THERE’s a Spanish city that is set to be nearly 30C this week – and luckily for Brits it’s less than three hours from the UK.
Seville’s got everything Spain has to offer from affordable wine to beautiful plazas and free flamenco performances.
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Plaza de Espana is one of the most well-known landmarks in SevilleCredit: AlamyIt has four pretty mosaic bridges over the canal
This week, temperatures in Seville are set to soar with highs of 27C, according to the BBC.
Thanks to its location in southern Spain, Seville often sits 17C and higher – even in the winter months.
It’s very easy to get to as well with direct flights from all over the UK although the cheapest is with Ryanair, who has £14.99 flights from London Stansted next month.
When it comes to what to do there, you’ll be spoiled for choice at the riverside city with lots of beautiful sites and great food for affordable prices.
On average, a meal at an inexpensive restaurant start from £10.50.
As for wine, it tends to sit between £2.50 and £3 – depending on where you go within the city.
Plaza de España is one of the biggest and most well-known landmarks in Seville.
It’s a huge semi-circular plaza stretching over 50,000 square metres with four bridges sitting over a canal decorated with brightly coloured mosaic.
It’s a favourite spot within the city for pretty pictures, and if you’re lucky, you might even spot a free flamenco dance.
If you want to get out onto the water, you can rent pedalos for a few euros.
The square even doubled as the planet of Naboo in the second Star Warsfilm.
In the middle of the city is the enormous Seville Cathedral – which is the biggest Gothic cathedral in the world.
You can choose to go inside if you wish, but as someone who has been you can see plenty of its grandeur from outside.
Seville Cathedral is the biggest Gothic cathedral in the worldCredit: Alamy Stock PhotoThere are lots of horse and carts around the cathedral – and palm trees too
But if you want to head inside a standard ticket costs €13 (£11.25).
Other hot spots include the Real Alcázar palace and La Giralda tower.
Travel Reporter Alice Penwill visited the city two years ago. She said: “I loved strolling about Seville, particularly the Alfalfa neighbourhood.
“It’s got plenty of pretty little cafes and restaurants to explore – one of my favourites was Casa Toni which cooks up tasty paella.
“Salvador Square is beautiful in the morning time, take a stroll there and make sure to pick up some brunch from Sagasta.
“It has outdoor seating too so you can bask in the spring sunshine.”
She said: “The Royal Alcázar of Seville, a palace dating back 1,000 years, offers limited free tickets on Mondays between 6pm and 7pm.
“Or for Seville Cathedral, there are 100 free tickets a day between 2pm and 3pm.”
Kara’s favourite bar is El Rinconcillo which is the city’s oldest tapas bar which dates back to 1670.
And you can get a huge glass of wine for £3.
Our favourite Spain holidays
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Hotel Best Punta Dorada, Salou
The Spanish resort is a popular destination near PortAventura World, a theme park with over 40 attractions and huge rollercoasters. It’s also close to sandy beaches like Platja de Llevant, and the scenic Camí de Ronda coastal walk.The hotel itself has an outdoor swimming pool to enjoy, as well as two bars along with evening entertainment and shows.
With its palm tree-lined pool and Mediterranean backdrop, it’s a miracle this Majorca resort is so affordable. Expect a classic family holiday feel – where days revolve around soaking up the Spanish sunshine, chilling by the spacious pool and sipping on frozen cocktails. Set away from the busier resorts, it’s a good option if you’re after a more out-of-the-way escape.
The Magic Aqua Rock Gardens Hotel is African-themed and less than a mile from the beach. It has two outdoor pools, including a children’s freshwater pool with a waterfall and a tipping water bucket for the little ones. There’s also an aquapark with slides, and a kids club for both younger children and teens.
For a calmer side of Ibiza, this hillside resort has two pools, a kids’ splash zone, and an all-inclusive buffet with a poolside bar. It’s a 10-minute walk from Cala Llonga’s shallow turquoise bay, offering a scenic, family-friendly base away from the island’s main party zone.
