Andrew and Dick flew from Barcelona to Sevilla on January 22 arriving early afternoon. To date they have joined us in every non-US city we have lived in with the exception of Melbourne. They would have come to Melbourne but they were in the process of renovating their new home in Sitges Spain.
Jim booked online tickets for Alcázar of Seville which is most tourists number one destination in this city. We are pretty much palaced out after three years of touring palaces so for us it is well down the list but we knew that Dick and Andrew would like to see it. An Alcázar is a type of moorish palace or castle in Spain and Portugal built during Muslim rule. The Alcázar of Seville was built for the Christian king Peter of Castile by Castilian Christians on the site of an Abbadid Muslim residential fortress destroyed after the Christian conquest of Seville. The palace is a preeminent example of Mudéjar architecture but features Gothic, Renaissance and Romanesque design elements from previous stages of construction. The upper levels of the Alcázar are still used by the royal family as their official residence in Seville.
The guidebooks which tout the Alcázar hardly mention Plaza España which we absolutely love. We couldn’t wait to take the boys there but the garden side was closed due to rain so we took them in the back way which is also spectacular as the arresting beauty and dramatic building sneak up on you slowly.
Turn up the volume and watch the video above, it is ethereal.
We took a three day, two night road trip to Tangier, Morocco and Gibraltar which we will cover in another blog. The day after our return from Morocco Jim stayed in bed all day with fever, chills and weakness and Sandy spent the day as tour guide taking D & A to the Cathedral, The Church of the Divine Savior (which we will also cover in another blog) and Setas de Sevilla which we mentioned in a prior blog.
Final day in Seville, Jim was better and we visited Casa de Pilatos or Pilates House in English. This palace is a four minute walk from home and we pass it every day but don’t know much about it. The construction of this palace was begun in 1483 by a Spanish nobleman and completed by his son whose pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1519 led to the building being given the name “Pilate’s House”. It is an example of an Italian Renaissance building with Mudéjar elements and decorations.
So goodby to Dick and Andrew again for a few weeks. Since we are both living in Spain now we plan on seeing them again in Madrid and then we will visit them at their home in Sitges.
Hi Jim and Sandy,
You are truly a worthy Fodor’s replacement but with amazing pictures 😎
Your stalkers look like they never lack opinions about art, tiles, history or food. 😜Bar Aguilar should belong to my work partner Dr. Elsa Aguilar.
By the way have you seen the medieval frescoes from the tiny Pyrenees mountain chapels that are preserved inside the hilltop museum of the world exhibition hall in Barcelona? I love those primitive demons and angels and icons.
Maybe you’ve reached your Stockholm syndrome wall on fortresses in Spain. I felt that way in Italy once about “ one more Madonna with Child.”
Happy travels
Anette😊
How totally FUN and FABULOUS to see you FOUR Muskateers reunited yet again!!!! You are so blessed to have each other to share these amazing and culturally stunning experiences with!
xoxoxoxoxoxo
Chanda 🙂
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