Seville, Spain | The Escapades of Pookie and Allan

After breakfast we boarded the bus for a tour of the city of Seville. Seville is the fourth largest city in Spain and the birthplace of flamenco dancing.

The city is quite beautiful and we saw many of the buildings that were erected by different countries when they participated in the 1992 World’s Fair which ran from April to October of that year.

Today is Saturday, so many Spaniards were out and about and the town was bustling. We saw the beautiful Alamillo Bridge that crosses the Guadalquivir River. The bridge was built as part of the infrastructure improvements for the ’92 World’s Fair.

Our bus took us to the Santa Cruz area and we all left the bus for a walking tour of the area. Santa Cruz was the former Jewish Quarter of the city. The streets are narrow and the buildings are whitewashed and filled with flowers hanging over the balconies. Orange trees line the streets and there are many restaurants offering tapas. There are also shops selling ceramics and souvenirs.

We also visited the Plaza de Espana, a beautiful plaza showcasing tiled alcoves of Spain’s provences, beautiful bridges over the canal, and the Vicente Traver fountain. The Plaza has been the filming location of some popular movies, including scenes from Lawrence of Arabia.

Our next stop was the magnificent Cathedral of Seville also known as The Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See. It is a Roman Catholic cathedral and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is one of the largest cathedrals in the world. Ferdinand and Isabella’s only son was baptized in the Cathedral in 1478 and Christopher Columbus is also buried there.

The cathedral has 80 chapels, and one of the chapels contains a famous painting entitled The Vision of St. Anthony by the artist Murillo. In 1874, it was discovered that part of the painting was cut out and stolen – the part depicting St Anthony. Someone in 1875 attempted to sell the piece and a gallery owner in New York City, Hermann Schaus, recognized the painting, purchased it, and then contacted the Spanish consulate to arrange for the painting to be returned. Apparently, the thieves were never caught, but the segment of the painting that was returned was added back to the original painting by a restorer.

The Cathedral is truly beautiful and it was amazing to see the height of the ornate ceilings, the columns, the chapels, the organ, and the stained glass windows.

We took a tram back to the hotel and Allan and I enjoyed a beef taco tapas… That wasn’t really a taco but rather delicious tender beef on bread with gravy.

We went back to the hotel to get ready for an evening of dinner and flamenco presentation which was wonderful. The dancing is elegant and expressive and the guitar music enhances the performance as does the singer. The two guitar players played classical guitars with 6 strings.

Accompanying the guitars is a singer called a cantaor, and he introduces the dancers with what almost sounds like chanting. The songs are expressive and sung with deep feeling.

The dancers enter the stage and with intense emotion, expressive use of arms, hands, and facial expressions, they begin the powerful rhythmic stamping of their feet. The dancers’ feet move about quickly and it’s amazing the amount of energy they put into each dance. The costumes are colorful and the dresses are made so that the dancer can kick her feet and not get tangled in the ruffles.

A flamenco dancer chatted with us and explained the dance, the costumes, and showed us how she uses castinets. She told us her tap shoes are custom made and she showed us her hair accessories and how she puts the flowers in her hair for the performances. She brought out a beautiful fringed scarf and showed us how the scarf is used in the performances, almost like a matador’s cape.

It was a wonderful day!

The buildings of the World’s Fair