Sevilla

The AVE train deposited us in Seville, the city of Carmen, Flamenco, Gypsies, Bullfighting and the biggest church in the world according to the Guinness Book of Records which (using a measure of cubic metres rather than floor area) puts the cathedral ahead of St Paul's in London and St Peter's in Rome.

Cathedral and Giralda from our hotel roof terrace

It is Spain as the picture postcards have it: houses with shady tiled patios covered in flowers and plants and huddled together across narrow alleyways.  Moorish, gothic and renaissance architecture compete with each other under clear blue skies to grab the photographer's attention while flamenco dresses, bullfighting memorabilia, cold beer and tapas are on sale everywhere. It is lively, colourful and above all hot.

Inside the Cathedral

...the Gothic choir

We drove here for the day from the Costa del Sol back in 1993 in forty degree heat in a rented red Ford Fiesta with no air-con. Then, here for just a few hours we saw some of the main sites but missed the essence of the place. This time from our centrally located hotel we were able to discover the city at a slower place, see the cathedral, climb the Giralda tower and roam the buildings and gardens of the Alcázar, the palace that was started by the Moors and expanded by the Christian kings in moorish and later gothic styles.

Moorish style inside the Alcazar

These huge monuments and the incredible craftsmanship that went into the detail on them stands testament to the vast wealth of Spain's golden age, which was boosted by the riches of South America that flowed from Columbus's accidental discovery of the new world. Like many of the major explorers of the time, his voyage was financed by the Spanish crown and planned in Seville, from where he set off.  Much of the loot from the Americas was stored here because of the secure position of it's inland port and the relatively easy access to the Atlantic. 

Lord Byron wrote after visiting here that Seville is famous for the quality of its oranges and its women. We know for a fact that the oranges are sweeter and juicier in Valencia, but he could be right about the women.  They certainly must have made an impact on him if he thought the history, architecture and flamenco weren't worth a mention.