Sevilla (Seville)

The second city of our trip was Sevilla.  The capital of Andalucia, which is home to the biggest Gothic Cathedral in Europe.  Mom and I rented out an apartment in the city center which happened to be very cozy.  By the time we found it and got situated, we were pretty worn out.  The next day we made up for it by doing a FOUR hour walking tour of the city.  I've done quite a few free walking tours but four hours is by far the longest tour out of all of them.  Nonetheless, it was a great tour led by a Moroccan man named Medi.  He was fun and super smart.

This is Medi teaching us how the women use to flirt with these fans


Medi had all of the dates on point in regards to Spanish history.  He spoke mainly of Isabel & Fernando (los reyes catolicos) who took control of Spain in 1492, the year Columbus sailed the ocean blue :) My favorite part of the tour was towards the end in La Plaza de España.  I've been to "La Plaza de España" (all Spanish cities have main town squares called this) in Madrid, Salamanca, Badajoz, Caceres, Barcelona, etc. but Sevilla is my favorite so far.  Why? Because its HUGE, beautiful, and detailed.  It is also not a "square" its open, facing a major park in Sevilla (María Luisa Park) .

This plaza was finished in 1928 in order to show off for the Ibero-American Exposition in 1929 which hosted guests from Portugal, the United States, Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Chile, the Republic of Colombia, Cuba, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Bolivia, Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Ecuador.  Each Spanish region and province of Andalusia were represented as well.  The Exposition was held in order to improve the relations among the countries, most of which were former Spanish territories. The reason the plaza is open is to embrace the relationship among Spain and it's former colonies.  The plaza is also facing the main river in Sevilla, in respect to "The Path to America".

Here it is :) La Plaza de España

A shot of the detailed art you see throughout the plaza

The fountain in the middle of it had a rainbow :)

 

There is a series of 48 benches in the plaza that are dedicated to the provinces of Spain

 

La Plaza is a landmark example of the Renaissance Revival style in Spanish architecture

 

Here I am sitting by the Badajoz bench, my home in Spain

After the tour Mom and I went back to the apartment to rest before we went to a professional flamenco performance.  I had heard a little flamenco before but it was all brand new for Mom.  After the show we were pretty speechless but let's just say it is very..... different.  Major culture shock for someone who hasn't been exposed to it before.  The show was comprised of a singer, guitar player, dancer, and clapper.  When I say "different" I mean it is sung with a LOT of passion, sadness, and in a way it is it's own kind of beauty.  The dancers did a lot of tapping while the others were off to the side clapping in a specific way.  If I'm not doing a very good job of explaining it, youtube it because you have to see it for yourself to know :)

This is what the dancer's dress looked like
worldartswest.org

Other attractions that we saw include; the Santa Cruz neighborhood (the old Jewish Quarter full of beautiful apartments and tons of restaurants), La Catedral y La Giralda (Cathedral and the famous tall tower), Triana (the neighborhood across the river), and oh yeah..a massive and noisy demonstration  (due to the crisis and high unemployment rates)

La Giralda

La Giralda at night- we had a pretty view from our dinner table

This piece of architecture is known as the "mushrooms"



Us after going to the Christmas market underneath the "mushrooms"

Sevilla seemed to have gone by the quickest out of all of the cities we saw.  I will most likely be going back because it's only three hours away and is famous for it's "Holy Week" in March and "Feria" (Fair) in April.