My Adventures 3: February 2025

On Friday the 28th February 2025, Mel and I got the 0600 hours flight from Gatwick to Seville. We were up at silly o'clock to drive to Gatwick, park up and go through security etc.

We arrive in Seville book a cab from the airport to our hotel 'Ibis Styles Santa Justa' and to our surprise we were let straight into our room early!

I went up to have a look at the Rooftop pool and bar, shame its raining but hopeful for it to improve for the rest of our stay. Whilst up there I saw a Hoopoe fly over, never in my life did I think I'd get to see one!

So after a bit of a rest we decide to make our way into the city.

As we walk down Av. de Menéndez Pelayo, we see our first orange tree of Seville. Seville is full of them!

We enter a small park with views to a house beyond surrounded by orange trees.

Seville is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville.

Seville was founded as the Roman city of Hispalis. Known as Ishbiliyah after the Islamic conquest in 711, Seville became the centre of the independent Taifa of Seville following the collapse of the Caliphate of Córdoba in the early 11th century; later it was ruled by Almoravids and Almohads until being incorporated to the Crown of Castile in 1248. Owing to its role as gateway of the Spanish Empire's trans-Atlantic trade, managed from the Casa de Contratación, Seville became one of the largest cities in Western Europe in the 16th century. Following a deterioration in drought conditions in the Guadalquivir, the American trade gradually moved away from the city of Seville, in favour initially of downstream-dependent berths and eventually of the Bay of Cádiz – to which were eventually transferred control of both the fleets of the Indies (1680) and the Casa de Contratación (1717).

We pop into some shops along the way.

The 20th century in Seville saw the tribulations of the Spanish Civil War, decisive cultural milestones such as the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929 and Expo '92, and the city's election as the capital of the Autonomous Community of Andalusia.

We walk down C. Joaquín Romero Murube and towards the centre of the Santa Cruz district.

We walk out into Plaza de Triunfo and get our first sight of the amazing Cathedral.

The Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See , better known as Seville Cathedral , is a Catholic cathedral and former mosque in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It was registered in 1987 by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, along with the adjoining Alcázar palace complex and the General Archive of the Indies. It is one of the largest churches in the world as well as the largest Gothic cathedral.

After its completion in the early 16th century, Seville Cathedral supplanted Hagia Sophia as the largest cathedral in the world, a title the Byzantine church had held for a thousand years. The Gothic section alone has a length of 126 m (413 ft), a width of 76 m (249 ft), and a central nave height of 36 m (118 ft) (40 m (130 ft) at the crossing). The total height of the Giralda tower from the ground to the weather vane is 104.5 m (342 ft 10 in). The Archbishop's Palace is located on the northeastern side of the cathedral.

Seville Cathedral was the site of the baptism of Infante Juan of Aragon in 1478, only son of the Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. Its royal chapel holds the remains of the city's conqueror, Ferdinand III of Castile, his son and heir, Alfonso the Wise, and their descendant, King Peter the Cruel. The funerary monuments for cardinals Juan de Cervantes and Pedro González de Mendoza are located among its chapels. Christopher Columbus and his son Diego are also buried in the cathedral.

The Almohad caliph Abu Yaqub Yusuf ordered the construction of a new grand mosque for the city in 1172 on the south end of the city. The new mosque was dedicated in 1182, but was not completed until 1198. It supplanted the one built between 829 and 830 by Umar Ibn Adabbas on the site of the present-day collegiate church of Divino Salvador, as the main mosque in the city. Larger and closer to the city's alcázar, the mosque was designed by architect Ahmad ben Basso as a 113-by-135-metre (371 ft × 443 ft) rectangular building with a surface of over 15,000 m2 (160,000 sq ft), including a minaret and ablutions courtyard. Its prayer hall consisted of seventeen aisles oriented southward, perpendicular to its qibla wall, in the manner of many mosques of Al-Andalus, including the mosque of Ibn Adabbas.

Shortly after Seville's conquest by Ferdinand III, Yaqub Yusuf's mosque was converted into the city's cathedral. Its orientation was changed and its spaces partitioned and adorned to suit Christian worship practices. The internal space was gradually divided into chapels by constructing walls in the bays along the northern and southern walls. Almost the entire eastern half of the cathedral was occupied by the royal chapel that would hold the bodies of Ferdinand, his wife and Alfonso the Wise.

