October 21, 2008

Back Across the Mediterranean…to Sevilla and the Alcázar!






The next stop on our trip from Rome was Sevilla which although I had been to a few weeks ago with Matt, I was looking forward to seeing again as we had only spent an afternoon and night there and hadn’t been able to see all of it of course. I was also looking forward to getting back to Spain and being away from the mobs of tourists of Rome. Kathy and I decided after seeing so many main tourist destinations one after another after another for two days, that we would stick to the one main one in Sevilla and use the rest of the time to just walk around and explore the small Andalucían city (we were pretty sure after two days in Rome that we must have put at least 15 miles on our sneakers).

Our one tourist stop was made after checking into the hostal and eating a few tapas and it was a big one – The Alcázar. This beautiful palace was originally built for the Moorish King but then in the time of the Christian conquest of the city in the 14th Century was built up to the beauty that one can see today when they go there. In fact, Spanish royalty still stay on the premises in apartments when they come to the city for a visit.

If I thought that Guadi was all about the details, I was all wrong because the artisans hired (who came from cities all over Spain) to do each part of each room of the Alcázar were all about the details. It was all so beautiful and so perfectly done and all of the rooms and courtyards were so big – although after living in NYC for over 5 years I am a bit jaded about what room sizes should be. The ceilings were impeccably detailed, the arches of the entryways, the tiles on the floors and the walls, the fountains, the ceilings, all of it. I loved all of the color here too, which was stark contrast to the marble city of Rome I had just been to.

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