Tag Archives: Seville

Andalusia – 8. Seville on Another Day

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The Alcazar is Seville’s fortress and royal palace, established in Moorish times. The fort here dates to the early tenth century. The Moors ruled from the early eight century until 1248 when conquered by Ferdinand III of Castile. Significant reconstruction began and continued through the centuries. Although little of the original palace remains, the original style persists in the many ornate courtyards and the Mudejar architecture. Mudejar means those who remained, referring to Muslims in Spain after the Reconquista. It is a fusion of Christian and Islamic art and architecture, a heady mix of Gothic, early Renaissance and the flowing tracery and distinctive detail of Muslim crafts. After 1492, the Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella renovated the palace as their main residence and it is still a royal residence today.

We queued in the morning for early afternoon tickets. Visits are restricted by number and entrance is on the hour. It costs thirteen euro, seven for over 65s. Entrance is through the Puerta del Leon (Gate of the Lion) which leads on to the Patio de la Monteria, the Courtyard of the Hunters who used to meet here before their hunts. The courtyard is dominated by Pedro’s Palace, which forms the focal point of the complex and includes the mighty Hall of the Ambassadors

Don Pedro’s Palace was built in alliance with the Moorish kingdom of Granada in the 1360s Pedro’s ally, Muhammad V, was the Nasrid ruler of Granada and supplied designers and craft workers who had also worked on the Alhambra. The Patio of the Maidens is a particularly fine example of Mudejar architecture. Formal gardens with fountains and pools were a notable feature of Moorish palaces, with greenery and shining water cooling the sunbaked setting, literally and aeshetically. The Gardens are truly an earthly delight, lying between the palace and the city walls. The Grotto gallery gives a great view over the gardens built above a stretch of the Moorish defensive wall in the 16th century. There’s a Garden of the Dance, and a Garden of the Poets alluding to the various arts that settled amidst the shading landscape. Further gardens have been added up to the twentieth century.

Leaving, we follow the palace walls through a charming ramble of ancient streets in this picturesque part of Santa Cruz. Sunburnt but softly rendered in pastels, there are welcoming intimate bars and cafes with the promise of music later on. The route leads on to the Murillo Gardens, named for the artist whose work is such a ubiquitous feature of Seville’s holy places. Bartolome Esteban Murillo was born in Seville in 1617 and became a leading painter of religious imagery. He is also well known for his informal paintings of contemporary street life, featuring a cast of flower girls, fruit sellers and street urchins. His paintings feature in major museums across the globe including the Prado, the Louvre, the Hermitage and the London National Portrait Gallery. He died in Seville in 1682

His park continues parallel to the Avenue Menendez Pelayo and there’s a monument for Columbus halfway along. Meanwhile the ornate carriages of La Feria’s finely clad aficionados trot past. We head for the Parque Maria Luisa, a huge green wedge of the city’s southside on the banks of the Guadalquivir. This was where the Ibero American Exposition of 1929 was held. The main pavillion at Plaza de Espana showcased Spain’s industry and technology. One of Seville’s signature buildings, it was designed by local architect Anibal Gonzales. Arranged in a semi-circle, it forms a fantastical montage of architectural styles facing onto a scenic moat. Here you can take a pleasure trip in a dinky rowing boat.

The arcades are packed with tourists, foreign and local, and a host of buskers and vendors. There’s a wedding party in full La Feria dress around the central fountain. In fact, the Exposition of 29 helped establish the traje de flamenco as a ‘traditional’ garb for the ladies of Spain. A young Flamenco group of musicians and dancers performs on the ground floor gallery at the main entrance. They are modern in style and substance, clad in uniform black, though this is a stylish mufti in the modern mode. The accousitcs are ideal for the percussive clapping and full bodied rhythm of the guitar

Returning through Arenal, we pass the famous Tobacco Factory. Seville was the first European centre for tobacco, the Spaniards spotting its benefits the moment Columbus stepped ashore in the Americas in 1492. The Royal Tobacco Factory is an 18th century building, bringing the various tobacco manufacturers under one roof, and one ruler. Since the 1950s the building has been the seat of the Rector of the University of Seville. Carmen, titular lead of Bizet’s opera, was a cigarrera here. Women were renowned for their skills as cigar rollers, and they replaced the male workforce in 1813. The fiery Carmen was a Gitano who lead the young soldier Don Jose astray, before dumping him for the dashing toreador Escamillo. The opera was first performed in Paris in 1875. Amongst its best known songs are L’amour est un oiseau rebelle, and the Toreador Song.

