Seville – Part One

There may only be a part one as we are only here for 3 days.  But wow, just wow. Seville or Seh-vee-ya as it is pronounced here, is just amazing.  Stunning architecture and picturesque vistas along the Guadalquivir river that runs through the city and where Columbus initially sailed from to go to America.  It’s Spain’s 4^th largest city and like Cordoba it is spread out and dotted with cultural relics from Roman, Moorish, and medieval Christian times.  And like any place here with relics (not us I just want to be clear), there are a LOT of people wandering about.  Our airBnB host told us that it’s the start of the busy season (April and Easter etc.) so we should expect crowds.  I pointed out that Spain seems to have crowds 365 days of the year.  She said, well, it’s the start of more crowds.  Great. 

The first stop on a long walk day was the Plaza de España.  Most cities in Spain have one but the one in Seville is very nice with the huge Maria Luisa park and garden as frontage for a beautiful palace where Spain’s royals visit from time to time.  Like the Roman bridge in Cordoba, it was used as a backdrop in ‘Game of Thrones’.  Down the street from this is Seville’s main attraction, the cathedral and giralda. This is the world’s largest gothic cathedral and is immense.  The giralda is the giant bell tower next door and was the minaret in Moorish times.  Instead of stairs to get to the top, it has 34 flights of ramps and this was so the Muezzin, who led the call to prayer, could ride his horse up instead of walking.

 

Seville seems to be a vibrant city, pleasant weather, lots of history and plenty to see. Interesting neighborhoods, markets, and narrow streets.  We poked around the Santa Cruz area, a center for flamenco, the old market in Triana on the west bank, which is built on the remains of the castle of San Jorge (St. George for you gente Ingles) and was the seat of the infamous Inquisition from 1481, more markets on Feria street, and just generally wandered.  We will miss the big fair in a couple of weeks, the Feria de abril, which is a week-long wine, beer, food, costumes, and flamenco festival, but we can’t see it all.  We walked a lot and just for fun, on the day we left, we walked the 3 miles to the bus station just for something different. 

We’re not sure whether we wanted to spend any longer here than the 3 days we had.  After 3 large cities and many ruins, we are a bit tired.  Seville has a frenetic pace to it, high energy, and we need some down time.  We also found Seville a bit cold, people-wise, and often they just seemed rude.  Maybe it was timing or maybe the inhabitants are fed up with tourists or maybe they think we are Americans.  Don’t  really know, but the only friendly people we met (besides our airBNB hosts) were a couple from New Jersey.  In any case, we are looking forward to the smaller, quieter town of Ronda, which will have its share of tourists as well, but we’re hoping way less of them.