A Meeting in Seville

February 16, 2025

Our train to Seville from the Cádiz Station

We are up early walking to the train station, to catch the 8:45 am train to Seville. Eileen is in Seville for the week, then will be joining us in Cádiz. It’s about an hour and one half to Seville with multiple stops along the way. At it’s best the train makes 157 kmh or over 97 mph between stations.

We found a hotel room about 2 minutes from Eileen. After getting settled we all set out to explore some of the city.

We meandered the streets on our way to the Art Museum and saw this Moorish influenced beauty.

A monument to CLARA CAMPOAMOR who was a champion of Spanish laws confirming women’s rights and equality. Located in the small plaza in from of tiled building in the above photo.

One of many angles on the Cathedral courtesy of Pete

The Seville Cathedral (Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See) is gigantic covering 443’ x 330’.

The Gothic Cathedral was completed in 1519 just 117 years after ground breaking. It was constructed on the site of a 160,000 sq ft mosque, which was christianized upon Ferdinand III’s conquest of Seville. It was in 1401 that city leaders decided to build the current cathedral on the site of the mosque. According to local lore the members of the cathedral chapter said, “Let us build a church so beautiful and so grand that those who see it finished will take us for mad”. They were a complete success.

Museum of Fine Arts (photo from museum website)

ALEJO FERNANDEZ
Anunciación (hacia 1508)

Museo de Bellas Artes Seville (Fine Arts Museum of Seville) mostly consists of paintings and statues with religious themes, although there were a few exceptions.

Eileen pointed out that all the men have six-packs.

Enthralled by all the intricately detailed ceilings we’ve seen.

Jan BRUEGHEL, el Joven
El Paraíso Terrenal (hacia 1620)

My favorite Madonna with a baby Jesus that looks like a baby. BARTOLOMÉ ESTEBAN MURILLO
Virgin with Child. Virgin of the Napkin, circa 1668-1669

There were several of these highly amusing paintings with huge carriages carrying dozens of people.

This detail of satyr’s in one of the carriage paintings.

Pete hung out in the little park next to the museum until it started raining at which time he retired to a table under a neighboring restaurant’s awning to drink beer. Eileen and I joined him, but got kicked out as our table was reserved. We set out to find something to eat. That turned out to be a difficult task. It was getting late in the afternoon and restaurants were closing or packed with diners.

We walked over a bridge spanning River Guadalquivir from the Arabic meaning ‘the great river’. It’s one of the largest rivers in Spain.

We found some markets and food courts that were closed or overflowing with patrons.

Also found this beautiful window in what looked to be a converted train station.

Starting back towards our hotels we finally found a restaurant on a little side street that was still serving tapas. At this point almost any food was good food. Having covered many miles we retired to our respective hotels with a plan to meet up later in the evening. We ended the day drinking good wine and eating Andalusian Tapas including fried eggplant with honey (delicious) and smoked sardines on toast fingers. Fortunately we didn’t have far to totter back to our rooms.

February 17, 2025

The Royal Alcázar of Seville map showing details of the palace and extensive gardens.

Early tickets to the Alcázar. I could say it was a plan, but we thought we were arranging to be there a little earlier than Eileen. Turns out her tickets were for later in the day and we just lucked out. The reason being that once you on the grounds, you can stay as long as you want, so it just keeps getting more crowded. We were some of the first people through the door and had the benefit of strolling the gardens in relative peace and quiet.

The Alcázar was site of an Islamic citadel in the 10th century, and developed into an Islamic palace complex in the 11th, 12th and early 13th centuries. After the Spanish Castilian conquest in 1242 the complex and gardens were gradually rebuilt. The most notable construction was in the ornate Mudéjar style.

The palace has a collection of traditional tiles

The Courtyard of Dolls, has little heads embedded in the arches. They are not easy to find.

The ceiling in one of the royal chambers of Peter I

It was common to have living quarters, including bedrooms on the ground level during the summer months, allowing for cooler temperatures with protection of the upper floors. In the winter there would be a move to the upper level living quarters to gain more warmth and avoid the humidity of the lower levels.

Details of the mosaics and carvings in some of the walls and archways.

The Courtyard of Damsels was the centre of the Palace and of its official life. The courtyard leads to the Charles V Room, the Hall of Ambassadors and the Royal Bedroom. Princes, kings and nobles would wait here before being received by the king in the Hall of Ambassadors.

Mosaic floor in the Prince’s summer living quarters

The central painting is the Virgin of Navigators

Off the Admiral’s Room this painting is found in the Audience Chamber and depicts the Virgin of Navigators protecting navigators under her cape, including Admiral Christopher Columbus to the right. These rooms were used as storage for the Trading House built here in 1503 by Ferdinand and Isabella, the Catholic rulers, to control the lands discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492. The first expedition to sail round the world was also planned here.