Sevilla, Day 1

 09 April 2022

Having settled in and had a bite to eat, I set off to have a wander around the city of Seville, Spain. Turning right from my hostal, a block or so up was this official building. It was heartening to see the support displayed for Ukraine.

The Barrio de Santa Cruz, formerly the Jewish Quarter until the Jewish people were attacked in the 14th century, followed by the Inquisition in the 15th century. The neighborhood has a labyrinth of narrow winding pedestrian alleyways and streets barely wide enough to admit a car through. There was something interesting around every corner.

There are churches everywhere. At the end of this street is the Iglesia de San Nicolás de Bari. One thing especially notable in the south of Spain is the presence of orange trees everywhere, as you can see here they use them to line the streets. These are what are known as "bitter oranges" and are used primarily to make marmalade.

This church is called the Iglesia Colegial del Divino Salvador, I was unable to enter it because there was a Holy Week procession at the time I tried to visit.

Directly facing it, across the plaza or square, is another church called the Iglesia de la Virgen de la Paz, the building with the two towers.

Another couple of alleyways over, tucked away, is the Capilla de San José, with a very pretty facade and a beautiful interior.

This scene is typical of streets and alleyways in Spain, during meal or dining times tables are wheeled out onto the sidewalks. Spaniards prefer to eat outdoors at restaurants whenever possible; often a restaurant will look packed, but there is no one at all at the tables inside.

You will have to zoom in on this one to see it well, a baroque style building that is one of the most ornate exteriors I have ever seen.

 

In this plaza, they were setting up hundreds of chairs for the Holy Week ceremony taking place that evening, something which I would see repeated daily at different churches.

Behind the chairs, an interesting building in the Mudejar style (the Moors who remained in Spain after their empire fell and blended their architectural/artistic style with the Spanish).

Side view of the building, if you zoom in you will see the many small details such as carving and tiles.

Another interesting building with a minaret-style tower.

First view of the Catedral de Sevilla. The cathedral is so spectacular on all sides, I'm not even sure which is the front. So I went all the way round it. Notice the tall square tower on the left, I'll come back around to it shortly on the other side!

The little white dot in the sky is the moon, it was so lovely! I know I took too many photos of this church, but that's how I roll...

On this side of the church there is a street with other buildings across the way (hence the shadows) and I could not get far enough away to photograph it other than looking straight up! But it emphasizes just how tall it is.

Hi moon!

Flying buttresses... always loved that phrase.

Coming around to the next side, there is an open plaza where horse drawn carriages pick up and drop off tourists. While I love horses, this made my heart hurt. They were not even wearing special shoes to protect them on this kind of surface. Several of the horses were so exhausted that they were slipping on the paving stones. 

All of the building(s) on the left are the cathedral, just to give an idea of the size. It is the size of a whole city block.

Continuing along the perimeter of the building counter-clockwise.

The dome, which is much larger than it looks in this picture, is one of just two parts of the original mosque that still remain as part of the cathedral.

Another entrance which was barred, but the detail was incredible.

I am not certain who this statue represents (if you know comment please).

Looking to the right from here is the wall of the Real Alcazar or royal palace, which I will visit on this trip also.

Another turn to the right is the Archivo de Indias which originated as a merchant building but now functions as a museum and archive.

Looking at the Cathedral again, this is looking up at the dome from the side. It's difficult to see it from the ground at any angle.

Here I've turned the corner and walked along the other side of the domed part. Remember the square tower?

The tower is called La Giralda and is the minaret remaining from the original mosque. A bell tower was added on the top when it was converted to a cathedral. The Moorish design is stunning.

Another gratuitous photo of La Giralda because it's so amazing.

As usual, just across the way you can see another church...

After this I went in a different direction and lost myself in alleyways full of shops and restaurants.

In an ice cream shop (which had delicious orange and lemon ice cream) there were many products made with orange, such as flavored oils, vinegars, spice blends, and marmalade.

Yes, they also have orange wine, which I have been curious about since I first heard of it two years ago.

I found a restaurant to sit and try the orange wine. It wasn't at all as I imagined, more of a sweet dessert wine that reminded me of sweet sherry or port.

I had two tapas, the first was a very soft cheese called burrata in an apple reduction.

The second was an avocado toast with tomato and salmon.

On the wall of a shop, I saw this painting representing a map of the Jewish Quarter (Barrio Santa Cruz).

Now to wend my way back to the hostal for some much desired sleep! It looks bright but it's around 9pm and I was on that bus at 9am this morning.

Stay tuned for more...

Traveling to Sevilla

 09 April, 2022

On the way to Sevilla, Spain for spring break! All this time I've been here and never yet been to the southern part of Spain, which is the part most stereotypical and best known to the outside world.

But first, to get started,how about a little philosophy in the bus station toilet...
"Is this the life that you want to live?"

"If it never hurts, it won't make you happy."

Phew... that was pretty heavy for a bathroom wall. But at least I have something to think about on the two hour bus trip from my town (Vigo, Spain) to the airport in Porto, Portugal.

In the airport, killing time wandering around the gift shops... this booze has my mom's name on it so I snapped a picture.

For the person who has everything, how about a ceramic bowl with an arrangement of ceramic sardines in it?

These are jars of local Portuguese honey. The ones on the left made of bark, and the ones on the right are in the shape of traditional ceramic dolls.

Yay, most of the flights going out are delayed indefinitely. Good thing there are gift shops to keep me occupied.

Time to head down to the gate area for my flight.... ack! I haven't seen this many people crowded together in over two years. I'll just wait up here on this empty maintenance staircase.

Got through the gate, only to stand in a mob for another half hour outside the building. At least we are outside in the air. So much for "priority boarding".

Finally in the air! I have always been fascinated when looking down at the earth and clouds from the sky.

As you can see, from this height Spain looks like every other country. Buildings, trees, farms. And it's beautiful.

After arriving at the airport in Sevilla, I took a bus from the airport to downtown and then a 20 minute walk to my hostal (a hostal is a traditional lodging house which falls somewhere between hostel and hotel, like a boarding house consisting of individual rooms with shared bathrooms). At first glance it is mysteriously at the end of a tiny narrow alley.

The inside is very prettily decorated. There is a central open space so this picture is from the upper level (which in Spain is called the 1st floor, the ground floor being 0).

This is the same lobby area as seen from the ground floor.

Here is my little room, just a single twin bed and a folding table attached to the wall.

Looking the other direction, a small wardrobe, a sink, and the door, which has an upper part that opens like in a stable. You can open it to help the air circulate as the building is completely enclosed by other buildings and hence has no windows except the two rooms over the entrance alley. The curtain is for privacy when you have it open. It did get really humid in there, which I didn't expect, so I was grateful to be able to open it.

After settling my things into my room, I went out to explore this new place, but as I was hungry, I didn't get too far. This is a bar/restaurant (the line between the two is very blurry here) just a block away, Taberna La Auténtica.

The dish is something I thought was unusual and interesting, it was described as a "cheeseburger" wrapped in pizza dough. However, it was not like a calzone, more like a burrito, and the "cheese" was more like pizza topping with tomato sauce and cheese. So the end result was a bit more like a meatball sandwich. Still very yummy!

In a gift shop... I would love to have this T-shirt but sadly they did not have it in my size.

More Seville photos to follow!