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Spain. Salamanca and Seville.

     We spent the fourth day of the trip on the road. First, from Porto, they descended south to Albergaria, then turned east. We drove along one of the most picturesque roads in Portugal - the A25. This high-speed road crosses several mountain ranges, including the Serra da Estrela (Serra da Estrela) - "Star Mountains" - the highest ridge of mainland Portugal.
  From the cities on the road we stopped for a short time only in Viseu. A few more times we stopped at roadside recreation areas (Rest Area), located very conveniently, at least every 20 km, right by the road. As a rule, there is a gas station, a minimarket, a toilet. There are also both simpler ones (several stationary wooden tables and a toilet) and entire complexes with shops and restaurants.
  We quietly crossed the border with Spain and soon the navigator impartially declared that we had arrived at the end point - the Tryp Montalvo hotel, located in an industrial area in the suburbs of Salamanca (Salamanca).
  We liked the hotel again. Having quickly loaded things into the rooms, we went to a meeting with the Golden City.
  It turned out to be very close to the old city - about 10 minutes away. We also quickly found a convenient underground parking, which we used the next day. The somewhat hectic demeanor of the boys in the parking lot, who tried to cram what was not cramable, that was, was a little annoying. make the most of the rather small parking area. But everything worked out.
  And Salamanca fully met our expectations. Amazing city!
  We saw most of the main attractions of the city:
 

and much more.
  But most of all we enjoyed walking along the streets of the old city.

   We spent the sixth day of the trip on the road again. We had the longest haul - 470 km from Salamanca to Seville (Sevilla).
We drove through three regions of Spain (regions include provinces): Castilla-Leon (this region belongs to Salamanca), Extremadura and finally Andalusia (perhaps the most Spanish region).
  Extremadura, according to Dmitry Krylov in his guidebook, is the most forgotten region of Spain. And really, outwardly nothing remarkable. On the way, we briefly stopped in Caceres (Caceres) - the capital of the region and one of the six cities in Spain, listed by UNESCO. But Extremadura is also a country of conquistadors. For example, Cortes, the conqueror of Mexico, and Pizarro, the conqueror of Peru, were born here.

 

   And here we are at the goal - Seville - the capital of Andalusia. Another hotel of the Solmelia network - Tryp Macarena - is located in the homonymous district of Seville - Macarena (La Macarena). The area is very colorful. There are several historical sights here: Basilica de la Macarena, a well-preserved fragment of the medieval city wall. The hotel is just opposite this wall. As expected, we liked the hotel and fully justifies its 4 *. The only but - the arrival and especially the exit from the underground garage requires the highest skill of the driver.
  In Seville we took the tourist shuttle again. Here it is called Sevirama and costs 16 E, and the sixth ticket is again free.
  But we paid special attention to the number one attraction - the Seville Cathedral (Catedral) with the Giralda bell tower.
  Seville Cathedral is one of the greatest in the world. From Dmitry Krylov's guide it follows that this is the third largest temple in Europe after St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome and St. Paul's in London.

 

   The main historical value of the cathedral is the tomb of Christopher Columbus.
We did not fail to climb the almost 100-meter Giralda, overcoming 41 conditional floors. The view from the bell tower is amazing (!!!), and in all four directions.
  We ended our stay in Seville with a walk around Macarena and dinner in a very cozy and sophisticated restaurant Casa Manolo very close to the hotel.

     The next day we returned to Portugal.

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