This entry's a little late in being posted but I've been extremely busy these past few days... (as usual, time is flying by and shows no signs of stopping!)
On Saturday, December 11th, John and I were up bright and early again at the ungodly hour of 6:45am to go on our last day trip with all of the students in GRIIS. This time, our destination was Sevilla, the capital city of the region of Andalucía. While Sevilla is a capital city, it's not the capital of Spain (which all of you already know is Madrid) but rather just the region of Andalucía. Let me explain- the whole country of Spain is made up of 17 autonomous regions. Politically speaking, Spain has a central government (with both a king and a president of the government) and then devolved, regional power in each of the 17 communities. The local governments in each of these regions are responsible for creating and maintaining policies relating to school and university administration, public health, social services, local culture, urban and rural development and, occasionally, the local police forces. Within each region there are various provinces, which are then broken down into cities and towns. Granada, both the city and the province, are part of Andalucía, the southernmost region in mainland Spain. (Two groups of islands, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean and the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea, also belong to Spain as well as two autonomous cities, Ceuta and Melilla, located in Northern Africa.) Thus, Sevilla is the capital city of the region in which I'm currently living and working.
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| The mainland 15 regions of Spain, divided into their various provinces. |
Too much about politics and geography? Okay, let's get back to my actual trip... Leaving Granada around 7:30am, we reached Sevilla by 11:00am. Our first stop was to the Parque de María Luisa. This popular park contains lovely walking and biking paths, gardens and multiple plazas. We visited the popular Plaza de América which contains, in addition to the largest amount of pigeons that I've ever seen in one place, two museums, the Museo Arqueológico and Museo de Artes y Costumbres Populares. After visiting this plaza, we walked through the park to the Plaza de España, one of the prettiest plazas that I've ever seen. The plaza contains a beautiful building built for the 1929 Exposición Iberoamericana featuring a bench and decorative tiles for each province in Spain. In front of the building are fountains, bridges and mini canals.
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| Entering Plaza de América. |
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| El Museo de Artes y Costumbres Populares. |
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| The large fountain in the center of the plaza. |
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| Strolling through Parque María Luisa. |
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| A tree dedicated to a poet. |
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| Plaza de España. It may look familiar to you- the plaza was used in the movie Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones as part of Queen Amidala's palace grounds. |
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| A perfect day for rowing on the canal! |
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| The GRIIS students sitting on the benches and tiles dedicated to the province of Granada. |
After we finished up in the park, we headed over to the Avenida de la Constitución, one of the major streets in Sevilla. Just off of this street is Sevilla's Cathedral, la Catedral de Santa María de la Sede. The Cathedral is the biggest cathedral in Spain and the third largest in the world. Like many of the cathedrals in southern Spain, this one also stands on the location of a Moorish mosque that dates back to the 12th century. Sevilla, once an Islamic city, fell to the Christians in 1248 and the mosque was used as a church until the beginning of the 15th century. In 1401, construction of the cathedral was begun. While the cathedral is a grand Catholic church, much remains of its Moorish roots. First and foremost is the Giralda, a large brick tower that looms over the Cathedral. The tower was constructed between 1184 and 1198 and was originally the minaret of the mosque. You can climb to the top of the Giralda to get some great views of the city. Don't like stairs? Not to worry! Instead of stairs, the tower contains a series of ramps which you walk up to reach the top. It was constructed in this manner so that guards could reach the top on horseback while on lookout. This cathedral also contains a Patio de los Naranjos, much like the one to be found outside of the Cathedral/Mosque in Córdoba. All together there are 66 orange trees in the patio and a large fountain at its center. Perhaps one of the most interesting tidbits about Sevilla's cathedral is that it is one of the contested burial sites of Christopher Columbus. Just inside the Puerta de los Príncipes is a huge monumental tomb containing his supposed remains. However, Columbus died in Valladolid, a city in northern Spain, in 1506 and his remains were moved many times. Thus, no one is exactly sure where the explorer's remains are buried today!
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| Approaching the Cathedral. |
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| Looking up at the Giralda from inside the Patio de los Naranjos. |
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| An aerial view of Sevilla from the top of the Giralda tower. |
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| Another aerial look at Sevilla from the Giralda. |
After seeing the Cathedral the group had lunch at one of Amalia's favorite restaurants in the city before visiting the Alcázar, another World Heritage Site. The Alcázar is a royal palace of the Spanish monarchy and, like many other important monuments and buildings in southern Spain, it was originally a Moorish fort dating back to the early 900s A.D. In its eleven centuries of existence, the Alcázar has been modified and added to many times and the palace is one of the best remaining examples of mudéjar architecture. While the Alcázar is a national, historical monument the Spanish royal family still uses its upper levels as its official residence while in Sevilla. The Alcázar is one of my favorite sites to visit when in Sevilla... I love all the gardens! The various patios are beautiful, too, and resemble the style of architecture and decoration seen in the Alhambra here in Granada.
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| Entering the gardens of the Alcázar. |
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| Walking around the grounds of the Alcázar. |
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| Isn't it beautiful?! I still can't believe that this photo was taken in the middle of December... |
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| Sevilla is full of wonderful orange trees. |
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| Entering the Moorish palaces... the colors of the tiles and overall styles resemble those of the Alhambra. |
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| El Patio de las Doncellas. |
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| This section of the Alcázar is simply stunning... |
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| The Patio de las Muñecas. |
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| The Palacio de Pedro I. |
After our visit to the Alcázar, it was around 4:30pm. Scheduled to catch a 6:30pm bus back to Granada we had two hours of "free time" to wander through the city on our own. We walked through the Barrio de Santa Cruz. This beautiful neighborhood used to be Sevilla's Jewish quarter. The streets in Santa Cruz are full of cafés, plazas, orange and lemon trees, gardens and small shops. After wandering through the neighborhood, our large group split up and I went off with a few others to get some ice cream and explore the streets off of the Avenida de la Constitución.
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| Strolling through Sevilla. |
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