Sevilla (Say-VEE-ya) January 17, 2014
It's hard to believe that it's been just over a week since we left Maine. As always, when you are dropped into a new culture, it seems like we've been away for ages! We are slowly adjusting to the rhythm of life here, though it is still weird to wake up at 8am and have it be dark outside. I guess we make up for it on the other end of the day, when darkness descends again around 6:30pm. I can't say that there has been much sun this past week. Mostly cloudy & gray with some real rain today. Temp's are in the 60's. Actually the temperature is pretty good for walking around (and I'm not complaining, mind you :) The Sevilla folks continue to eat outdoors at restaurants with sidewalk tables, sometimes with heaters in the evenings.
"the mushoom", huge outdoor construction
Seville is a university city, and there are lots of students around. They cluster at popular tapas bars in the evening, filling the tiny inside space and overflowing to tables outside. Lots of smoking going on - by all ages. This is Europe, after all. But nary an overweight person. Again, it's Europe! One thing that surprises me is the lack of Africans, either blacks or Muslim Africans, as we would see in Portland, which has about 1/7 the population of Seville. With the proximity to Africa, I expected to see many more. Perhaps the "crisis" keeps them away. Or perhaps they live in other neighborhoods. Lots of Asians here, though, both students and great groups of tourists, all walking dutifully in line behind their guides.
Tapas are the mainstay of our diet here. Much ham (mostly Iberico, which is very thinly sliced and includes the fat. Angel told us that THIS fat is actually good for us :). We've had some lovely, creative tapas offerings, too. We may have to do another tapas dinner with our cooking group in April when we return. Three or four little dishes, shared between the two of us, with a glass of tinto (red wine) for me and a cervesa (beer) for Bruce - and we're good to go.
Our favorite tapas bar - the Europa
Our week in Sevilla is going by quickly. So far, in addition to the Alcazar, the exotic World Heritage Site complex that I wrote about in our last blog, we have visited the massive Cathedral - the largest in the world (and they have the framed Guinness Book of World Records certificate proudly displayed to prove it!). Large enough for Bruce and I to easily become lost from each other as we explored it. In one area, hoisted aloft by four oversize wooden colonial figures, is the coffin that supposedly holds the body of Christopher Columbus. Adjoining the cathedral is the Giralda, a huge minaret from Muslim days, now a bell tower and a symbol of Sevilla. It rises high into the sky and is accessed by a long, four foot wide enclosed brick ramp. The ramp apparently was used in the old days so that guards could reach the top by riding in a horse-drawn cart. We modern folks troop up there under our own power!
the Giralda, the former minaret/current bell tower of the cathedral
Yesterday we upped our sight-seeing productivity a bit and actually visited a number of sites, a couple of which had been suggested by Pepe, our fluent English-speaking host, who reads the New Yorker every week! He's a practicing lawyer and doesn't have much time to chat, but we've had a few interesting moments to share with him in this "AirBnB". He had suggested visiting a nearby luxury hotel, the Alphonso XIII, built in 1928 for the World Expo held in Sevilla at that time. It's very ornate, with lots of tile work, an interior garden where guests can take afternoon tea, an original piece of art work by Juan Miro for sale in one of its galleries (!), uniformed wait staff that quietly appear to bring you a coffee - at a pretty reasonable price, given the surroundings. You get the picture. Pepe remembers going there to meet with Orson Wells, who frequented this hotel each winter. Apparently Pepe and a few friends were fans, and they had a chance to meet with him and talk about film.
The Jewish Museum was another destination. It's fairly new, staffed by enthusiastic young folks, and it offers a very interesting history of the Sephardic experience over the centuries in Spain. A sad one, but fascinating to read the brief biographies of influential Jewish citizens. We were astonished to read that the laws governing the Inquisition (1400's) did not all get overturned until 1865! And that the treatment of Jews by the rulers during the heyday of the Inquisition paralleled that of the Nazis five hundred years later, with a special identifying mark required on clothes and confiscation of property. One room in the museum held old house keys, hanging from the ceiling. We were told that the keys were passed down by families for generations, in hopes that they would one day return to their homes in Spain.
Today we visited the Plaza del Toros de la Real (Royal) Maestranza - Seville's bullring. It's reportedly the oldest bullring in Spain - and the tour was more interesting than we had anticipated. In fact, Bruce would now like to see a bullfight! Unfortunately, the season doesn't begin until April. Maybe we can squeeze it in before we return home. The traditions, national passion, and honor of this sport, so closely associated with Spain (though it's carried out in most Latin American nations, as well as southern France) make it a bit compelling.
Sevilla's bullring - it holds 12,000 spectators
proud bullfighter outside the ring
So, that's what the Webb's have been up to this week in Seville. We haven't heard the "soul ripping sound of flamenco" yet, but it's definitely on my must-hear list! Time's running out. Maybe tonight!
Hasta luega!
Seville is a university city, and there are lots of students around. They cluster at popular tapas bars in the evening, filling the tiny inside space and overflowing to tables outside. Lots of smoking going on - by all ages. This is Europe, after all. But nary an overweight person. Again, it's Europe! One thing that surprises me is the lack of Africans, either blacks or Muslim Africans, as we would see in Portland, which has about 1/7 the population of Seville. With the proximity to Africa, I expected to see many more. Perhaps the "crisis" keeps them away. Or perhaps they live in other neighborhoods. Lots of Asians here, though, both students and great groups of tourists, all walking dutifully in line behind their guides.
Tapas are the mainstay of our diet here. Much ham (mostly Iberico, which is very thinly sliced and includes the fat. Angel told us that THIS fat is actually good for us :). We've had some lovely, creative tapas offerings, too. We may have to do another tapas dinner with our cooking group in April when we return. Three or four little dishes, shared between the two of us, with a glass of tinto (red wine) for me and a cervesa (beer) for Bruce - and we're good to go.
Our week in Sevilla is going by quickly. So far, in addition to the Alcazar, the exotic World Heritage Site complex that I wrote about in our last blog, we have visited the massive Cathedral - the largest in the world (and they have the framed Guinness Book of World Records certificate proudly displayed to prove it!). Large enough for Bruce and I to easily become lost from each other as we explored it. In one area, hoisted aloft by four oversize wooden colonial figures, is the coffin that supposedly holds the body of Christopher Columbus. Adjoining the cathedral is the Giralda, a huge minaret from Muslim days, now a bell tower and a symbol of Sevilla. It rises high into the sky and is accessed by a long, four foot wide enclosed brick ramp. The ramp apparently was used in the old days so that guards could reach the top by riding in a horse-drawn cart. We modern folks troop up there under our own power!
Yesterday we upped our sight-seeing productivity a bit and actually visited a number of sites, a couple of which had been suggested by Pepe, our fluent English-speaking host, who reads the New Yorker every week! He's a practicing lawyer and doesn't have much time to chat, but we've had a few interesting moments to share with him in this "AirBnB". He had suggested visiting a nearby luxury hotel, the Alphonso XIII, built in 1928 for the World Expo held in Sevilla at that time. It's very ornate, with lots of tile work, an interior garden where guests can take afternoon tea, an original piece of art work by Juan Miro for sale in one of its galleries (!), uniformed wait staff that quietly appear to bring you a coffee - at a pretty reasonable price, given the surroundings. You get the picture. Pepe remembers going there to meet with Orson Wells, who frequented this hotel each winter. Apparently Pepe and a few friends were fans, and they had a chance to meet with him and talk about film.
The Jewish Museum was another destination. It's fairly new, staffed by enthusiastic young folks, and it offers a very interesting history of the Sephardic experience over the centuries in Spain. A sad one, but fascinating to read the brief biographies of influential Jewish citizens. We were astonished to read that the laws governing the Inquisition (1400's) did not all get overturned until 1865! And that the treatment of Jews by the rulers during the heyday of the Inquisition paralleled that of the Nazis five hundred years later, with a special identifying mark required on clothes and confiscation of property. One room in the museum held old house keys, hanging from the ceiling. We were told that the keys were passed down by families for generations, in hopes that they would one day return to their homes in Spain.
Today we visited the Plaza del Toros de la Real (Royal) Maestranza - Seville's bullring. It's reportedly the oldest bullring in Spain - and the tour was more interesting than we had anticipated. In fact, Bruce would now like to see a bullfight! Unfortunately, the season doesn't begin until April. Maybe we can squeeze it in before we return home. The traditions, national passion, and honor of this sport, so closely associated with Spain (though it's carried out in most Latin American nations, as well as southern France) make it a bit compelling.
So, that's what the Webb's have been up to this week in Seville. We haven't heard the "soul ripping sound of flamenco" yet, but it's definitely on my must-hear list! Time's running out. Maybe tonight!
Hasta luega!
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