FRIDAY IN SEVILLE--ANOTHER ALCAZAR AND A PLAZA

It was another sunny and beautiful day in Seville!  Our plan for the day was to see the Alcazar de Seville, which is an easy 30 minute walk from our apartment.  It was a nice morning for a walk!

We walked up our street and thru the Plaza--there's a pretty statue of a man on horseback.  Actually, the Spanish are very fond of statues; there seems to be one in every Plaza and most of them are men on horseback:

Another statue in the middle of a round-a-bout, near the Alcazar:

We spotted the long line for tickets almost before we saw the Alcazar.  Thankfully, the line moved fairly quickly--about a 30 minute wait.

Close up of the lion tile work over the entrance gate:

First courtyard after the entrance,  loved the ancient arches and the bright bougainvillea:

The original Alcazar was built in the 10th century on the site of a 7th century Moorish fort,  and was a palace of the Moslem governor.  It has been rebuilt and added to over the centuries.  It was very interesting to see the different architectural styles as we moved through the Alcazar.  The upper stories of the Alcazar are still in use by the Spanish Royal family as their city residence.

These pictures are from some of the earlier areas built in the mudejar Moorish style:

 

Beautiful views through every arched door:

The pretty Courtyard of the Women, with reflecting pool:

Each room in this area seemed to be prettier that the last--very highly decorated and elaborate:

This domed ceiling was quite sparkly:

This tile floor was in one of the sleeping chambers:

Pretty view through an elaborate archway:

Most of the rooms and passageways in this section were tiled about 4 feet up from the floor.  Each wall had a different design.  These were not large painted tiles, but very small individual tiles.  I can't imagine the number of hours of work this entailed:

Leaving this older section of the Alcazar we exited into the gardens--which are huge.  

A small pool in the courtyard entrance to the gardens:

A very noisy peacock sitting on the garden wall:

Here we are in the garden:

The garden grounds were very pretty, though not as beautiful as the gardens of the Alcazar in Cordoba. They aren't quite as lush and well groomed, but were still a peaceful respite from the busy streets.

There are bubbling fountains everywhere in the gardens:

The Fountain of Mercury:

A few more garden views:

We spent at least an hour enjoying the gardens, and even sat at the small cafe and had a cold drink (Coke Light, if you must know!)

On to the next part of the Alcazar--the "newer" sections built in the 1500's.  This section has Gothic-like ceilings, and more decorative tile work.

This tile work was very elaborate and beautiful--large painted tiles instead of tiny pieces as in the Moorish section:

A small chapel

Courtyard with a fountain:

We left The Alcazar through this pretty courtyard--after about 3 hours of wandering and enjoying that beautiful palace:

It was now almost 3 pm, and we were more than ready for lunch.  We thought we'd walk over to the Plaza de Espana, just a few blocks from the Alcazar, and find a nice cafe on the plaza for lunch.

 The Plaza de Espana was built in 1928 for the 1929 Ibero-American Exposition of 1929.  I think that's kind of like a worlds fair?  We really needed some lunch, so we walked back to the park entrance where we'd noticed a small cafe.  We ordered a couple of tapas to share--they were pretty marginal.  We walked back through the park to take a quick stroll around the Plaza--pretty much a non event!

  It's a B-I-G Plaza, and the building and fountains are beautiful.   The building is now used as government administrative office. There are no cafes, no shops, and it was pretty much deserted.  We could have rented row-boats to paddle around the small pond and canal--but we passed.

Some views around the Plaza de Espana:

After The Plaza de Espana (non) visit, we slowly made our way through the winding streets back to our apartment.  We did some window shopping along the way and relaxed with a glass of wine at a small cafe.  We weren't in a hurry,  just enjoying the beautiful day and soaking up this wonderful city.

Back at our apartment we relaxed for a few hours and rested our tired feet--we walked over 9 1/2 miles today!

We decided not to cook dinner here, it's too much hassle with the breaker popping every 5 minutes.  We went out about 8 pm, and walked over to the small cafe where we ate lunch on our first day here in Seville.  We ordered another plate of those delicious grilled squid, and some garlic prawns---mmmmmm good!

 The view was great--we enjoyed the company of Julius Caesar and Hercules!

After our wonderful dinner, we slowly strolled back to our apartment.  It's been a great day in Seville!

Tomorrow in Seville:  A visit to Mercado Triana again, and exploring the neighborhood across the river.  I'm guess we'll be having lunch at an outdoor cafe, too!