“Seville is a pleasant city, famous for oranges and women” – Lord Byron

We’ve spent the past 2 days wandering the old city.  The 2 biggest sites of note are the Reales Alcazar (Royal Alcazar) and the Catedral de Sevilla which is connected to the Giralda Tower.  The cathedral is the largest gothic building in the world and Europe’s third largest church.  The tomb of Christopher Columbus lies inside.  La Giralda is the Moorish tower that is next to the cathedral and is the city’s most famous symbol.  It was a minaret for when the Muslims ruled here, but was changed to a bell tower when the Catholics took over.  The cathedral is immense!  Right next to it is the Alcazar.  It used to be a Moorish fort/palace (built by the awesomely named Pedro the Cruel) but is now a Spanish royal residence that is still in use today. The building is the result of an interesting combination of Arab and Christian architecture and we easily spent a couple hours here.

 

Like Lord Byron said, the streets and boulevards are filled with orange trees which is actually pretty cool.  Not that Phil or I are noticing since we love our girlfriends, but my friend Jay tells me there are also lots of beautiful girls.  Last night we were in an energetic district eating tapas and drinking beer, walking from bar to bar to check out the scene.  Jay spotted a group of pretty girls to his left…and kept walking while looking at them…straight into a sign post.  Can you embarrass yourself anymore buddy?  Anyways, the nightlife was lively to say the least.  The bar we ended up at was playing a weird mix of disco/funk/golden oldies (it was recommended as having great music by the guy who helped us check in to our place) but the vibe was awesome.

 

Tonight we went to check out a flamenco show.  There were a couple guitar players and singers, but that was about as similar as it got to the fado show in lisbon.  There was a lot of stomping, clapping, and passion.  I know the passion part sounds corny, but I really can’t find a better word to describe it.  We went to a place that supposedly held on to the gypsy roots of flamenco more than the others in town.  I’m no flamenco expert but it definitely felt authentic.  One of the gypsy woman dancers must have been at least 45 but the combination of the deep painful expression in her face, her proud upright torso (almost like a bullfighter’s stance), her flowing arms with snapping hands, and her lightning fast feet made for a bewitching and powerful performance.  No one there could take their eyes off the stage.  What I liked best about the performance though was the fact that all of it seemed improvised between the performers, not rehearsed.   They seemed like they were really enjoying themselves.  And to be honest, so does this whole city.