Seville Cathedral was built to demonstrate the city's wealth, as it had become a major trading center in the years after the Reconquista in 1248. In July 1401, city leaders decided to build a new cathedral to replace the grand mosque that served as the cathedral until then. According to local oral tradition, the members of the cathedral chapter said: "Hagamos una Iglesia tan hermosa y tan grandiosa que los que la vieren labrada nos tengan por locos" ("Let us build a church so beautiful and so grand that those who see it finished will take us for mad"). The actual entry from 8 July 1401, recorded among others by Juan Cean Bermudes in 1801 but now lost, proposed building "una tal y tan buena, que no haya otra su igual" ("one so good that none will be its equal).

Work began in 1402 and continued for over a century. The precise date when construction began is not certain, but some sources date it to 1433. Several factors, including royal resistance to the temporary relocation of the royal chapel delayed construction. In 1433, King John II of Castille allowed the temporary transportation of the royal bodies from the old Capilla Real ('Royal Chapel') – including those of Alfonso X, Beatrice of Swabia, Ferdinand III, Peter the Cruel, and María de Padilla – to the cathedral's cloister for storage.

The clergy of the parish offered half their stipends to pay for architects, artists, stained glass artisans, masons, carvers, craftsman and labourers and other expenses. Due to the size of the building and the cramped nature of the urban fabric around it, demolition and construction took place in different stages. Construction began at the building's northeast corner and continued on its eastern end. After the permission granted by John II, the old Capilla Real on the cathedral's east side was demolished to allow work to continue.

A number of architects worked on the project, often from other countries. In 1434, a Dutch master named Ysambert was placed in charge. He was followed from 1439 to 1454 by a French master named Carlín, and then by Juán Normán until 1472. After 1472 there were two master masons in charge, probably in an attempt to accelerate work. They were succeeded in 1497 by a Master Ximón (possibly Simón de Colonia), who was then succeeded in 1502 by Alfonso Rodríguez until 1513.

By 1467 the eastern part of the cathedral had been completed. The stained glass windows were made after 1478 by Enrique Aleman. The enormous retable was designed in 1482 by Dutch artist Pieter Dancart, who worked on it until his death in 1487, when it was still unfinished. The crossing lantern (cimborrio) was completed before 1502 by Ximón and construction of the cathedral was completed in 1506–7.

In 1511, however, the crossing lantern and some of the vaults collapsed, necessitating reconstruction. After some debate, the current crossing lantern, with its ornate lierne vaulting, was designed by Juan Gil de Hontañón the Elder in 1513 and completed in 1519. In 1526 the central part of Dancart's retable was complete, but its side sections were only completed between 1550 and 1594. After the completion of the Gothic cathedral, Seville's subsequent prosperity resulted in many additions to the building in Renaissance and Plateresque style

The crossing again collapsed in 1888, and work on the dome continued until at least 1903. The 1888 collapse occurred due to an earthquake and resulted in the destruction of "every precious object below" the dome at that time.

Archbishop's Palace

Opposite the Cathedral stands the Archbishop's Palace.

The Archbishop's Palace of Seville (Palacio Arzobispal) is a palace in Seville, Spain. It has served as the residence of bishops and archbishops of the episcopal sees and numerous nobleman and military figures to the present time. It is located in the southern section of Seville, in the Plaza Virgen de los Reyes, angled almost opposite the Giralda. It is situated on the northeastern side of Seville Cathedral in the neighborhood of Santa Cruz. Of Spanish Baroque architectural style, it has had the status of National Monument since 1969.

Records of January 4, 1280, show that in 1251, following the reconquest of Seville by Ferdinand III of Castile, the king gave walled houses in the Piazza Santa Maria to the Bishop of Segovia, Remondo de Losana in order to create the Archbishop's Palace. Remondo was the first bishop of Seville after the reconquest and the first to live in the new palace.

Over the centuries, it was extended until the mid-16th century when a series of major reforms left the structure around two courtyards, covering an area of 6,700 square metres (72,000 sq ft), occupying nearly an entire block. During the brief years of the Peninsular War, the palace was used as headquarters of the Army General Command, and residence of the Marshal Jean de Dieu Soult and his officers. During Soult's stay, many paintings and sculptures were brought to the palace including the one of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist and another depicting the resurrection of Lazarus.

La Giralda

The Giralda is the bell tower of Seville Cathedral in Seville, Spain. It was built as the minaret for the Great Mosque of Seville in al-Andalus, during the reign of the Almohad dynasty, with a Renaissance-style belfry added by the Catholics after the expulsion of the Muslims from the area. The cathedral, including the Giralda, was registered in 1987 as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, along with the Alcázar and the General Archive of the Indies. It remains one of the most important symbols of the city, as it has been since the Middle Ages. The tower is one of the most famous monuments of Moorish architecture in Spain and one of the most refined examples of Almohad architecture.

