Seville is the artistic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. Seville is more than 2,000 years old. Truly, this is one of the most delightful cities I have ever visited. It was quaint, peaceful, and so rich in history and culture. It was, by far, my favorite day of our six day trip to Spain. There was so much to see, so many beautiful pictures. I fear I am not coming close to doing this wonderful city justice, but here you are nonetheless:
A beautiful fountain in the center of town.
There was lots of street entrainment. If you paid this "statue" a coin, she came to life and let you take a picture with her.
A view of the Cathedral of Seville (built from 1401-1519). It was once a mosque and then taken over once again to be a church again. It is amongst the largest of all medieval and Gothic cathedrals.
The cathedral with the horse and carriage we took around the town.
We took a 45-minute ride throughout the town with the two couples. It was so peaceful and beautiful and a great way to take in the sites in an easier way on my foot.
One last shot of the Cathedral (of which they were selling lotto tickets outside of.) Dan and Angelica explained to us that while most of the country are devoted Catholics, the devotion is often very religious and something that "has" to be done -- not something that comes from the heart.
Torre del Oro was built by the Almohad dynasty as a watchtower and defensive barrier on the river. Since all boats had to pass through this port to get from the New World, Columbus would have passed through this port.
A government building.
Dan and Angelica on the horse ride.
I can't remember what this building was. But it was so beautiful I had to include a picture on the blog.
Breathtaking!
Loved these trees everywhere.
Andalusia is an autonomous community of Spain and recognized as a nationality in the preamble of the State. It is the most populous and second largest. It is a culture in and of itself. It has Muslim (or "Moorish" influences) and has also been influenced by many other cultures that preceded the Muslims as well as Castilian and Christian nationalities. This was just a tiny little parade in preparation for a big festival that was coming to the area after we left.
According to Angelica, these hats are specifically Andalusian and can only be found (and will really only be worn) in this area.
Here we are enjoying our second-straight day of Tapas for lunch. We found a good spot for me to put my feet up while we ate in hopes that the swelling would not get any worse. Tapas are basically, appetizers, and they are AMAZING! I tried so many new things. The world gets started much later in Spain. Traditionally, lunch starts around 2pm and dinner will begin into the 9pm hour. (We slept in a lot more!)
Amazing food was one of the best parts of our trip.
Before dinner that evening, we had the opportunity to attend a 45 minute flamenco dancing demonstration. Flamenco is a Spanish genre of music and dance which originated in this region in the 18th century. There is singing (cante), guitar playing (toque), and the dance which all come together to form this genre. We thoroughly enjoyed this presentation! (And the baby I am carrying was going CRAZY during the music and dance. Not sure if she loved it or hated it.) Attending this concert was one of the highlights of our evening. We ended our evening with an Italian dinner (which, by 10:30, we were the "early" attenders; there were people coming in as we were leaving -- people with young children!)
We stayed at another Parador that evening: The Parador Carmona. This one was even more lovely than the one we had stayed at the previous evening.
Loved staying at these Paradoras!
3 comments:
I am basically re-living my month I spent in Spain in High School through you! It is such a wonderful place. Sevilla is my favorite...we stayed with a host family for a week there. You hit it dead on when you said that the day "starts much later in Spain". So true!! That was hard for me as a morning person.
Wow, looks like a WONDERFUL trip. I've only been to Barcelona, but we have been saying we want to get to more of Spain. I loved the tapas when we were there, and it is so true about the late dinners. Definitely not a good schedule for us Americans with little ones. They Italians are very similar in that way too.
I, too, am re-living my college experience in Sevilla! I lived there for six months and traveled to many of the same locations you have featured. I think the unknown building in one of you pictures is the Plaza de Espana in Maria Luisa Park. If my memory is correct, there are many alcoves with beautiful tile work,each one featuring a different province. Someone told me they used this in Lawrence of Arabia...don't know about that, but I do know that Spain is a delightfully beautiful country!
Post a Comment