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Utrera
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Mid afternoon and we left Jerez and picked up the AP4 - E5 autopista going almost north. A good steady run with the road quite quiet and passing through more fields and olive plantations. I wanted to see the great Spanish city of 'Seville', renowned for its buildings and architecture.
We reached Seville just before 5pm and entered the rabbit warren of tiny streets and their one way systems, looking for a hotel. If you saw a hotel sign, it pointed to a road that was a 'no entry' and you couldn't reach it (so what was the point in the sign?). We frequently popped out of the maze onto the horrendously busy, rush hour ring road with no one giving you any chance to navigate or change lanes. This was city centre driving at its meanest 'dog eat dog' level, something which quite shocked me. At one point we were forced out of the city onto an autopista and had to go for miles until we could come round in a great circle and re-enter Seville again. The joke was that we actually had a city street map, which we had picked up in Jerez and still couldn't find our way round properly.
This continued for over two hours (no, I'm not joking) and the bad tempered traffic and the narrow traffic choked streets, with nowhere to park or even stop, was extremely wearing in the now darkness. We gave up and joined a long traffic queue to leave the city, still looking for a hotel anywhere.
The next nearest town was 'Utrera', some thirty kms south and we stayed on the hectic ring road until we reached the turn off and headed south into the dark. At least we were out of the mad house of Seville, which was a disappointment to me. If you ever consider going to Seville with anything bigger than a skateboard, my advice is to forget it - you've got no chance!!!! The Gods had obviously decided that this one was not to be.
Another thirty minutes driving on the unlit road and we passed an ominously large industrial estate and then entered the small town of Utrera. Now the hotel hunt began again and after several minutes I spotted some shops and then a bar and stopped. In the bar I asked for a hotel and two guys, who were drinking there, came outside and started giving me directions. Except that there were roadworks in the town and local knowledge was needed to get round them, so they walked me round the roadworks to the hotel and after I had confirmed that they had a room, walked me back. This good Samaritan help, after the manic meanness of Seville was reassuring and I was more than happy to stand them beers at the bar.
We reached the hotel (without too many road traffic infringements), booked in and then walked down the road to a small café, where we joined the locals for more sherry and a bite to eat. Small places definitely are more friendly.
Distance driven 165 kms 102 miles
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