelons) and the late Roman necropolis. You get fine views over the town from up there.

The second day we headed for Ecija. Easy driving with lovely open arable landscape supporting many small raptors. We had a couple of diversions looking for drovers ancient watering sites. One took us at least ten kilometres on unmade tracks where we came across a village where time is standing stillish. Not a through road. Collapsing houses repaired with cheap breeze blocks and concrete beams, A Euro 40k new tractor in a ruinous barn - a familiar sight back home further east. No door or locks and farming equipment everywhere out in the open. Later there was also a large pond next to the main road with maybe 20 flamingos.

Parking tip. Head for the main square in Ecija and there is a reasonably priced underground car park. It was only created around twenty years ago and predictably many great Roman artefacts were discovered during the work. We saw some later. Ecija is known as the city of towers. There are a lot and they are magnificent. Many of the buildings are ornate but in varying states of decay. We had intended staying at Domus Astigi but it wasn’t pet friendly.

To have a look around inside one, put the Museo Historico municipal de Ecija on your itinery. Very interesting experience but check opening times. Very well equipped museum covering pre history to modern day. I think entry was six euros and you get an audio tour wand in your native tongue. Clean toilets on site and a nice restaurant, around the side. The desserts were delightful ( a word I wouldn’t normally be able to use !) OH had tiramisu from memory and it was served in a coffee percolator. You poured the coffee sauce from the top part over the pudding in the base.

Our final day was at Carmona. Apart from more one way streets and less parking it seemed little changed from our last visit 34 years ago! We stayed in the somewhat faded glory of the casa palacio de carmona. We were astonishingly lucky to be able to get a parking place outside the hotel. Otherwise there is a rather depressing underground car par in the main square. No breakfast available apart from a buffet option served at your table for 20 euros a head! On the plus side you could walk five minutes in the morning to any of the delightful cafes in the main squares and have a satisfactory breakfast for a quarter of that and be on the tourist trail straight after.

Plenty of churches and bell towers (espadanas) to discover as you just wander.

We decided to pull in a visit to the ruins of the Roman city of Italica about 10 km North West of Seville. Put in Santiponce in your sat nav. It is signed from there. What a splendid few hours that was. Free entry. Toilets and drinks machines. On a hot day you would need a hat as very little shade. Highly recommended. Plenty of touristy restaurantes along the road of the main gate. Not rip off prices too which is nice. Parking was free but I could see you having a good walk during busy times so wear decent shoes.

[costakid]

Good review of area. Always nice to hear of places we haven't found or visited yet.

[elusive]

Thanks olive. We stayed in carmona last year (march)for two nights and visited ecija as a day trip and stopped in osuna on the way back. we loved all three places and i would highly recommend a break there. We were really impressed with ecija. we parked in the underground aswell. Took a while to work out where the tourist office was but worth it as it was very near the stunning palacio.Lovely squares,palaces and churches.. osuna certainly had money in the past. We parked up at the top near the uni and went into the convent then walked into the centre and down the famous two streets with the beautiful fronted houses.

Carmona was beautiful aswell. We stayed in a brand new penthouse that over looked the alcazar at the entrance to the old town.we loved wandering the old streets.and visited the roman ruins on the edge of town. We visited italica at the end of a sevile trip once. there are such beautiful unspoilt towns seemingly everywhere you go. Im very much missing all my little travels the last few months

[katy]

We stayed in Carmona a few times as my Brother bought an old palace to do up. He sold it half way through work having spent an arm and a leg on it. We stayed at the casa palacio. Very quirky but faded glory is about right. Most of the furniture was shabby and grubby. The worst view from the room ever and the bottled water in the fridge was rancid. Ate in the restaurant one evening. Half full and seemed to be older men in suits dining with younger women. Parador is better, love Carmona. Great write up Olive.

[vinuela vinny]

Thanks for that Olive - very interesting......

Next time you are in the area, you might like to consider visiting the towns of Marchena and La Puebla de Cazalla, which is where we are. Both are working agricultural towns, with La Puebla of course famed for it's Flamenco and it's week of such events known as the Cante Jondo.....

Let us know, and perhaps we could even meet up for lunch - our favourite lunch spot being Carillio in the centre of Marchena