La Catedral de Seville y Santa Cruz

4 April 2015, Saturday

We begin our day in the formal breakfast room at the hotel. There are many guests from Italy, Spain and Germany. We are escorted to a table and promptly stroll to the religious relic of our own: the espresso machine. We then take in the scene that is this hotel's breakfast buffet. And it is good. The same array of goodies as the Hotel Hesperia in Granada but there is more variety of pastries, and the fruit is more ripe and luscious.

We meet our guide, Jaime Turm, in the hotel lobby and walk toward the Catedral de Sevilla and La Giralda in the the Santa Cruz district of Sevilla. Santa Cruz is a maze of narrow streets that was once a Jewish ghetto and is now an upscale neighborhood with wrought iron windows decorated with geranium window boxes.

As we walk, Jaime makes an interesting point about privacy in Muslim and Spanish cultures. We observe that as one turns a corner in this district one disappears. We also note that access to the homes in this area was very limited. This is due to the design of the apartments which are hidden behind heavy doors and lead to a transitional courtyard where guests are welcomed and lead into the living quarters. This is Moorish privacy in operation.

Spaniards are much more gregarious and friendly, thriving in crowds and noisy conversation (witness the tapas bars.) Jaime describes his countrymen as "stable animals,"
meaning they are far happier living cheek by jowl, shoulder-to-shoulder,  interfering in one another's conversations than living as in the solitude of the Muslim culture.

We walk on to the Catedral de Sevilla  passing  the viewing stands set up for the Good Friday processions the night before. This cathedral is the largest Gothic cathedral and the third largest church in the world, after St Peter's Basilica in Rome and St Paul's Cathedral in London.  Christopher Columbus is buried here.

Built on the site of the Almohad Mosque, this huge cathedral was built to demonstrate the city's power and wealth after the Reconquista. It was built on the Mosque footprint with extra height added so the central nave rises to 42 meters or 138 feet.
Fortunately, two parts of the mosque have been preserved in the cathedral. The first preserved part is called La Giralda, originally the minaret from which the faithful were called to prayer.  It also served as an observatory. It became the bell tower of the church after King Alfonso X prevented the defeated Moors from demolishing it. The second, The Patio de los Naranjos,  is located at the entrance to the church. Here, in the fountain under blooming orange trees, Muslim worshipers washed their hands and feet before prayer.

We do not enter the Cathedral but walk on to the Real Alcazar , the royal palace originally a Moorish fort. It is regarded as one of the best examples of mudejar architecture on the Iberian Peninsula and is characterized by the use of brick as the main building material. It is decorated using distinctively Islamic tiling patterns.

We take our leave of Jaime and find ourselves in a cafe, El Jardin Escondido, on the edge of the Jardines Alcazar. We rest here a while enjoying the sun and a tapas frias with una bocadillo de queso.  We wander a bit in the garden.

 

 

 and then walk through the Santa Cruz neighborhood.  We stop for ice cream and shop a bit and head back to our hotel for a rest before dinner. We return to the Mercado Lonja Del Barranco for dinner to eat vegetable paella and wine.