Seville So Far… and all done

It’s the end of my third day in Seville; two to go.

There’s really not much to write about. I’m not going to share all my activities, hour by hour. I’ve done that before, and I will just get bogged down, because there is so much to see here.

I’ll just offer a few nuggets of things that have excited or impressed or moved me.

Tapas

I arrived here on my birthday, and I originally planned to go out for a nice dinner. But then I got to thinking a better way to celebrate was to join a tour and sample some tapas. That turned out to be a perfect celebration. There were eleven of us, plus our fabulous guide, Carolina. And the other people on the tour were so much fun, by the end of the night I felt like I’d celebrated my birthday with good friends In fact, a group of five of us continued the party nearly til midnight at a few bars.

Self-Guided Walking Tour

Thanks to my buddy Rick Steves, I enjoyed a self-guided walking tour of the area around Seville Cathedral and into the Santa Cruz neighborhood. He has an app called “Rick Steves’ Audio Europe,” and I enjoyed his “Sevilla City Walk.”

When I was in Rome, I also used one of his audio tours, and I discovered that he has recently added a “sidekick” named Lyssa. This has added a goofy aspect to the tours, with silly banter that I don’t particularly enjoy. But the information and the instructions are really helpful, so it’s a tradeoff I am willing to make.

Around the cathedral

Seville Cathedral is the largest Gothic cathedral in the world. From the outside it looks like an incoherent, uncohesive mishmash. It’s impressive, but it wouldn’t win any architecture prizes. Because it’s so huge and sprawling, it’s hard to get a decent photo. 

The tour included a walk around the cathedral but not the inside. As I walked around (about 500 meters, or a quarter mile), I was struck by how little this resembles any other famous cathedral. It’s all horizontal, not vertical. Probably they did it this way because they were using the footprint of the mosque that had been here.

The tour also took me past, but not inside, the Royal Alcázar.

And then I followed Rick and Lyssa into Santa Cruz, formerly the Jewish quarter of Sevilla.

Inside the Cathedral

I did go inside the cathedral on a tour I signed up for in advance with Naturanda. We visited both the cathedral and the Alcázar. I would not recommend this tour or this company. Although the guide, Emilio, was knowledgeable and personable and did his best to make it interesting, the group was much too large and the time was much too rushed. And things were chaotic at the start, with a whole slew of different tours all starting around the same time. In retrospect, I wish I had gone with Rick. He doesn’t have an audio tour with Lyssa, but he does have a self-guided tour in his guidebook, and I would have preferred doing this at my own pace and without the big group.

The inside of Seville Cathedral is much like the outside: sprawling and disjointed. There are so many magnificent elements, but it was hard to get a sense of awe or majesty. Part of this might be the crowds, not just our group but the many other tourists trying to make sense of the whole thing. Because of the size, you can’t stand in one place and take it all in. There’s a lot of navigation involved.

The photo at the top of this post is the view from inside the courtyard. It’s probably the cathedral at its most photogenic.

Giralda

After speeding through the cathedral, we had about a half hour of free time to climb the Giralda. The climb is a series of 35 ramps that go around the perimeter. It was built this way because the muezzin would ride a donkey up to the top to deliver the call to prayer. (The top section, with the church bells, was added to the existing minaret, and that has a flight of stairs.)

Because of the crowds, it was hard to go up, have a look around, and come back down in a half hour. I was amused on the way up because a recorded announcement (in Spanish and English) instructed visitors to stay to the right on the way up and to the left on the way down. Think about that! Happily, the people coming down disregarded that instruction.

The Alcázar

The Royal Alcázar of Seville is also a mishmash, but a more beautiful one, in my opinion, and with good reason. The Alcázar started life in the 10th century as an Islamic citadel. Over the next four centuries it was expanded, rebuilt, and partially replaced with new palaces and gardens. The upper floors are still used as a royal residence when they visit Seville, making this the oldest royal palace in Europe.

For me, the most impressive aspect of the Alcázar was the detail. So much stunning carving and tile work decorate the walls and ceilings, it’s a feast for the eyes in every room. And the outdoor spaces, and in particular the gardens (of which I only saw a small portion) are beautiful. Probably they’d be even more so in spring and summer (but I’m glad to be here in February, when the temperatures have been very pleasant). 

Flamenco

I was told I couldn’t visit Seville and not go see Flamenco. And I owe big thanks to whoever told me that. I wanted to see a less touristy, more authentic Flamenco show, and I think I did that, although I’m told the real authentic Flamenco doesn’t even begin until midnight. The show I saw, at Pura Esencia, started at 8pm.

Was it authentic? Was it touristy? Who cares? It was spectacular! Here are some videos.

Next

I have two more days in Seville. I’ll post again with more highlights.

I also have a ton of photos and videos to organize, and that might take a while, which is why I included so many here. I’ll share a link to my album later.

The two more days

Rather than writing a whole new post, I’m just adding this short note to cover my last two days in Seville. There was really nothing eventful to write about. I walked around a lot, saw some new things and some things again, because there’s so much to take in. I had a great tapas dinner last night, and today I took a walking tour that covered some familiar ground but also shed some new light on many of the things I’d already seen.

And I organized my photo album, which tells lots of the stories. Here’s where you can find all my Seville photos, complete with captions that explain it all in excruciating detail.