What a lovely city Seville is, having come here on a day trip from Costa del Sol. I return on my journey to the Algarve because I had not seen all that I wanted to see on my first visit. Of Course for me the big draw is Columbus’s Tomb in the Cathedral. The guide was dead serious when he informed us that scientists had determined that the remains in the tomb were indeed Columbus’s as the DNA results showed that 30% of the 100g were defiantly his (the rest being horse presumably). The Cathedral is built on the site of an earlier Mosque; of which some part still remain: The beautiful Giralda or bell tower is in fact an extended minaret. (Interestingly, to get to the top you walk (slowly) up 34 slopes where horses were used to get reinforcements to the ramparts quickly); and the Patio of Oranges which is surrounded by the original Mosque walls. Within the Cathedral itself there are riches that I can only be imagined, or, as one lady from Uruguay said “Stolen from the natives of South America”.
Seville was and still is a major trading port as the river “Guadalquivir” can be navigated from the Atlantic. It was to the “Torre Del Oro” (The Golden Tower) that all the riches, plundered from the New World. The city has a long trading history. Since Roman times traders have come and gone, Jews, Muslims and the Islamic rulers who made Seville the Capital of their Spanish Empire. This part of history was brought to an end by 1248 when Spanish King Fernando III took control. However this was not the end of war, terror and murder, as Seville was one of the first cities to fall to the nationalists in 1936. From then until the 80’s Seville went seriously downhill, but for Seville Expo 92 a new pride in the city took over and many new buildings and bridges as well as restorations took place, work seems to be at a halt at present but more is planned as and when money come available again.
The reason for my return trip was to see the Alcazar. Here like in Granada the fortified town developed into Palaces, Mosques and homes fit for Sultans, Kings and wealthy traders! I will leave the photos to describe the whole area, but I will say it was well worth the return visit!
The final part of my visit was to be a ride on the New Tram Network that in my Guide Book dated 2009 describes as a being “an experiment with green initiatives”. The “network” consists of one line amounting to about a mile with 4 trams it takes less than 10 minutes end to end and I walked the whole length nearly as quickly as the tram! I wonder who paid for it!
