Dutch Letters: Sevilla - Happy New Year

From Madrid we trained down to Sevilla to meet our friends, the Sechlers, and begin our tour of Spain's Andalusia Region. Trains in Europe -- what a great way to travel. The 2 1/2 hour ride featured comfortable seats, simple check-in, no security queue's, roomy cars that allowed you to get up and walk around, etc. And beautiful scenery thrown in for free.

Olive Trees. This is a small grove. Later in the trip we would see entire mountainsides covered with olive trees.

Happy Train Riders

The Andalusia Region was ruled by the Moors for almost 800 years, up until the late 15th century. This gives the area a strong African and Muslim influence. Cities have both historic mosques and cathedrals, and sometimes these religous structures have even been combined. The cities are also known for white-washed houses and winding, narrow streets. Sevilla also had a large number of orange trees, although we were told the fruit was too sour to eat.

One of Sevilla's many plaza's. Note the orange trees; they were all over the city.

One of Sevilla's winding streets

I grew up near a small town in Illinois called Andalusia, so I was curious on the origin of the name. Our tour book informed me that Andalusia is derived from Arabic word, Al-Andalus, meaning "Land of the West." Mayor Earl Johnson, on the website of Andalusia, Alabama states that Andalusia is Spanish for "To Walk Easy." His town is so named because it was easier to walk to Andalusia than to the town that it replaced in the mid-1800's. The cornerstone of internet knowledge, Wikipedia, states that there are at least three potential heritages for the word "Andalusia" and provides great detail on all three possibilities (which I have kindly decided not to include here). Mayor Curtis Morrow's website provides a very, very complete history of Andalusia, Illinois but avoids the thorny subject of the town's naming altogether. However, the website does have a link to a new housing development called "Fancy Creek Crossing," a name that I'm sure will never be debated by etymologists anywhere.

Now back to Sevilla. The two big attractions are the Alcazar and the Cathedral. The Alcazar (fortress) is a palace of moorish design, even though it was commissioned by a Christian King, Pedro the Cruel, in the 14th century. As you can see in the pictures, the intricate carvings, ornate ceilings and tile mosaics make for a beautiful palace.

One of the rooms in the Alcazar. All of the ceilings were of ornate design.

A hallway at the Alcazar.

The group in the garden of the Alcazar

One of the courtyards at the Alcazar. Note the carvings -- it was like this throughout the entire palace.

Sevilla's Cathedral is the third largest church in the world, behind St. Peter's in Rome and St. Paul's in London. Supposedly, the leaders of Sevilla decided to build a cathedral so large "they will think us insane." Seems like an interesting way to motivate the townspeople. Attached to the Cathedral is the Giralda, 300 ft tall minaret which was part of the old mosque. When the Christians assumed power and built the Cathedral, rather than tear down the minaret, they incorporated it into the new design. We climbed to the top of the Giralda -- interestingly, it uses a ramp instead of steps. Either way, it was still a long way up.

Sevilla's Cathedral with the Giralda on the right

The Giralda. The ramp to the top is wide enough for two horse to pass side by side.

The front of the Cathedral

A monument to Christopher Columbus inside the Cathedral. Although his burial place is not certain, most people believe that he is buried in Sevilla.

Stained glass surrounded by carvings in the Cathedral

View of Sevilla from the top of the Giralda. Note the Bull Fighting Stadium.

Claimed to be Christendom's largest altarpiece at 43' x 65'. The carvings include 36 scenes from the life of Christ.

Toro! Toro! The view inside the bull ring. I'm sure that it looks big until it's just you and the bull.

Caroline & Carol one their "audio guides." These things were great ways to learn about the sites we toured. However, audio guides (like blogs) have to strike the right balance between interesting detail and too much information. At this particular palace, the audio guide went way overboard on detail; hence the girls had to rest while listening.

We spent New Year's Eve in Sevilla, where apparently the local custom is for all the restaurants to require advance reservations for a fixed price menu at a very high price. Since we were both unaware of and unwilling to participate in this custom, our choices for dinner that evening were severely limited. After a lengthy search, we ended up at the "Texas Lone Star Saloon." It wasn't listed in any of our guide books, but they had plenty of seating, a full menu, and the food was passable.

New Year's Eve Hotspot

Some of you may be wishing there were more pictures of the Alcazar or Cathedral. Don't worry, we still have two more towns to visit, each with its own fortress and cathedral.