Concert in the Gardens of the Royal Palace Seville

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JUEVES (THURSDAY) 20TH JUNE
The gates to the Jardines del Real Alcazar (Gardens of the Royal Palace) opened at 9pm, which gave me over an hour to wander them before the concert began at 10:30pm. They were incredible (I'm running out of superlative adjectives!) - spacious, surrounded by a 10m wall. Incorporated into the design was a maze, an additional wall that divided the gardens along which you ...could 'promenade' and see over the whole area, and various 'rooms'. Seats and urns at the end of paths beckoned you to venture along them. Dusk was hastily approaching but some focus plants were lit with uplights. Peacocks pecked at the lawn and made their haunting call. Spring is finishing so many flowers have passed their best, but still could be seen acanthus, canna lillies, cliveas and roses. The agapanthus were just coming into bloom.
By just after 10pm it was fully dark and so I made my way to the area set aside for the concert. It was in a courtyard created where the viewing wall ended, near the maze. There was seating for about 350 people, with the stage a raised platform at one end. I had not chosen the concert especially. It was just the one that happened to be on. It is part of a concert series that had begun on June 19th, called 'Noches en los Jardine Del Real Alcazar'. Tonight's performers were 'Finis Mundi', playing medieval music. The three musicians, Emilio, Elena and Juan, played numerous instruments each. Elena played various recorders - alto, soprano etc. Emilio played 4 different stringed instruments - a lute, a mandolin and 2 others I did not recognise. Juan, who also provided explanations of what they were playing (in Spanish!), played a violin type instrument held vertically and a instrument that appeared to be a combination of a piano accordian and a guitar. He turned a handle at one end that changed the tone of the instrument. Both men also played drums (like a celtic drum). Of course a tall person had to sit in front of me, so I spent the first piece trying to see everything that was going on on the stage. I knew that this would be annoying the person behind me, plus it was making me dizzie, so I just listened and was taken back to a medieval court. The surroundings surely supported this fantasy!
The concert sadly finished after only an hour, so being able now to navigate the back streets of Santa Cruz, I was at my hotel within 5 minutes or so.

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