Sevilla, part 1 - down the rabbit hole

When I told my friend and RMT Jamie that I was going to Seville, she recommended that I take my time and enjoy all that it has to offer. I asked her how long she was there last, and her reply was, "I went for five days, but I could've stayed forever." After spending the past week in Seville, I understand what she meant, and feel like I fell down the rabbit hole and in love with the place. I'm getting nostalgic just writing this post about it...

Above: the plaza adjacent to both the cathedral and the Real Alcázar.

Seville is a beautiful city, and in my opinion, it could rival Paris with its ornate buildings, long history, and great restaurants. It is very hot here though, and it's known as the "frying pan of Spain." Seville set the Guinness book of world records for hottest day In summer - 53 degrees Celcius in the shade. I can't imagine living in that heat. It's a large city but still very assessible on foot despite the myriad of winding tiny streets with multiple names, and maps that are more confusing than my internal compass seems to be.

After a four hour bus ride from Faro, I felt disorientated upon alighting in Seville. It was busy, loud, and the language had changed from Portugese to Spanish. My hostel (the Garden Backpacker) was awesome. Super friendly staff & guests that became friends, free sangria hour ( = DOOM), yummy cheap dinners, and free walking tours has made it the best hostel I've stayed in to date on my trip. Check them out. The hostel reception gave me several maps, and after settling in, I wandered off to explore this veritable wonderland of a city. 

First stop, the "Mushrooms" or Metropol Parasol, a funky modern art installation built on some Roman ruins. €3 gets you an elevator ride to the top of the mushrooms and a free drink. The parasol has a walkway on top to see views of the city. Honestly, I preferred the view for underneath the mushrooms, and felt a bit like Alice, lost in Wonderland.

Mushroom, mushroom!

Seville has what feels like a million little narrow winding streets that seem to double back on themselves. And yet, when I stumbled upon the Cathedral and the Real Alcázar, it felt like a natural funnelling towards the historical centre and heart of the city. As I arrived in the late afternoon, I missed out on the cathedral that first day (public visits close at 5pm). So I tried my luck across the way at the palace and discovered it was open until 7pm (as it was still September). 

 Above: the entrance to the Real Alcázar or royal palaces of Seville. These are still used by Spain's royalty to this day. Indeed, it is the oldest royal palace in Europe still in use.

The Real Alcázar was originally built by the Moors in the 11th century, and Islamic art and architecture are in abundance. In 1364, when Pedro I ordered the construction of a royal residence within the existing structure of the Real Alcázar, rather than tearing down all the beautiful arches and building anew, he requested that Christian visigothic additions be made, which created a new, blended style of architecture called Mudéjar. The results are palaces that are opulent as well as balanced. I recommend a minimum of two hours to visit this site. An adult entry ticket costs €9.50 (students only €2 with a valid student ID), and I chose to have the audio guide for an additional €5 because I was tired of reading information on the plinths. My only beef with the audio guide tour was that it wasn't laid out in an easy to follow path. I had to search for the next room, which sometimes meant going back through previously viewed/discovered rooms to find the next audio guide spot. Regardless, the trip to the royal palaces and gardens were definitely worth it. If one does nothing in Seville (with the exception of drinking sangria and eating yummy tapas), one must visit the Real Alcázar. I took many photos, what follows is a very small sample of what lies within the palaces.

Above: The Patio of Maidens, one of the more beautiful "patios" of the palaces. The Islamic influence is everywhere, from the central water feature to the carved plasterwork (created by artists from Granada) of the Moorish arches. It was a pleasure just to sit here and take in the relaxing mood from the place. 

Below: horseshoe arches adorn the insides of the Hall of Ambassadors, probably the most impressive room of the entire palace.

Above: a tapestry depicting conquests of the "new world" by the Spanish. This tapestry covered an entire wall, I can only imagine how long it took to weave the thing.

Below: Islamic wall adornment giving praise to Allah in the script underneath. This adornment runs along the length and width of the room, sort of like wainscotting.

The gardens are very enjoyable, with tall palms and plentiful orange trees provide shade in the 30 degree + heat of Seville. I spent about an equal time in the gardens as I did the palace. There's even a fountain in the middle of the grotto gallery that plays organ music every hour, on the hour (although it no longer spurts water; it is one of only three fountains that plays music via a complex arrangements of mechanics.) A maze and an English garden round out the scenery.

Day two: I decided that since I missed the cathedral the first day, I was going to go back and see it properly. At €8 for an adult ticket, I felt that the cathedral of Seville (the largest in Europe) was overpriced. However, it did have some amazing views within, as well as from the climb and apex of La Giralda tower. The Cathedral, like many churches in Andalusia, was built overtop of a mosque. If you go around the outside of the cathedral, you can see some blind Moorish arches giving a hint of this history. 

Above: the cathedral by night, a magical sight.

Although the inside of the cathedral is impressive in size, scope, and adornment, what really takes the cake in my mind is the climb up the tower. No building in Seville (with the exception of one ugly modern skyscraper belonging to a bank) is allowed to be taller than the tower of La Giralda. In my humble opinion, I much preferred the views of Seville from this tower rather than the "Mushrooms." 

Below: La Giralda tower by day and night. This bell tower used to have a minaret when it was a part of the mosque. The call to prayer was sung from the top of this tower. Instead of stairs circling up the tower, a ramp with 35 turns is inside. This makes it assessible to wheelchair users and folks with tots in strollers. But the ramp was actually incorporated during the time when this cathedral was a mosque, as the caller would ride a donkey up and down the tower to save his legs (five times a day for normal days, twelve times a day during the holy month of Ramadan!) 

Below: Here's the view looking down at the orange garden and the exit of the cathedral. This was actually the original entry of the mosque and was the place for Muslims to make their ablutions at the central fountain before entering the holy structure.

Above: looking out at the gothic adornments from one of the many windows while climbing the tower.

Below: a sweaty but successful me after climbing the tower.

The interior of the Cathedral of Seville is impossible to capture with a simple point-and-shoot camera. But I tried...

Below: Left - a view of the nave and gothic arches overhead. Right - the organ is built from floor-to-ceiling on either side of the high alter. The wood comes from Cuba. It can only imagine the sounds it would emit.

Above: a portion of the high alter, which was impossible to capture in one photo. Most of the gold came from the conquests (read: pillaging and massacres) of cultures from Central & South America.

Below: the central apex of the gothic arched ceiling. The cathedral has a large mirror which one can look up without straining ones neck to get a view of the ornate plasterworks. 

I'll continue my adventures in Seville with the next blog post (or two!) as there was so much to take in during my week-long stay there.