The mosque was built to replace the older Mosque of Ibn 'Addabas, built in the 9th century under Umayyad rule, since the congregation had grown larger than that modest mosque could accommodate. It was commissioned in 1171 by caliph Abu Ya'qub Yusuf. Sevillian architect Ahmad Ibn Baso, who had led other construction projects for the caliph, was in charge of designing the mosque. Construction was slowed down by the redirection of an existing city sewer that needed to be moved to accommodate the broad foundation for the building, an engineering obstacle that slowed progress by four years.

From the beginning, craftsmen from all over Al-Andalus and the Maghreb were enlisted in the mosque's planning, construction, and decoration, and the caliph himself was highly invested in the process and was said to have visited the site daily. By 1176, the mosque was complete, save for the minaret; however, Friday prayer was not held there until 1182.

The minaret of the mosque still stands as the Giralda. The base at street level is a square of 13.6 m (45 ft) on the side and which sits on a solid foundation which is a bit wider, 15–16 m (49.21–52.49 ft) and about 5 m (16 ft) deep. The foundation is built with solid, rectangular stones, some taken and reused from the nearby walls of the former Abbadid palace and from the Roman city walls. The tower consists of two sections: the main shaft and a much smaller second shaft, superimposed on top of it, which is enveloped today by the Renaissance-era belfry. The main shaft is 50.51 m (165.7 ft) tall and the second shaft is 14.39 m (47.2 ft) tall and has a square base measuring 6.83 m (22.4 ft). The tower contains a series of 35 ramps winding around the perimeter of seven vaulted chambers at the tower's core. These ramps were designed with enough width and height to accommodate "beasts of burden, people, and the custodians," according to one chronicler from the era.

We walk down through the city to the Guadalquivir, the river that flows through Seville.

Here on the banks is a replica of Nao Victoria.

The Nao Victoria is the replica of the ship that made the first circumnavigation of the globe between 1519 and 1522, the greatest maritime exploit of all time. For the first time in maritime history, a ship left and returned to its home port, Seville, having successfully completed a "full circle" of the planet.

The Nao Victoria is a replica built with meticulous historical rigor in which the details of the original have been respected and constitutes an authentic masterpiece of Iberian carpentry.

In 2004, to commemorate this first world tour and to pay a living tribute to the work of the Spanish sailors, the replica of the Nao Victoria will once again set out from Seville on a voyage around the globe.

During the period 2004-2006, the modern-day Nao Victoria will travel 26,894 miles and visit 17 countries.

We walk further along the river to reach the Torre Del Oro.

The Torre del Oro (Arabic: بُرْج الذَّهَب, romanized: burj aḏẖ-ḏẖahab, lit. 'Tower of Gold') is a dodecagonal military watchtower in Seville. It was erected by the Almohad Caliphate in order to control access to Seville via the Guadalquivir river.

Constructed in the first third of the 13th century, the tower served as a prison during the Middle Ages. Its name comes from the golden shine it projected on the river, due to its building materials (a mixture of mortar, lime and pressed hay).

The tower is divided into three levels, the first level, dodecagonal, was built in 1220 by order of the Almohad governor of Seville, Abù l-Ulà; As for the second level, of only 8 meters, also dodecagonal, was built by Peter of Castile in the fourteenth century, a hypothesis that has been confirmed by archaeological studies; The third and uppermost being circular in shape was added after the previous third level, Almohad, was damaged by the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. Rebuilding of the third level was made by Brusselian military engineer Sebastian Van der Borcht in 1760.

The Torre de la Plata, an octagonal tower, is located nearby, and is believed to have been constructed during the same era.

It is one of two anchor points for a large chain that would have been able to block the river. The other anchor-point has since been demolished or disappeared, possibly collapsing during the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. The chain was used in the city's defence against the Castilian fleet under Ramón de Bonifaz in the 1248 Reconquista. Bonifaz broke the river defences and isolated Seville from Triana.

The Tower of Gold was built 1220–1221, by order of the Almohad governor of Seville, Abu l-Ulà, with a twelve-sided base. It barred the way to the Arenal district with a section of wall joining it to the Torre de la Plata, a part of the city walls that defended the Alcazar.

The tower was badly damaged by the Lisbon earthquake of 1755, and the Marquis of Monte Real proposed demolishing it to widen the way for horse-drawn coaches and straighten access to the bridge of Triana; however, the people of Seville objected and appealed to the king, who intervened. In 1760, the damage was repaired, with repairs to the bottom floor of the tower, reinforcement with rubble and mortar, and the creation of a new main access via the passageway to the path around the wall. That same year, the upper cylindrical body was built, a work of the military engineer Sebastian Van der Borcht, also architect of the Royal Tobacco Factory of Seville. These works changed the appearance of the tower as compared to what is seen in engravings from the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries. On August 13, 1992, the Torre del Oro was made a brother to the Tower of Belem of Lisbon to celebrate the Universal Exposition in Seville. As of 2008 the museum displayed a variety of old navigational instruments and models, as well as historical documents, engravings, and nautical charts, relating Seville to the Guadalquivir River and the sea. The tower was again restored in 2005.

As we walked further along the river we see Police closing roads everywhere. No idea of what for but it seemed like someone important was visiting.

We pass Palacio de San Telmo, where there were people waiting outside to welcome someone.

The Palace of San Telmo is a historical edifice in Seville, formerly the Universidad de Mareantes (a university for navigators), now is the seat of the presidency of the Andalusian Autonomous Government. Construction of the building began in 1682 outside the walls of the city, on property belonging to the Tribunal of the Holy Office, the institution responsible for the Spanish Inquisition. It was originally constructed as the seat of the University of Navigators (Universidad de Mareantes), a school to educate orphaned children and train them as sailors.

Work began in 1991 to convert the building for use as the official seat of the presidency of the Andalusian Autonomous Government. In 2005, a second phase of restoration took place. It focused on restoring the parts of the 18th and 19th centuries and reforming elements of low architectural value and poor quality of materials made in the 20th century by Basterra y Sagastizábal.

We now reach Plaza De Espana.

The Plaza de España ("Spain Square", in English) is a plaza in the Parque de María Luisa (Maria Luisa Park), in Seville, Spain. It was built in 1928 for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929. It is a landmark example of Regionalism Architecture, mixing elements of the Baroque Revival, Renaissance Revival and Moorish Revival (Neo-Mudéjar) styles of Spanish architecture.

Been looking forward to seeing this, as whenever you Google Seville this is the main picture you'll see!

In 1929, Seville hosted the Ibero-American Exposition World's Fair, located in the celebrated Maria Luisa Park (Parque de María Luisa). The park gardens were designed by Jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier. The entire southern end of the city was redeveloped into an expanse of gardens and grand boulevards.

The centre of it is Parque de María Luisa, designed in a "Moorish paradisical style", with a half mile of tiled fountains, pavilions, walls, ponds, benches, and exhedras; lush plantings of palms, orange trees, Mediterranean pines, and stylized flower beds. Numerous buildings were constructed in the park to provide spaces for the exhibition.

The Plaza de España, designed by Aníbal González, was a principal building built on the Maria Luisa Park's edge to showcase Spain's industry and technology exhibits. González combined a mix of 1920s Art Deco and Spanish Renaissance Revival, Spanish Baroque Revival and Neo-Mudéjar styles. The Plaza de España complex is a huge half-circle; the buildings are accessible by four bridges over the moat, which represent the ancient kingdoms of Spain. In the centre is the Vicente Traver fountain.

Many tiled alcoves were built around the plaza, each representing a different province of Spain. The Plaza's tiled Alcoves of the Provinces are frequent backdrops for visitors' portrait photographs, taken in their own home province. Each alcove is flanked by a pair of covered bookshelves, now used by visitors in the manner of a "Little Free Library". Each bookshelf often contains works with information about their province. Visitors have also donated favorite novels and other books for others to read.

Today the buildings of the Plaza de España have been renovated and adapted for use as offices for government agencies. The central government departments, with sensitive adaptive redesign, are located within it. Toward the end of the park, the grandest mansions from the fair have been adapted as museums. The most distant museum contains the city's archaeology collections. The main exhibits are Roman mosaics and artefacts from nearby Italica.

The Plaza de España has been used as a filming location, including scenes for Lawrence of Arabia (1962). The building was used as a location in the Star Wars movie series Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002) — in which it featured in exterior shots of the City of Theed on the Planet Naboo.[# It also featured in the 2012 film The Dictator. The 2023 Netflix series, Kaos, also featured scenes filmed at the Plaza.

