Time flows so differently on the road. So much is
seen and even more is left unseen when you move through three cities too fast. The last city in this tour was Seville. It went by in an instant.
Poor travel planning on our part not to give more time to that remarkable city.
Seville has too many alleys, plazas and roads to explore and centuries of
history for a mere two and a half days.
Historical time travel in Seville is impossible to miss
given its role in Spain’s empire from the late 1400’s until sometime in the
1900’s. This is where the plans were made to explore “the new world”. The Seville
Cathedral was built to demonstrate Seville’s wealth. As the third largest in
the world, it holds priceless treasures such as a 20-foot high silver alter
(some of it melted down by Napoleon to pay for that war). Paintings, gold and
silver relics. Even some remnants of Christopher Columbus in an elaborate crypt
are interred here. The story goes that his remains traveled from Hispanola to
Cuba and finally to this cathedral around 1900. A vast, mind-boggling space
inside with too many facts and statistics attributed to it for me to bore you
with here. That’s what Wikipedia is for.
On day two we explored the Real Alcázar, a palace that is
still used today by the king of Spain when visiting Seville. Built on a Moorish
palace and revised/added onto by succeeding kings from the early 1400’s is
another Moorish/gothic culture clash. Time got away from us there and we spent the day exploring
the gardens and never got around to that bike ride we going to take to see a
few more sites. And that was a shame because Seville has an amazing bike trail system.
Then it was time to go, our next stop southern Portugal. So long
Seville, we’ll plan much more time for the next
visit.
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