Added: 05/02/2006 |
Alcazar - the Magnificent Structure in the Midst of Glorious Sevillian SurroundingsAccording to legend, Seville was founded by Hercules and its origins are linked with the Tartessian civilization. It was called Hispalis under the Romans and Isbiliya with the Moors. Seville is the administrative capital of Andalusia. It is the largest town in Southern Spain, the city of Carmen, Don Juan and Figaro. For all its important monuments and fascinating history, Seville is universally famous for being a joyous town, striking for its vitality.
In Seville, you will want to visit the old city, with the Cathedral and the Giralda tower at its heart. You can climb the steps inside the tower for a magnificent view of Seville. Very close by are the royal Mudejar palace known as the Alcazar with marvelous gardens and the Santa Cruz quarter, with cramped streets, flowered balconies, richly decorated facades, hidden patios. Dating back to 913 AD, Alcazar is a magnificent and fascinating place.
King Pedro the Cruel had the opulent Mudejar Palacio de Don Pedro built in the 1360's by Moorish workmen, and utilized fragments of earlier Moorish buildings in Seville, Cordoba and Valencia, hence its distinct Moorish influence. Pedro's work forms the nucleus of the Alcazar as it is today and, despite numerous restorations necessitated by fires and earth tremors, it offers some of the best surviving examples of Mudejar architecture.
Later monarchs have left all too many traces and additions to the Alcazar - the most mundane of which are probably the kitchens constructed for General Franco who stayed in the royal apartments whenever he visited Seville.
Other sights not to be missed in Seville are, in the old city, the Casa de Pilatos, a large sixteenth-century mansion where Mudejar, Gothic and Renaissance styles blend harmoniously amidst exuberant patios and gardens and, crossing the Triana bridge over the large Guadalquivir River, the lively popular quarter of Triana with charming narrow streets around the church of Santa Ana and traditional ceramic factories.
Seville has some great restaurants. La Albahaca offers such culinary delights as scorpion fish with peanuts and fennel; partridges with endives, as well as a dish of mushrooms with green asparagus. If you think you would enjoy these delicious offerings in a romantic atmosphere, then you would have to spend some time at this wonderful restaurant.
Serving the best of Andalusia and Basque cuisine, Egana-Oriza is one Seville's most popular and respected restaurants. Escalope of goose in pear sauce is one of the items on the menu and is as marvelous as it sounds.
San Marco restaurant is housed in a magnificent18th century Sevillian mansion and offers French and Italian cuisine that is as elegant as its surroundings.
Enjoy yourself to the utmost at Meson Don Raimundo restaurant. This is the place to grease your chin and chow down on fish, shellfish and venison, in the decor of religious artifacts.
Museums are well represented in Seville too, including the spectacular Museo de Bellas Artes which is a treasure house where such masters as Velazquez have founded whole styles of art.
There's so much to Seville, it'll take you days to see it all. Take your time!
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