A Day in Sevilla
Our first stop after Portugal was the sun-drenched city of Sevilla, where we enjoyed temperatures hovering around 37-39 degrees Celcius for the two days that we were there. In fact, that sort of weather seems to be pretty normal here in Andalucía and has continued in Córdoba. Suddenly, sangría, gazpacho and siestas all make sense!
Our time in Sevilla started with an amazing 7th century Mo
orish palace called the Alcázar, which is still used by Spain's royals as a residence when they are staying in Sevilla.
orish palace called the Alcázar, which is still used by Spain's royals as a residence when they are staying in Sevilla.Next, we continued on to the city's cathedral, the 3rd largest in the world (after St Peter's Basilica and St Paul's), which dominates the Avenida de la Constitutíon. Orange tree gardens seem to be the thing here in southern Spain and we got a great view of the cathedral's (as well as the rest of the city) from the La Giralda tower (now
a bell tower but previously the minaret of the mosque that stood where the cathedral was built).
a bell tower but previously the minaret of the mosque that stood where the cathedral was built).At this stage, the temperature was climbing into the high thirties. To get some respite, we headed down to the river, which, whilst cooler, we ended up swapping for the air-conditioned comfort of an internet cafe.
Later in the afternoon, we decided to venture out again in search of what our guidebook refers to as "Templo Romano". According to the book, this temple rises "seemingly out of nowhere... Its columns rise 15m from below street level and offer a glimpse of the depth of Sevilla's history". It certainly was in the middle of nowhere, but on closer inspection, the columns appeared to be made out of rusting concrete. Those Romans we
re either more advanced than we previously thought, or the book may just have been wrong (shock, horror!). As far as Sevilla's history was concerned, the best we could divine was that it was full of litter (see photo, left). We noticed several other confused tourists coming by the site too. It was not until we got to Córdoba and sa
w ruins of a real Roman temple (curiously, not at all mentioned by our guidebook) that we started to think that they may have just confused these two cities. In any event, the name of the temple should have tipped us off - I'm pretty sure no Romans ever erected a "Templo Romano", preferring instead to erect temples to their gods.
re either more advanced than we previously thought, or the book may just have been wrong (shock, horror!). As far as Sevilla's history was concerned, the best we could divine was that it was full of litter (see photo, left). We noticed several other confused tourists coming by the site too. It was not until we got to Córdoba and sa
w ruins of a real Roman temple (curiously, not at all mentioned by our guidebook) that we started to think that they may have just confused these two cities. In any event, the name of the temple should have tipped us off - I'm pretty sure no Romans ever erected a "Templo Romano", preferring instead to erect temples to their gods.In the evening we saw a live flamenco performance and dined on gazpacho and paella. Our guidebook, in its infinite wisdom, told us to
"beware the unexceptional, omnipresent menús" featuring these dishes, but although that was actually what we wanted to eat, it took us ages to find a restaurant offering them!
"beware the unexceptional, omnipresent menús" featuring these dishes, but although that was actually what we wanted to eat, it took us ages to find a restaurant offering them!
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