travels in a motorhome: Seville

We arrived in Seville yesterday, driving the ninety minutes or so from Camping "Los Gazules" after the wind had died down a little. The parking space here is just that, a corner of a compound where the main activity is the redistribution of new cars but it has water, waste disposal, electricity (although our cable won't stretch to the socket!) security, WiFi and most importantly it's a fifteen minute walk into the the centre of the city. And what a city this is. Yesterday we had a reconnoitre and noted the places we had to see today as we only had one full day in Seville. Everywhere we looked there were ornate buildings, museums, parks, gardens and all of it in the Centro Historica dominated by the Cathedral.

The Real Alcazar was a must see and it didn't disappoint. Although the original site dates from the tenth century it was during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, when the Christian monarchs used it as their main palace, that the sumptuous tile, plaster and wood carvings created the palace as it now is. We were blown away by the Alhambra in Granada but although the Alcazar is not on the same scale it surpasses the Alhambra in the degree to which it has been preserved. The colours of the tiles, mosaics and polychromed wood are breathtaking and still vibrant. Artistic and architectural styles encompassing (and I'm reading from the official guide now) Taifa, Almohad, Gothic, Mudejar, Reinassance, Baroque and Neo-Classical have all been used here and it's amazing. I can do no better than quote the Lonely Planet guide which says "If heaven really does exist, then let's hope it looks a little bit like the inside of Seville's Alcazar". There are two rooms hung with sixteenth century tapestries that look like they were produced yesterday so bright are the colours and they are almost outshone by the tiles on the walls and floor and the ornate ceilings. It truly is an amazing place.

We emerged four hours later, footsore but ready to visit the Cathedral which is right next door. Built on the site of a former Mosque between 1434 - 1517 with additions over the next five hundred years it is enormous and houses chapels larger than many churches we have visited. It's 126 metres long, 83 metres wide, 37 metres high and is the largest Gothic Cathedral in the world with the biggest altarpiece holding over a thousand biblical figures. I didn't know there were a thousand biblical characters and you probably didn't either eh? The Cathedral also houses the tomb of Christopher Columbus, as in: "let's celebrate Columbus day by walking into someone's house and telling them we live there now" (revisionist history). Or possibly not. Doubts have been cast upon the authenticity of the bones in the casket and DNA testing is inconclusive but let that not bother us. Whilst the opulence displayed can be a little overpowering, to say the least, the scale, artistry and craftsmanship are amazing. Not content with walking round the Cathedral we also climbed the 104 metres to the bell tower, the Giralda, which was the minaret of the original Mosque and built in the twelfth century.

Phew! By now we are ready for lunch, provided by a nice tapas bar situated just outside the Cathedral. To be honest anywhere serving food outside the Cathedral would be described as nice by now but we did have some lovely food which set us up for a walk through the Barrio de Santa Cruz, the medieval Jewish quarter full of winding streets and pretty palm lined plazas. Seven hours after setting off we returned to the van, tired but still in awe of the fabulous Alcazar and Seville in general. We've said this about a few places but this is one we would definitely try to return to. A day and a half in no way does it justice and there is so much more to be seen but Bilbao and our ferry home beckon so tomorrow we set off for Caceres where the old town has, apparently, remained untouched since the sixteenth century. It's a long drive but I'm sure we'll find coffee and churros on the way.

Real Alcazar: