October 13, 2018 Seville SP

After breakfast we decided to head into town a little early for a coffee, and to use some indoor plumbing.  As we were walking into town in the morning it was a little quiet but starting to stir.  The sun was shining and there was an air of freshness to things, Ton looked up and said “I like this town”.  Seville has been everything we hoped it would be and more.  We have really enjoyed ourselves.

Ton’s hometown in Thailand is famous for it’s horse carriages.  Ton said the sound of the horses hooves reminded her of home.

The highlight of the day was a guided tour of the Alcazar.  It is the royal palace of Seville and dates to the 12th century as a palace.  It is claimed to be the oldest royal palace still in use, though the British on our tour thought that Windsor Castle was older.  After some discussion between the British and the Spanish guide, they decided it could be both depending on how you counted.

The palace consists of three buildings, two of which were built by Christians after the reconquest and one by the Islamic Caliphate that fortunately was left largely intact .  They each have there own unique style, but for us the most impressive building was the one built in the Mudejar style.  The palace also has extensive gardens that are also quite beautiful.  Ton just about ran the battery out on her camera taking pictures.  We ended up spending over three hours on the tour and then retracing our steps to look at places that we really liked.  

Blue has a special meaning in Islam associated with being transported to heaven.
The plaster work was incredibly intricate, and covered a huge area in the palace.
In addition to the plaster work, there was intricate tile work on both the walls and floors.
It is hard to capture the scale and detail of the rooms in the palace.

By the time we were done with the Alcazar we were ready for a nice lunch.  We went to a place that has been in business for 75 years Bodega Gongora, and we understand why.  The street seating and the good seating was all taken, and we were about to leave when we found a small room in back by the bathrooms that we had to ourselves for the meal.  We had a grilled seafood plate that consisted of Octopus, Tuna, Anchovies, Sardines, and a white fish we could not identify.  The fish was delicious, though we decided that in the future we are going to have our Sardines and Anchovies fried as you can just crunch the bones with the fish.

Our seafood platter.

We spent some time walking around town and people watching. The city is incredibly pedestrian friendly, and the people of Seville seem to really enjoy just going out for a stroll and to eat.  It really is a city to love.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *