Seville is
approximately 2,200 years old. The
various civilizations throughout its history have left the city with a distinct
personality, and a large, well-preserved historical center. The mythological
founder of the city is Hercules, who the myth says sailed through the Strait of
Gibraltar to the Atlantic, and founded trading posts at the current sites of
Cádiz and of Seville.
Seville was founded as the Roman city of Hispalis,
although its origin dates back to the time of the Phoenicians. Two of the Roman emperors, Trajan and
Hadrian, were born in Seville. The walls
surrounding the city were originally built during the rule of Julius Caesar,
but their current course and design were the result of Moorish reconstructions.
In 712 AD Seville was conquered by the Moors
(Muslims from North Africa and remained under Moorish rule until 1248 when
Ferdinand III conquered the Moors and Seville became part of the Christian
Kingdom of Castile. After the discovery
of the Americas, Seville became one of the economic centers of the Spanish
Empire as its port monopolized the trans-oceanic trade. Ferdinand Magellan departed from Seville for
the first circumnavigation of the Earth in 1519.
After arriving at the port, we went on a bus tour of
Seville seeing the pavilions of the different countries that participated in
the1929 Expo for the Spanish colonies.
These beautiful buildings are now used by the local government and
universities. We then stopped at the
largest pavilion – the Pavilion of Spain which today houses government
offices. It was built in a semi-circle
with sections depicting each province and/or major city of Spain. All along the walkway vendors were selling
Spanish fans and castanets.
This is a misnomer as all he Jewish synagogues were
converted to churches and the Jewish quarter’s land and shops were appropriated
by the church during the 1391 Pogrom.
Many of the Jewish residences of Seville were killed, and those that
were not were forced to convert. Today
the Jewish quarter consists mainly of little shops. Along one boundary of the Jewish quarter are
the walls of the Alcázar Palace, still in use today by the Royal family.
Our final stop on the walking tour was the Cathedral
of Seville, the 3rd largest cathedral in the world after St Peter’s
in Vatican City and St. John’s in London.
It was built where there used to be a mosque. The only remnants of the mosque is the tower
that is part of the cathedral. It is
beautiful inside with many little chapels and the main alter decorated in gold
and silver leaf. Although many weddings
take place in the Cathedral, only royalty can be married in the main
alter. It also has a choir stall of
mahogany and marble with twin organs on either side. One of the most important features of the
Cathedral is the tomb of Christopher Columbus.
We had lunch in an
old convent that had been converted into a restaurant.
Every year, two
weeks after Holy Week, Seville holds the Feria de Abril (April Fair). This is a 12-day long party of drink, food
and dance which takes place day and night in more than a thousand especially
mounted tents. Most of the tents are
owned by wealthy Sevillians and are there for their family and invited
guests. For this occasion, the women and
girls (and even the female babies) dress up in their finest (and fanciest)
Flamenco dresses (with flowers in their hair).
Many families arrive in their horse-drawn carriages while other men
parade on their fine horses. There is a
lot of dancing in the tents.
We were especially lucky that this festival fell
during the time we were in Seville, so our guides made arrangements to take us
there. With Rita leading the way, we
wandered around the area, oohing and aahing at all the beautiful dresses. At one tent Rita struck up a conversation
with two of the owners (it was an association of 28 families that owned this
tent). As a result we were invited in
and given a drink of Manzanilla, a unique wine produced in this area. Manzanilla
is a pale, very dry sherry that is only grown and produced around
Sanlucar de Barrameda which is located on the left bank at the mouth of the Guadalquivir
River.
It was a wonderful new discovery. As one of our travelers said: “It was the
Kentucky Derby, Mardi Gras, and New Year’s Eve all rolled into one. This year we were the only OAT/Grand Circle
tour to be able to see this unique Fair. As we were leaving about 5 PM, people
were still streaming in and Rita said the partying would go on until late in
the evening.
Back on board the ship, we had our port talk on Gibraltar,
dinner, and then early to bed.
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