We are having a big time in Sevilla despite the
unrelenting heat. I think we are a bit
sunburned and sun-roasted just a bit, but no one has gotten sick, and only one
student has been pickpocketed so far. No
worries if you are a parent – she has already been in touch with her mom. Credit cards have been canceled, and funds
have been wired for the rest of her trip.
As I mentioned in an early post, we started our
visit at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Sea.
It is largest Gothic Cathedral in the world, and third largest church in
the world. What makes this cathedral so interesting, I think, is that it began
as a Muslim mosque in 1184. Then, when
Ferdinand III conquered Sevilla in 1248, he Christianized the mosque. In the 14th
century, one of the mosques minarets was destroyed in an earthquake and
replaced by a bell gable. By 1401, the
decision was made to replace with mosque with a Cathedral that would
demonstrate the city’s wealth. It has
been under construction and/or renovation ever since. What one sees in walking through this constantly
evolving structure is not only Gothic architecture, but also examples of
Baroque, Romantic and Renaissance influences as well. Wow.
We also visited the Royal Alcazar, which was
originally a Moorish fort, but when Ferdinand III conquered Sevilla, he made it
his palace. It is the oldest royal
palace still in use in Europe! I found
several things very interesting about this palace. First, it has examples of extraordinary tile
work throughout the palace. Second, was
truly an example of how Muslim and Christians can work together in both
practice and in style.
Last night, Tony and I
wandered to dinner with the O’Deas. We decided
to just find dinner randomly somewhere.
We wandered into what looked like a neighborhood bar where no one spoke
English. We ordered beers, and the
bartender gave us some eats that included peanuts, olives and what looked like
fava beans. When we ordered our second
round of beers (which were very large and served in what looked like large wine
glasses), we asked for tapas (which are like appetizers). He attempted to ask what kind, and we
indicted we just want 4 kinds, and that we trusted him to decide. We threw caution to the wind. Well, first he brought something that looked
like some sort of cured ham on a sliced tomato on a small piece of toasted
bread. We each got one serving. It was delicious. Then he brought out something fried. Initially, we thought it might be fried
clams, but I suspect it was fried shrimp – served with mayonnaise. Again, wonderful. Then, squid.
Two different types of squid. I
don’t do squid, but Greg O’Dea gave me grief for not trying it, and I ate some
squid. I didn’t gag, but I still don’t
do squid. We even had tiny octopi on the
plate! Finally, we had some sort of
mildly spicy pork dish served over French fries. The whole experience was delightful, and
partly so because we left it to chance.
Today, we are trying to
figure out what we want to do before we tomorrow for Granada. It is still wicked hot, but we are hanging in
there.
Joanie
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