Tuesday 31 May 2011

Last day in Seville...

R. and I spent the morning wandering around Seville before meeting up to visit the cathedral. We had thought to go in the morning, but then decided that we might be able to avoid the crowds by going later in the day. And we were spot on! I had walked past the cathedral in the morning as it opened and the line to get in stretched around the block - when we arrived in the afternoon, we walked straight in!

Work on the cathedral began in 1402 on the site of a 12th century mosque that was destroyed to clear space for the cathedral that was to be so great that "those who come after us will take us for madmen" for building such an immense structure. And with its 44 individual chapels it is the largest Gothic edifice ever constructed.

The cathedral incorporates the La Giralda minaret, built in 1198. The tower, along with its twins in Marrakesh and Rabat are the oldest and longest surviving Almohad minarets in the world. Instead of stairs, 35 ramps lead to the top of the tower. These were installed in order to allow a disabled muezzin to ride his horse up to issue the call to prayer. The views from the top of the tower is spectacular!

Inside the cathedral, the 42m tall central nave is decorated with 3 tons of gold leaf and is considered one of the greatest in the Christian world. The opulence of the cathedral, the chapels and the relics is quite overwhelming.

  

Nuns out and about on their business!

Monday 30 May 2011

Seville...Of horses and snails!

Seville is Spain's third largest city with a population of 700 000. It is also home to the Alcazar, a Moorish and Catholic palace and the official residence of the Spanish monarchy. After spending time in Morocco and the smaller towns of the Andalucian countryside, Seville felt frenetic. We were staying in very center of the city, and found ourselves swept up in the throngs of tourists, Spanish, European and international, that pour through the city.

In an effort to escape the hustle-bustle of tourist shops and herds of tour groups, R. and I headed down to the river, the Rio Guadalquiver which flows north to south through the city. We spent the better part of the morning walking alongside the river front, and stopped for a light lunch at one of the little cafes.

The heat of the day finally drove us back to our hotel for a siesta - the mercury in Seville was staying firmly in the 30s. By the late afternoon the breeze had picked up and we headed out to the main square at the cathedral and Alcazar. All through the day we had seen tourists taking horse and carriage rides round the city, and we finally decided to treat ourselves to a romanitc carriage ride through Seville. It turned out to be such a wonderful way to see the city! We saw the Plaza de Espana, a beautiful 200m long building that now houses the Spanish military offices. The building hugs a sweeping plaza and features ceramic mosaics depicting every Spanish province. We also rode through the Parque de Maria Luisa and Gardens of San Sebastian.

We spent the rest of the evening strolling through the streets and stopping for tapas, before settling down to a lovely dinner at a very la-di-da restuarant! One of the tapas we tried was the caracoles, or snails! This is something of a speciality in Spain, and from what I can gather, these little delicacies are not available all year round. As such, when bars have stock, they post big signs "Hay Caracoles!" (There are snails!) Our friendly barman was more than happy to demonstrate how to eat the little blighters - you quite simply pick up the shell and suck the tasty morsel out. They were quite scrumptious! (And they are in fact cooked - they taste quite salty and herby!)

The one that got away...

Sunday 29 May 2011

Heading to Seville...

R. and I have really tried to embrace the Spanish culture and lifestyle, and part of this has meant completely readjusting our body clocks! The Spanish work on Spanish time! Siesta is very much a part of life here, and one's chances of getting much accomplished between 1 - 5pm are relatively slim as most places still close for "siesta" which involves a lazy lunch and a nap! As a result, our days have gone something like this:

Wake up anywhere between 9 - 10am. Head off to a nearby cafe for breakfast. Visit at least one sight or monument in the morning between 11 - 1pm. Find somewhere to have lunch round 1 - 2pm. Head back to the hotel for an afternoon kip. Wake up round 4 - 5pm. Head out to do some more sightseeing, stopping in between for beers and tapas. Round 9 - 10pm start to think out finding somewhere to have a light supper. Head back to the hotel round midnight.

By Spanish stadards, this is a very tame schedule! We should, ideally, be hitting the bars after dinner at midnight before stopping by the clubs round 2 - 3am, before heading home!

The fact that it's only getting dark close to 10pm, and the warm summer weather, does mean that it makes sense to get the most out of the longer days - especially when the evenings are markedly cooler! The hotels are also very humane in their approach to checkout times - most have a check out of noon.

On Sunday morning I was eventually woken by the bells sounding from the church across the street from our hotel. When I blearily check my watch, I was atonished to see that we had managed to sleep until 11:30am! What a wonderful life!!

While we sat having breakfast on the little square in San Fernando, planning our route to Seville, a church procession made its way up the street in front of us. Even though it was a small church and San Fernando is a small town, the fanfare was quite impressive. A full marching band accompanied the procession as the congregation made its way up the street and into the church. The pomp and ceremony appeared to be in honour of a tiny little white-haired priest, who solemnly walked beneath a canopy, dressed quite literally in his Sunday best. It was really lovely to catch a glimpse of this aspect of Spanish life.

It was well after midday by the time we were back on the road and headed to Seville. The drive from Granada to Seville via Ronda, Jerez and San Fernando, while a little hair-raising at times, has been such a wonderful way to see Spain. The countryside is so varied and so beautiful. There have been so many postcard moments:

We arrived in Seville in the late afternoon, and made what we thought would be a clever decision to drop our bags at our hotel first, before dropping the car off at the train station...Well, one should never underestimate the narrowness of old town streets in Spain! Thankfully we were in the tiny little Ford Ka, and R. was able to deftly navigate our way through the most incredibly narrow and winding streets. There were a couple of times when GoogleMaps said to "turn left" and I was convinced that there could never be a street to turn left into, and suddenly a street would appear that would require the tightest of turns to get into - and there was no way one could get back out! But we found our hotel, dropped off our bags and made it out of the maze that is Santa Cruz!

Seville is filled with orange trees...and as we walked from the train station back to our hotel we saw tree after tree laden with fruit.

After a walk through the old Juderia quarter of Santa Cruz and a stroll around the massive cathedral - the third largest in the world, after St. Peter's in Rome and St. Paul's in London - we stumbled upon a flamenco show. Flamenco is an art form that combines song, guitar and dance and originated amongst the Andulucian gypsies in the late 18th century. It was a wonderful performance - the music and song is haunting and filled with emotion that is also expressed through the dancing. All in all, it was a fantastic introduction to the vibrance and emotion of Seville!