A new UN report confirms the past decade was the hottest on record, warning that rising temperatures driven by fossil fuels demand urgent climate action.
Welcome back to this week’s Lakers newsletter, where we are fully scoreboard watching.
The Lakers have 14 games left and are surging up the Western Conference standings. With six consecutive wins and nine in their last 10, the Lakers (43-25) are third in the West and suddenly have a 1.5-game lead on fourth-place Houston.
The team that couldn’t beat anyone good suddenly has statement wins over four teams with .600 records. The turnaround from fighting to stay out of the play-in to now being in position for homecourt advantage left even JJ Redick struggling to find the right description.
“Is coalesce a word?” Redick said after the Lakers outlasted the Denver Nugget in overtime on Saturday. “Is that the right word? For coming together? Jelling? I think it feels like we’re coalescing right now in a really nice way.”
All things Lakers, all the time.
Lakers’ ‘Big Three’ finds its pecking order
The defining moment of LeBron James’ performance during the Lakers’ game of the season officially went down as a turnover.
His Superman dive to save a loose ball with 54.3 seconds left in regulation against Denver on Saturday turned into one of James’ five turnovers because the Lakers did not corral the jump ball. But the statistical and physical sacrifice of the play showed the type of role James will play on this team coming down the stretch of the season.
“It’s a great example of leadership,” Redick said. “Leadership is not just the voice who’s talking. Leadership is then what you do on the court, and if you want to be a winning team then you need guys who are willing to take the lead and make winning plays.”
With Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves starring, Redick acknowledged that “the best thing for our team is [James] being the third highest-used player.” Since returning from hip and elbow injuries that kept him out of three games, James has had the third-highest usage rate on the team in each of the last three games. All were wins.
Redick acknowledged that “finding the groove” between James, Doncic and Reaves has been “the challenge for all of them, not just LeBron, all season.” It was more difficult because alternating injuries limited the trio’s time together on the court.
The season-long advanced metrics have favored having just Doncic and Reaves on the court, who have a plus-eight net rating together, as opposed to all three (plus-3.2 net rating). But the modest rating of the Doncic, Reaves and James combination has taken dramatic leaps this week alone.
James, Doncic and Reaves outscored opponents by 32.7 points per 100 possessions in wins against the Bulls and Nuggets.
The Lakers have gotten their “best win of the season” four times in the last nine days. Two were without James when the Lakers blew out the Knicks and the Timberwolves. He returned and the wins got grittier: an overtime thriller against Denver and Monday’s tense victory in Houston.
Other teammates made the flashy, standout plays. Doncic nailed the game-winning basket in overtime against Denver, and Reaves forced extra time with a one-in-a-hundred intentionally missed free throw. Deandre Ayton had four consecutive points late in the fourth quarter against Houston that put the Rockets away.
The NBA’s all-time leading scorer, meanwhile, has been a relatively quiet seven-for-13 from the field in each of the last three games, scoring no more than 18 points. He doesn’t mind as long as it adds up to wins.
“If it benefits others, it benefits the team,” James said last week. “The team is most important.”
It won’t count in the stat sheet, but watching James fly across the floor at 41 years old against Denver was “one of the biggest plays of the game,” Reaves said Saturday. Redick joked that after 23 NBA seasons and three years of high school he had never seen James lay out for a loose ball like that.
Because he never had, James replied.
And after sharing a photo on social media of a bright red court burn the size of a nickel, James might never do it again.
“Might be it for diving for the year!” James wrote in an Instagram story showing the wound. “Ouch! Lol!”
Deandre Ayton arrives just in time
Deandre Ayton shoots against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
(Ethan Swope / Associated Press)
Nearly 10 years before teaming up for the Lakers, Rui Hachimura and Deandre Ayton were just teenaged prospects with big dreams. They first met at a Basketball without Borders camp in 2016. The roster that year also included future NBA champions Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Isaiah Hartenstein. Hachimura recalled Ayton dominating everyone. Then the 7-foot center from the Bahamas inexplicably disappeared.
