Andalucia 2022 (2/9) – Sevilla: Cool Before Dorne Was Cool

1. Introduction
2. Sevilla: Cool Before Dorne Was Cool
3. Ceuta & Algeciras: Day Trip to Africa
4. Cordoba: Capital of a Caliphate
5. Granada: Memories of a K-Drama
6. Malaga: Bonus Content Day
7. Stuff We Ate
8. Stuff We Drank
9. Uncategorized Thoughts

Our first stop was Sevilla, the Spanish (arguably the “real”) name for Seville.  We stayed four nights in the heart of the old town, from where everything was a short walk away.  The windy and narrow medieval streets looked impossible to navigate on the map, but the same qualities gave life to a comfortably walkable neighborhood.  In fact, aside from Venezia, this might be the most enjoyable place to walk from any random point A to point B that I had come to know.

The old town, Barrios Santa Cruz, was most commonly known as the Jewish quarter.  This I found fascinating.  We had been to a few Jewish ghettos in Europe, including Le Marais in Paris and the Venetian Ghetto, where the unwanted Jews were forced to congregate in unwanted spaces outside historic city limits.  Their names represented racial and religious prejudice of the past, but their fame and prosperity today seem to promise a new chapter for the respective communities.  In contrast, the “Jewish quarter” here and elsewhere in Andalucia were city cores where the Jewish people built prominent centers of culture and commerce. Then, the Catholic Monarchs “removed” these people at the end of reconquista, so these neighborhoods have had nothing to do with their original founders for the 500 years since. The continued Jewish reference in their names, thus, feels ironic. Is it meant to commemorate a golden age of the city’s past?  Or serve as a reminder of the unfortunate treatment that befell these people?

Like most places that are not San Francisco, Sevilla was hot in the summer. Unbearably hot. Also, because Spain’s official time was two hours ahead of its longitudinal location, the worst hours of the day centered around 6pm instead of mid-afternoon as we were used to. To avoid being baked to death, we scheduled our days to hide in the hotel from mid-afternoon until 7pm or so. Even then, the temperature wouldn’t really come down until way past 9pm!

Real Alcazar

Like many other famous landmarks in Andalucia, Real Alcazar de Sevilla had a Christian identity superimposed onto a glorious Muslim past.  Its name was perhaps the best example, with Real being “royalty” (specifically of the Castilian kings and queens) royalty and Alcazar being an Arabic word for Moorish castle-palace (in contrast with “castillo”).  This alcazar was the filming location for Dorne, a fact that used to be worth more before the 8th season of Game of Thrones aired.

The Almohad Empire, part of the Berber people from present-day Morocco, brought Sevilla to its peak glory when they made this city its co-capital with Marrakesh in the 12th century. A lot of cool stuff in Sevilla took shape during this time. The Real Alcazar was among them, although its foundation traced back to the Roman times. It’s impressive to think about how a building can weather so many conflicts, on top of natural disasters and normal wear and tear, and still look gorgeous after 900 years. In contrast, a smart phone these days look pretty dumb after just 3 years.

We got here right before its doors opened at 9:30, and had plenty of time to enjoy its beauty before the day turned scorching hot.

Catedral de Sevilla & Giralda

There’s nothing uncommon about a Gothic cathedral in Europe, but the largest of such in the world is still an impressive title to hold.  We didn’t pay to enter this place of worship, but circling its perimeter provided plenty of awe each time.  Giralda, its 104-meter bell tower converted from a minaret of the Almohad grand mosque, is the undisputed centerpiece of the city.  Every time we walked by it, I wondered about the lung capacity of the folks responsible for singing prayer calls from such height.  How far did their voice carry? I don’t think people in the plaza below would’ve noticed if I shouted with all my might from the top of this tower.

Plaza de Espana

Like the Eiffel Tower, this fan-shaped plaza with two towers and a curved corridor was built for a world fair at a time when European powers still enjoyed congratulating one another for the might of their global empires.  It’s both grand and intricate, and it provided plenty of shade to allow people watch for hours on end.  We trekked here twice to appreciate the Flamenco performance. The colorful tiles throughout the plaza were also a feast for the eyes.

Aquarium

Not sure why Sevilla’s aquarium wasn’t on most lists of things to do for tourists, but we sought it out anyway. Among all the aquariums we’ve been to around the world, this one was on the bare side… but it was a great visit because it provided AC on a hot day. There weren’t a ton of special animals, but the hunchback shark and the exhibit of jelly breeding lab were neat.

Las Setas

This ultra modern piece of architecture looked rather bizarre in the middle of a millennium-old neighborhood and atop some ancient ruin, but it provided fantastic views of the city and of the sunset.  The light show at night was just ok.

It claimed to be the largest wooden structure in the world, but there was so much metal support everywhere that I wasn’t sure it was fair to call it a wooden structure. It also felt a bit scammy for a viewing platform merely 4 stories from the street level to charge as much in admission as historic treasures like Real Alcazar.

Other Locations

Random name drop: Canal de Alfonso XIII (branch of Guadalquivir), city wall by the Macarena Gate, Canos de Carmona (Roman / Almohad aqueduct), Maria Luisa Park, Triana Bridge.

Hotel

We stayed at H10 Casa de la Plata, in the middle of the Jewish Quarter, and right in between Las Setas and the cathedral. I wasn’t 100% sure at the time of booking, but in hindsight it was difficult to imagine a better location. It was the most classy and upscale hotel we stayed at during this trip, with impeccable just about everything. It came with a price tag to match, though. When I booked it, the rate did seem on the high side but I was mentally comparing it to New York, Paris, and Hong Kong prices. It didn’t register until much later that its cost was several times our other hotels in Spain.

This was the only hotel on our trip that came with a swimming pool. When we figured that the afternoon sun was too unbearable for us “to be outside”, somehow we decided that they kids could go swim on the rooftop, where there was 100% less shade than the streets. Well guess what? We had to supervise, outside the pool, where the concrete floor felt like a skillet. Getting through that required a lot of mojitos from the bar.