Seville - Day 2

The more we thought about it before we arrived, we knew we wanted to see as much of Seville as we could so we booked an additional 4 hour walking tour for Tuesday, our second full day here.  Again, a private tour for just two people was not inexpensive but to have Alba to ourselves for all that time and to get to ask her questions one-on-one was well worth the money.  We started our tour at the City Hall with an explanation of the history of Seville – way too much detail for me to remember!  

  

She also explained the origin of Seville’s motto, NO8DO.  From Wikipedia:

NO8DO is the official motto of Seville, popularly believed to be a rebus signifying the Spanish No me ha dejado, meaning "It [Seville] has not abandoned me". The phrase is spelled with an eight in the middle representing the word madeja, "skein [of wool".  Legend states that the title was given by King Alfonso X, who was resident in the city's Alcázar and supported by the citizens when his son, later Sancho IV of Castille, tried to usurp the throne from him.  The emblem is present on Seville's municipal flag, and features on city property such as manhole covers, and Christopher Columbus's tomb in the Cathedral.

 

Our tour continued toward the Guadalquiver river where she explained that the neighbourhood on the other side, Triana, is where the gypsies settled and, as well, it is where the tile makers were.  Today, the richer gypsies are still there as are shops, tapas bars, tile stores, and Flamenco clubs.  We also saw Seville's famous bull ring.  I'm not a fan of bull fights but they are still very popular here in Spain and bullfighters are celebrities and very well paid.  

We continued walking along the river seeing the Golden Tower which used to be a “toll booth” where merchants would have to pay taxes when bringing goods back from the Americas.  In the distance, we also saw a very modern building, the Sevilla Tower, nicknamed "the lipstick".   You can see why from the photo.  City law in Seville requires that no building can be built higher than the cathedral.  However, because that building is on the other side of the river and technically not in the city, its height exceeds the cathedral.  I can't say it is particularly attractive.  It is a multi-function building with shops, headquarters for a bank and residential living.

We then continued away from the river to see a palace, now a government building; an upscale hotel; and a former tobacco factory which now houses the University of Seville renowned for its engineering school. 

The University Courtyard (formerly a Tobacco Factory)

We wandered through the Parque de Maria Luisa, which are the gardens of the palace and then on to Plaza de España.  The grounds in this area of Seville were used for the 1929 Ibero-America Exposition when pavilions were built by the participating countries.  The purpose of the exposition was to improve relations between Spain and the countries in attendance, all of which had historical ties with Spain through colonization (parts of Spanish America and the United States) or political union (Portugal and its former colony Brazil).  While many of the buildings were demolished after the event, many remain and are used as museums, a casino or consulates.  The crowning jewel of the buildings is Plaza de España.  It is very impressive and immense. 

One of the Pavilions which is now a Casino

Above and Below - Photos of Plaza de Espana

We continued our tour heading to the Jewish Quarter through the park behind the Alcazar where there is a monument to Christopher Columbus.  

The Portuguese Pavilion now its Consulate

Following that, we were back at the Alcazar and Cathedral area where we said good bye to Alba and headed up Serpies, a main shopping street.  We went back to the hotel for a short rest because we had booked a flamenco dinner/show for the evening.  The show at the  Tablao Flamenco El Arenal was very good.  We got seats right at the edge of the stage which gave us a great view of the amazing footwork of the dancers.  The dinner was much better than we had expected and it included a fiery cherry brandy drink plus more than one bottle of wine.  Between the delicious food and the fabulous show, we were very happy with the event.  Unfortunately, no photos were permitted during the performance so I have nothing to share from it.  Sorry!  The best I can do is a photo of a poster I took in the women's bathroom.

We walked back to the hotel and, by the time we got back, we had walked over 23,000 steps.  No wonder I was tired!  What we are quickly realizing is that Seville is a wonderful city and we need more time here.  However, that is not to be this time.  Wednesday we pick up a rental car and head to Grenada for the next leg of our journey.