Sevilla 2/25/11--2/28/11

Just as we were standing on the side of an enormous traffic circle fed by 6 directions of traffic, wondering where the heck we were, two ladies came up to us. “English or American?” they inquired. We told them and they proceeded to tell us that they had been employees of the Swedish Consulate and enjoyed telling people about Sevilla. We were grateful for the generous volunteering of their time and happy they had saved some of ours. They knew exactly where our hotel was and also had some ideas about a few things we could see that might be off the beaten path.

Diving into the city's pace is the best way to experience that place is what we think, so we put our bags down immediately to walk the narrow streets that are so picturesque in the Andalucian part of Spain (not that we've seen even a lot of Spain), but this is an especially ancient part of the country, so we've heard and read.

There is so much to see and do in Sevilla, we could have stayed way longer than we did, but we saw as much as possible in 3 days and had some great food and wine. Now that our stomachs were finally settling down, we could think about the great Spanish food that we remember from earlier times. I think that our favorite was the lunch we had toward the end of our stay. Gazpacho, a cold soup of tomatoes, peppers, onions and spices along with a langostino and avocado salad kept us smacking our lips for quite some time. We shared that so we could each have a dessert. One was 4 small cream puffs served with mint gelato and drizzled with chocolate; the other was a warm chocolate cake with a soft chocolate center served with vanilla gelato---everything fairly simple but with such wonderful combinations of flavors. And did I mention a dessert we had in Cordoba? It was called Red Berry Infusion and consisted of fresh blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and lingonberries, covered with a fresh cherry sauce and served with lemon gelato. A very big part of a country's culture is her food!!

Sevilla Cathedral

The main site to see is the Sevilla Cathedral. It's among the largest churches in the world and holds the world's largest alterpiece. They have Christopher Columbus's tomb but have recently discovered that the person inside is his son; he is probably buried in the Dominican Republic. Nevertheless, the tomb itself is pretty impressive, and I'm glad we got to see it. There were lots of stained glass windows and a beautiful tower The Giralda Tower alongside the church. At 270 feet tall, it was fun to climb as there were no stairs, only ramps which guards could ride their horses up to get to the top pretty rapidly. It gave us quite a magnificent view of the city that glittered in the afternoon sun.

The Alcazar which is the other must-see is much like the Alhambra only smaller (folks from Sevilla would not be happy with that comparison, I'm sure) although it contains beautiful works of art, tile, carved wood, tapestries, gardens, waterfountains, and is surrounded by a very picturesque wall with pointed caps just like visions of early forts would conjure up. It, too, was begun as a combination of Muslim and Cordoban leaders and reconstructed, torn down, replaced, and expanded beginning around 913. It contains an interesting painting, the earliest one known, for its subject of the Americas discovery along with a variety of persons: Columbus, Carlos I, Amerigo Vespucci and Native Americans.

Plaza de Espana

The Plaza de Espana is another amazing artistic work. Built in 1929, it forms a semicircular, blue and white tile and porcelain confection. Even the little bridge that crosses the miniscule canal is made of porcelain; rental boats are available and in high demand by the people of this beautiful city.

With all the art on pubic display, we chose to spend most of our time just walking the narrow and intriguing streets, watching carriages pass, children play, ladies do their version of flamenco to a watchful crowd—or not, and musicians move up and down the street playing guitars and accordions. What could be a more playful city?



among our favorite desserts



Strolling in the evening