For early evening, we have booked a Flamenco show in Calle Cuna which runs parallel to Calle Sierpes close to Plaza Del Salvador. Teatro Flamenco Sevilla is an intimate theatre seating about three hundred people. They run several hour long shows daily. Flamenco grew out of the Gitano Barrio of Triana, on the west bank of the Guadalquivir. The folk form is internationally famous, a definitive Spanish culture. The singing is expressive, the guitar rhythms hypnotic, the interpretation of the dancers seductive, the whole making for a sensually charged and dramatic performance, felt as much as it is seen and heard. Traditionally, Flamenco was more of an ad hoc expression, similar to an impromptu Irish Folk session. The first flamenco cabaret bar was opened in Seville in 1842 and known as the Cafe Sin Nobre, No Name Cafe. These days Flamenco is more usually presented as a tablao, or show. Tablao refers to the stage floorboards. On the Boards, as Rory Gallagher would sing.

Our performance was at 7.30 and featured five dancers, one male, and a male and female vocalist. The guitarist was the natural leader of the troupe, although leading from the rear. The vocals were visceral. I couldn’t believe how their singing seemed to explode from inside my head. All performers contributed to the stacatto percussion, another startling feature of Flamenco. Talent, spectacle and a genuine passion permeated the performace. On the last few numbers, they and the audience got carried away, with plenty of high good humour, particularly the manic and brilliant guitarist. A great gig.

Afterwards we have a decent tapas at Plaza Alfalfa nearby. Around the corner from our hotel is the curiously named Plaza Cristo de Burgos. We decide to take a look, mindful that tomorrow we take a Spanish Train to Cadiz; but that’s another story. The small park has a statue of the great guitarist. The great guitarist being flamenco guitarist Manuel Serrapi Sanchez and known as Nino Ricardo. He was born in this square in 1904 and became a major influence on flamenco guitar technique. Paco de Lucia hailed him as the Godfather of guitar.

We say goodbye to Seville, from a rooftop bar above the Cathedral. The illuminations shimmer in the warm night air and it feels as if we ride above the city on a magic carpet. It all suggests a shot of Colombian espresso, a square of dark chocolate, the air scented with the smoke of a long Havana. Open a bottle of Osborne Sherry and enjoy the company of Compay Segundo and the sound of Guantanamera.

Yo soy un hombre sincero,

De donde crece la palma.

Y antes de morir yo quiero

Cantar mis versos del alma.

Guantanamera, guajira guantanamera,

Guantanamera, guajira guantanamera.

Guantanamera is a Cuban song from the poem by Jose Marti set to the music of Joseito Fernandez (probably). Look up the version by Compay Segundo with video of the noted guitarist enjoying the benefits of tobacco and drink in his native Havana.

Andalusia – 7. Seville

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Touchdown at midnight in Seville airport. Step into a warm Spring night as taxis cruise conveniently to the kerb. It’s thirty five euro to the city centre, which is a bit steep; but it’s Feria, and you now how festivals eat money. Our city centre hotel is near six hundred euro for three nights, so we’re prepared. Feria is Seville’s biggest festival, where locals let there hair down, or tie it up, a fortnight after the serious religious and cultural devotion of Semana Santa. 

Our accommodation, La Pila De Pata is in the Old Town, Santa Cruz, within walking distance of the city’s main attractions. The room is attractive, with a timber ceiling, old style shutters, and a gigantic fan. There’s a small wrought iron balcony overlooking the narrow street, Calle Aldohinga. There are noisy neighbours across when we arrive, but hey, it’s Feria, and we’re dog tired and sleep easy.

Seville is the capital and largest city in Andalusia. Almost seven hundred thousand people live here on the banks of the mighty Guadalquivir River. Founded by the Romans and ruled by the Moors for five centuries from 700AD, in 1248 Castile conquered the Moors in the Reconquista. NO8DO is the city’s emblem. It is a rebus for No me ha dejado: she (Seville) has not abandoned me. Pronounced No ma dejado, the symbol 8 represents the trio of syllables madeja; a skein of wool. The legend is that King Alfonso X used the phrase thanking the citizens for standing by him against attempts by his son Sancho to usurp the throne. Alfonso ruled from 1252 till his death in 1284.

Seville lies fifty miles inland from the Atlantic and flourished as a river port in the late middle ages, particularly for imports from the New World. Silting of the river and other factors saw it decline in the eighteenth century and maritime power passed to Cadiz on the Atlantic coast further south. Ancient Seville lies largely within Santa Cruz. a warren of streets and lanes spreading north from the central area around the ancient fortress. Here you’ll find a cluster of magnificent buildings including the Alcazar, and the spectacular Cathedral. 