“That’s what I remember,” Hachimura said with a smile remembering his first impression of his future Lakers teammate. “I was like, ‘Where’s this guy going?’”
When Hachimura shared that anecdote in October, it was an unintentionally fitting description of Ayton’s career. Over the last eight years, the former No. 1 pick has dominated and disappeared in equal measure.
Just in time for the Lakers’ biggest games of the year, the enigmatic center returned to his “DominAyton” mode.
Ayton averaged 13 points and 9.8 rebounds per game in wins over the Knicks, Timberwolves, Bulls and Nuggets after coming back from a one-game injury absence. When Jaxson Hayes and Maxi Kleber were sidelined for games against Minnesota and Chicago, Ayton starred with back-to-back double-doubles.
“Felt like I picked up my energy and my focus,” Ayton said. “I finally caught up with the team.”
One of the surest signs of Ayton’s engagement is his activity on the boards. The Lakers are 29-7 when Ayton has eight or more rebounds and 8-14 when he has seven or fewer. Lately he has been especially clutch with three rebounds and four points in overtime against Denver and five rebounds with six points in the fourth quarter against Houston when the Lakers finished the game on a 13-4 run.
“He is an X factor for us, if not the X Factor,” Redick said after Ayton scored 23 points with 10 rebounds against the Bulls, “because him playing at a high level raises our ceiling. It changes the makeup of our team.”
Ayton had his son Deandre Ayton Jr. in the locker room after that performance against the Bulls. The five-year-old bounced a white rubber ball on the ground while waiting for his dad to finish showering then joined him at his locker for his media obligations. After the game when the Lakers celebrated “Girl Dad Night,” this proud boy dad left a lasting impression.
“Truly a blessing,” Ayton said of having his son join him at the game, “especially being a Laker. Just hope he [is] inspired.”
On tap
Wednesday at Rockets (41-26), 6:30 p.m.
This game will decide the head-to-head tiebreaker between Houston and L.A. In the tight conference race, the Lakers already own head-to-head tiebreakers against Denver and Minnesota, but not against Phoenix, which is lurking in the seventh spot with a 39-29 record, four games behind the Lakers.
Thursday at Heat (38-30), 5 p.m.
The Heat were one of the hottest teams in the East before losing to the Orlando Magic on Saturday in Norman Powell’s return from injury. Powell came off the bench after missing seven games because of a groin injury and scored 20 points. The Heat were 7-0 during the stretch without Powell, even playing without Tyler Herro for two games.
Saturday at Magic (38-29), 4 p.m.
The Magic’s seven-game winning streak came to an end Monday in Atlanta. Franz Wagner (ankle) has played in just four games since Dec. 7, and Paolo Banchero is averaging 24.8 points on 51.4% shooting, 9.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists during the month of March.
Monday at Detroit (48-19), 4 p.m.
The Pistons are cruising toward the top seed in the East. Cade Cunningham has continued his breakthrough year with 24.9 points and 10.1 assists per game.
Status report
Maxi Kleber (lumbar back strain)
The backup big man has missed four games because of a back injury that started earlier this season and recently flared up against. Kleber has good days and bad days, Redick said, and has been shut down for five days. He did not travel to Houston for the beginning of the six-game trip, but the Lakers hope he can join.
Favorite thing I ate this week
Korean short ribs (galbi) with rice and Vietnamese pickled carrots and daikon radish.
(Thuc Nhi Nguyen / Los Angeles Times)
Made possible only through teamwork with my favorite coworker Brad Turner, I did the impossible: I had two uninterrupted weeks at home during the NBA season. After coming home from a month overseas, I needed that time to settle back into my normal life, including my kitchen. I missed it. We kept it low-key for the homecoming with Korean short ribs (galbi) with rice and Vietnamese pickled carrots and daikon radish. Green onions for garnish because my mom would never let a dish touch the table if it wasn’t garnished.
