I love Seville - it's big enough to have a life fully its own, into which it's happy to admit tourists, rather than being dependent on us. Despite its outside air being an average of 17% cigarette smoke and 4% urine offgas, it's the sort of place I could live. Busy, buzzy, confident and warm.

I had no real plans today but I wanted to see the Feria market, a few minutes from where I'm staying. There's lots of fresh food, especially fish, in the middle and lots of very busy eateries round the edge. There are no printed menus since what they prepare is clearly dependent on what the market has that day and the lists written in blue pen on the white tiles behind the servers seemed to attest to the freshness of everything.

Then it wasn't far to the Macarena Gate and the remnants of the city walls, which meant I could walk a new route back into town. Question to self: Should I or shouldn't I watch some flamenco? Downsides: I don't much like it (sorry, NorthnExposure) and it's expensive. Upsides: I hugely admire the skill and energy it takes and... well, I'm in Seville. If I am going to see it I want to be sure it's good, not some compromise to get me into a restaurant where the food is also a compromise so I navigated my way to the flamenco museum. Them having a show at 5pm decided me - a way to shelter from the heat before night two of the circus festival.

So, flamenco: I've now seen it where its heart is and I really do admire the skill and energy. But I still don't really like it (sorry Seville). 

The much less sophisticated first circus act, in Alameda Hercules, was more my going - a show based on many, many jenga blocks with (or without) balls inside. All of which were juggled, dropped, caught, made to fall like dominos, used for making towers and much else. Skilled buffoonery. The other two circus acts were closer to flamenco in appeal but much more distant in terms of skill, but at least I got to see sunset and the swirling swifts from Las Setas.