Spain

I stayed a week in Spain, mainly based in Sevilla, which I've not seen before. Beer's cheap, drivers are very well behaved, and OAPs get 50% discounts on many of the attractions. We walked over 15km/day, seeing most of the attractions and chancing upon other things - covered markets, the Hungarian pavilion of the Seville Expo '92, a multi-venue craft fair in courtyards/studios etc. We tried a tapas bar, a vegan restaurant, a roof-top bar, a Michelin-listed restaurant (I tried calamares) and the same "family restaurant" twice.

We didn't hire bikes - cycling up to Toledo would have been a struggle. Once there, I saw chess sets, swords and marzipan. Jews, Moslims and Christians sometimes lived together, sometimes fought.

In Cordoba, the Mezqita (Mosque) incorporates a 16th century cathedral. The river's wide enough to have had 4 watermills. A big Arabic waterwheel had been copied.

Culture wars continue to this day. Here someone (a purist Italian maybe) has defaced a menu, crossing out the Hawaii option.

In a church shop they were selling this nativity scene accessory - a version of the "Jesus saves" joke.

The Alcázar was impressive. The peacocks performed for the tourists. The place appeared in Game of Thrones. We also went into the smaller but still impressive Casa de Pilatos - a private house

The Arabs in Sevilla had a notable poet long ago.

The later Cervantes' name and characters appear in several places

This bookstall was part of the big flea market in Madrid.

I hardly saw any charity shops. This, I think, is a charity bookshop.

And here's an English language bookshop.

Madrid has a cemetery of 5 million graves (we saw it from the train), and much else besides.