Road Trip to Southern Spain, Part 4: Sevilla

Before I start this blog post, a friendly reminder: there are just 19 days left in my campaign to self-publish my next novel in English, Spanish, and French. Here is the link:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/mrinalika-a-third-world-romance-novel/x/8737005

OK, so on we go to Sevilla: "¡Quien no ha visto Sevilla, no ha visto maravilla!"

The city was hardly a "maravilla" when we got there in the middle of a thunderstorm. To make things worse, we had not received a confirmation from the host from whom we had requested lodging. Traffic was horrendous and to comply with Murphy's Law, the windshield wipers of our car were so worn that I could hardly see where we were going.

I found a parking space in a side street and as the rain thundered on our car's roof, SIRI, the marvelous application that is found on Apple computers, came to the rescue. Using Claudette's iPhone, I asked it to find the nearest hotel to our present location.

It turned out we were near the Macarena district, one of the most traditional and historic parts of the city, and there were six hotels nearby. I chose the nearest one, called the phone number that SIRI offered and made a reservation.

Although the app offered directions to the hotel, I chose to play it safe since it was still raining very hard and noticing that there was a taxi stand just a half block away, I hired a taxi to lead us to the hotel.

It was a terrific choice: the hotel was near a large avenue that would allow us to leave the city quickly and without hassles, it was also near a side street that had a bus stop that would take us to the historical center, and it had a great automated parking system: you stop your car before the parking entrence, punch in your reservation or room number, a door opens, you drive your car into an elevator that is like a small room, the elevator takes you to your parking level (ours was the first floor) then the other door opens and you are told audibly and on a digital display which parking space has been assigned to you. Fantastic.

We went up into the lobby, checked in, and went to our room to rest.

Our luck changed and after we had had lunch, the sun came out. The receptionist told us which bus to take to go to the "casco histórico", of the city and off we went.

It was a short ride and we got off at the bust terminal in center city. It is located on a street bordering a nice park called "La Plaza Nueva":

From there, we walked to that part of the old city called "El Arenal". It has been converted into a pedestrian area.  The architecture of the buildings, like most in the older parts of the city, is a mixture of the severe, conservative Spain of mid-Twentieth Century and the graceful Moorish styles.

One can even see the imprint of the Moors in the heavy-handed structures built by the Church. As in this entrance to the Cathedral.

Sevilla, like most large cities in Europe, has surrounded its historical center with a series of large, bustling neighborhoods and districts; but, unlike most old European cities, it has managed, like Córdoba, Granada and other southern cities of Spain, to grow in an orderly fashion with wide avenues, and urban planning that calles not only for correctly structured streets and freeways but ample public transport, like this tram:

It is truly a nice mixture of the old and the new. Madrid's Metro is an engineering marvel (because it was built very deep into the ground in order not to disturb its above ground structures) but these trams, like the ones in Paris and Bordeaux, are more pleasant to use because you are not just being rushed about in dark tunnels: you can actually see the city up close.

And speaking of seeing the city up close, we decided to do the touristy thing and take a tour in a horse drawn carriage. By the old city walls, we found a carriage:

It was not only a slow-paced, tranquil way to "see the marvels" of Sevilla, but the guy was an excellent guide and raconteur of stories about the city and about how they had managed to get special traffic privileges for the horse drawn vehicles. (It was nice to see how the car and bus traffic respected the "calandrias" in the busy streets.)

He took us along the Guadalquivir river, which is not only a deep water port, but also the heart of Andalusia. The river is lined on both sides by wide, palm-lines avenues that were brightly lit in the afternoon sun. (Sorry, no picture!)

From the river we went to Maria Luisa Park. The park used to be part of the gardens of the San Telmo palace. In 1893, they were donated to the city of Seville by the Duchess of Montpensier, the Infanta Maria Luisa Fernanda. Just before World War I, in 1914 the city began the construction of buildings that were to be the Ibero-American Exposition in 1929. Most of the park was incorporated into that Exposition. 

Some of the park's buildings housed the office of the Exhibition; they later became public offices.

The huge structure that was the main exhibition area of the fair surrounds half the perimeter of the park. It now houses museums, headquarters for the Army units stationed in the region, and federal offices.

Back in the center of the city, we went for a stroll around the heart of the old city, the legendary Barrio de Santa Cruz.

It has been cleaned up, painted pretty, and the streets are no longer paved with round, uneven stones but it still retains its beauty and charm.

This is where all the tourist want to go and take pictures, and with good reason. It used to be the Jewish quarter before they were expelled from the city. It has some of the oldest churches of the city and, indeed, or all Spain. The city's Cathedral is here and so it the beautiful minaret of the old Moorish mosque, La Giralda; unfortunately, it has been converted into a bell tower. But, there are plenty of other things to see. Lots of "photo ops" as they say: streets lined with the ubiquitous orange trees,

Great sidewalk cafés and restaurants,

After all that walking, we repaired to one ourselves. It was tucked away under the street awnings so necessary in a city that can be boiling in summer.

Sevilla does have its share of "maravillas". Its modern parts have far outgrown the old city. People still live in neighborhoods such as Santa Cruz, but the old districts such as La Macarena and Triana no longer resembles their romantic image of song and poem as described by Bécquer and Lorca.

Nevertheless, I would still recommend that one visit the city. We only programmed a day and a half for it. One should allot a lot more time than that. This was just a scouting trip for us and we made a note to come back and dedicate more time to it. But for now, it was time to go to what would be the highlight of our trip: GRANADA!