Seville day 1

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Hello. Writing this from an internet ´cafe´, that smells of wee, and is situated down a little back street, behind a cake shop, on the Avenue de Constitucion.

Arrived in Seville yesterday evening. Sped through Customs - I´m used to long queues, shuffling forward slowly to a booth where some hatchet faced, gimlet eyed, stalinist uniformed bod scrutinises my passport for a frighteningly long time. Smiling and looking innocent of all misdemeanours is useless, as I´ve never had a photo taken yet that didn´t look like something off Crimewatch, and my passport photo is no exception. Anyway, there was none of that. Sped right through.

The hotel is lovey, really funky. Lots of twisty turny little corridors leading to outside courtyard seating areas with little fountains. It´s all very Moroccan, and reminded me of a riad I stayed in once.

Having seen the advance weather forecast for the UK, I was looking forward to missing the snow and freezing winds. Seville, however, is a city under deluge - it´s rained pretty much all day, only stopping at about 4pmish. Really heavy rain, that´s turned the oranges that dot the pavements into orange slush. I´ve been absolutely drenched!!

This morning I went to the Hospital los Venerables Sacredotes, which used to be a home for aged priests. It´s now been taken over by an organisation devoted to some conservation thing or other, but is used as a sort of art gallery. It was a really nice little space to wander around, a couple of little palace-y type buildings around a central courtyard.

After a tapas lunch, I went to the Alcazar, the home of various musllim and christian rulers over the centuries, most of whom sound a bit mad. Lots of little courtyards and patios, but as lots of it was under sky, spoiled a bit by the wet weather.

This afternoon I went to the Cathedral, which is supposed to be the biggest in the world, sporting the biggest altar in the world. It´s absolutely enormous, and the sheer scale takes your breath away. There were lots of little chapels around the main space, all of which were locked off and behind bars, which was a little disappointing - understandable, tho´, given all the gold knocking around. I managed to climb the Giralda, which was the minaret of a mosque that used to stand on the spot. It´s over 90m high, leading up to a bell tower with views out over seville. Luckily, there were no stairs - you reach the top by going up a series of ramps. There were 36 of them tho´, so it´s not like I had it easy or anyhting!! The ramps are there as access to the bell tower used to be on horseback. I can´t imagine how or why anyone would want to rid a horse up a steep, dark bell tower, but there you go!!

Planning (unless I change my mind between now & then) to head out to Cordoba tomorrow.

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Comments

[Wendy Street]

Europe for a change !
I'm glad you like Seville. Tho I don't suppose it comes close to Sikkim. Sorry about all the rain - but the snow storms have just started in the UK. London and the SE expect to be hardest hit. Don't suppose you're going to a bull fight are you ? Not really your thing. Have a sherry and plenty of tapas instead. Have fun.