Kings, queens and caliphs, royal gardens, bullrings and matadors, and a little bit of flamenco dance and guitar music to top everything off. It was another busy day in Sevilla as I took in as much of this Andalucian city as possible since today is my last full day here.
I began my day with a two-hour visit to Sevilla's Alcazar (fortress), which has been home to a plethora kings and caliphs during the past generations. The Alcazar is right across from the cathedral / La Giralda that I visited yesterday, so it was a short walk from my hotel again through the narrow, winding streets of Barrio Santa Cruz. The Alcazar was first used as a fort around 913 during the Moorish era in Spain. In the 13th Century, however, Alfonxo X el sabio (the wise) conquered many of the Muslim strongholds in southern Spain, including Sevilla. He gave orders to have his palace built here. In fact, in the last 11 centuries, Sevilla's Alcazar has been rebuilt and added on to many times. Fernando and Isabel, the Catholic Monarchs, moved to the Alcazar in the 1480s as they prepared to take back Granada. In later years gardens were added to the Alcazar ... and they are still there today.
You can walk through many of the rooms in the Alcazar, and signs are posted to explain what they were once used for. For example, the Admiral's Room was used to help supervise trade between Spain and the New World. I also saw the painting the Virgen de los Mareantes (Virgin of the Navigators) in one of the rooms. This 1535 painting shows the Virgin Mary protecting a group of indigenous people and Spanish countries with her cape. One of the people pictured is Christopher Columbus. This painting was the first to show American natives in European art. Another room called The Prince's Room was Queen Isabel's bedroom -- the place where she gave birth in 1478 to Don Juan, the Catholic Monarch's first born son. Just wondering through the fortress all morning and seeing the exquisite architecture, decorations, plasterwork, paintings, fountains, ceramics, tiling, arches and more was fantastic. What a stunning place!
The true highlight for me, however, was walking through the Alcazar's gardens. Part of the gardens were brought to their present form in the 16th and 17th centuries while another part was created in the 20th Century. Beautiful palm trees were all around the gardens, as well as flowers of every color and plenty of fountains. There were even peacocks wondering around the area. As someone who enjoys spending time time outside instead of inside, the gardens were nearly as impressive as the inside of the Alcazar.
After leaving the Alcazar, I returned to Barrio Santa Cruz and bought tickets for a flamenco dance and guitar show tonight at 9. One of my friends from Fort Wayne who is also a Spanish teacher will be visiting Sevilla with one of her friends later this month, and she told me about this flamenco place she and her friend are planning to visit for a show
I then made a quick stop back at the Plaza de Espana to see this exquisite square once again. There were just as many people wondering around as yesterday, and it didn't take long to discover that this must be one of Sevilla's most frequented places, along with the cathedral, La Giralda and the Alcazar. From there, I walked along the river toward the bullring. I learned yesterday that there are 30-minute tours of the bullring throughout the day, so I decided to go on one of them. Work began on Sevilla's bullring in 1758, which means it is probably one of the oldest in Spain. In fact, bullfighting on foot instead of horseback began here in the 18th Century. There are 45 bullfights in Sevilla each year. The season runs from Easter to October, with bullfights every Sunday. The bullring is big enough to seat 14,000, and the Royal Family even has its own seats here. The tour lasted 30 minutes, but we were only outside in the stands for about five minutes. The rest of the tour was inside in the museum. It was interesting, but I would have rather spent more time outside going around the bullring.
From there, I returned to the hostel for a couple of hours before heading back out around 8:30 p.m. for the flamenco and guitar show. I arrived 30 minutes early, and the place was nearly full. There were about 100 of us seated in the patio room of this building that is located off one of the pedestrian streets in Barrio Santa Cruz. Flamenco music consists of guitar, voice and dance. One man played the guitar, one man sang and the third person danced. It also contains a lot of rhythmic feet stomping and hand clapping. Flamenco originated in southern Spain and is still popular here today. For the first few minutes, we heard guitar music and singing. Afterward, the dancer entered. Then there was more guitar music followed by another dancer. It was a good show. I was hoping to get a few pictures to upload but we couldn't take any.
I'm leaving Sevilla tomorrow afternoon and taking a bus to Cordoba. Look for an update from there tomorrow night.
--Justin
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