On our first day, we shimmy down from Aldohinga to Plaza Virgen de los Reyes. The Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See is six hundred years old and the largest gothic church in the world. The bell tower of La Giralda soars above. There’s a short queue for entrance, with a generous discount, almost fifty per cent for aul lads like me. Younger folk, like M, pay the full thirteen euro. The Giraldillo, the bronze statue depicting the victory of the Catholic Faith stands here, a replica of the weathervane at the top of the tower. La Giralda was originally the minaret of the Mosque, with Christian symbols added after the Reconquista. The Renaissance belfry and weathervane were added in 1598. The climb to the top is relatively easy, a ramp zig zags upwards at a moderate incline. The views are truly majestic. Even more exciting, the bells broke into full peal causing some to clutch their ears. The bells. The bells!

The Cathedral interior is mind bogglingly cavernous, on a scale that hints at science fiction besides a supreme exhaltation of faith. The crowds are well dispersed around its many treasures. Amongst these are the tomb of Christopher Columbus. He set sail in 1492, forging the route to the New World and making his first landfall on the island of Guanahani which he named San Salvador. Columbus was thus instrumental in the initiation of the lucrative trans Atlantic trade and more. A new world order grew, and such benefits as tobacco, potatoes and turkeys first came to Euope. Gold and silver too; and coffee, jazz and rock n roll. 

Columbus’s remains were interred in the Cathedral in 1513, seven years after his death. They had an appropriately peripatetic existence, being further interred in Hispaniola and Cuba before making their way back to Seville in 1898. The tomb is a catafalque, depicting a casket borne aloft by the Kings of Leon, Castille, Aragon and Navarre. 

The Vision of Saint Anthony by Bartolome Esteban Murillo from 1656 is in the Saint’s chapel nearby. There are eighty chapels within the Cathedral each host to a story, an ambience to absorb and admire. Outside, the Patio de los Naranjos is the courtyard of the original Mosque centered on a fountain. Here, the Muslim devotees would wash before prayer. It is a restful oasis after the sensory overload of the interior.

Back towards the Old Town, we stop in San Francisco Square for lunch. The Ayuntamiento, City Hall, lines the western side. This was built in 1534 and upgraded in the Neo Classical style in 1891. Over a drink we await our tapas, including Tortilla. But while the guide book refers to it as the ubiquitous Spanish Tortilla, we finish our drinks without it arriving. Moving on to Calle Sierpes, the street of the snakes, we get pizza slices for nourishment. Sierpes is a pedestrianised shopping street and perfect for the Spanish Stroll of early evening.

Hey Rosita! Donde vas con mi carro Rosita?

tu sabes que te quiero

pero ti me quitas todo

ya te robasta mi television y mi radio

y ahora quieres llevarse mi carro

no me haga asi, Rosita

ven aqui

ehi, estese aqui al lado Rosita

Spanish Stroll was a hit single in 1977 for Mink Deville, Willy Deville’s band, from their 1976 debut album Cabretta, a jacket of soft leather. Derived from the Spanish word for goat, it is in fact sheep leather. Bass player Ruben Siguenza did the spoken bit.

By early evening we follow the crowds across the San Telmo bridge over the Guadalquivir to Triana. Triana is said to be the cradle of Flamenco being originally the barrio for the Gitano community. Today it is a lively traditional area with riverfront bars giving great views of the city. To the south is Los Remedios, a more modern area which hosts another exuberant expression of tradition. The Feria de Abril is a week long fair held a fortnight after the Semana Santa. The locals don traditional attire and let their hair down, or tie it up, in a spree of drinking and dancing. The fairground is at the top of long, straight Calle de Asuncion.

The throng is going one way in early evening, and we are pushed along to enter through a huge gateway, bringing us into a garden of earthly delights. It is quite overpowering, a feeling the whole world is here, balanced between chaos and the vast underlying structure of community. There are a thousand tents or casetas for drinking, dining and dancing, welcoming a half million visitors per day. The casetas are mostly restricted access, for various clubs, associations and families but some are open to the general public and visitors. There is a horse and carriage parade making a colourful, traditional spectacle and further on is an amusement park known as La Calle del Infierno, or Hell Road. The week coincides with the start of the bullfighting season across the river at Real Maestranza, the twelve thousand seater bullring and one of the most iconic in Spain.

The evening serenity of Old Seville beckons. and we return across the river where the Torre del Oro guards the far bank. The tower dates from Moorish times when it was part of the city’s defensive walls. Built in 1220  the turret was added in 1760. There was once a twin tower across linked by a mighty chain to thwart enemy shipping. We find space at a restaurant on Calle Almirante Lobo, Admiral Wolf as we might say, and enjoy our meal al fresco as the sun sets behind the Tower of Gold. The sun sinks and illuminations blossom over the city. Later, we find the rooftop bar at the Cathedral Hotel to bask in the moon over magical Seville and raise a glass or two.