The plaza was used as a set for the video of Simply Red's song "Something Got Me Started".

From 2007 to 2010, the Seville City Council invested 9 million euros in the restoration of the Plaza de España. The objective was to recover the original monument as the architect, Aníbal González, conceived it. To restore it, the restoration team worked to recover pieces such as the ceramic streetlights, benches, and even pavements. In other cases, they created reproductions of elements based on photographs and postcards from the municipal newspaper library. Cefoarte and Diaz Cubero were some of the experts who worked in multidisciplinary teams to restore this complex to lively use.

The shape of Plaza de España is a semi-circle, surrounded by a row of buildings that today are, for the most part, used as government institutions. There are two tall towers on the flanks of the square. Of note are the 52 benches and mosaics of tiles located at the foot of the building on the Spanish square. These 52 frescos depict all 52 Spanish provinces. The tiles are typical of Andalusia Spain, the so-called azulejos. Spanish tourists visiting Seville are only too happy to pose in their own province.

Other fixtures of the square are the large fountain in the middle and the round canal with the many cute bridges. You can even rent a boat and sail through the canals. The Spanish square underwent a huge renovation in October 2010. This top attraction should not be missed during your Seville city trip and is one of Seville's most visited attractions, drawing millions of tourists each year who come to admire its beauty.

The bridges crossing the canal are reminiscent of Venice's iconic waterways, adding a romantic and picturesque charm to the plaza.

The building materials and architectural style of Plaza de España draw heavily from Renaissance aesthetics, with grand arches, ornate balustrades, and majestic towers.

It really is a beautiful place, was hoping to see Flamenco dancers that I have seen in YouTube videos, but not today sadly!

We stop an buy some typical tourist gifts from the street vendors here, fans and castanets !

We take a walk upstairs to get a view of the Plaza from above.

We walk back to the Hotel via stopping off at a café for a drink. Mel had a hot chocolate and myself a Cruzcampo Sin lager.

We have a snooze and then head back into the City to see some more and get some dinner.

As we walk along C. Luis Montoto we pass The "Acueducto Romano Tramo" in Seville, also known as "Caños de Carmona" or "Pipes of Carmona", refers to the impressive remains of a Roman aqueduct that supplied water to the city, situated in the middle of Calle Luis Montoto.

We walk by Casa de Pilatos, an Andalusian palace in Seville, Spain, which serves as the permanent residence of the Dukes of Medinaceli. It is an example of an Italian Renaissance building with Mudéjar elements and decorations. It is considered the prototype of the Andalusian palace.

The Casa de Pilatos has around 150 different azulejo (Spanish glazed tile) designs made in the 1530s by the brothers Diego and Juan Pulido, one of the largest early-modern azulejo collections in the world.

Several films have been shot in the Casa de Pilatos, including Lawrence of Arabia in 1962, and Ridley Scott's 1492: Conquest of Paradise in 1992, and Kingdom of Heaven in 2005. At the end of 2009, Tom Cruise filmed the movie Knight and Day with Cameron Diaz at the palace.

We reach Plaza De La Encarnacion where we see the Setas De Sevilla.

Popularly known as the Seville Mushrooms , is a pergola-shaped structure made of wood and concrete located in the central Plaza de la Encarnación in the city of Seville , in the autonomous community of Andalusia ( Spain ). It has dimensions of 150 meters long, 70 meters wide and an approximate height of 26 meters. Its base houses a traditional market and restaurants on the ground floor, a performance square and the Antiquarium archaeological museum . The structure is crowned with an event space, a terrace and a viewpoint that offers a panoramic view of the old town.

The work, composed primarily of laminated wood, consists of a large parasol-shaped grid supported by six pillars that span both the Plaza de la Encarnación and the city's Plaza Mayor. Each of its ribs creates a spatial layout where each rib offers its own curvature, giving the whole a sense of wave-like movement. Although its design is inspired by the vaults of Seville Cathedral , due to its mushroom-shaped profile, it soon received the nickname 'Las Setas' (The Mushrooms) from the locals.

The project was the winner of a competition opened by the Seville City Council to carry out the rehabilitation of the square in which it is located. It was designed by the Berlin architect Jürgen Mayer . Due to its avant-garde design and tourist functions, it has become an icon of the historic center and the city of Seville. In January 2003, the Metropol Parasol space was chosen, from among 335 candidate projects, as one of five finalists for the Mies van der Rohe Prize for Contemporary Architecture, awarded biannually by the European Union and the Mies van der Rohe Foundation.

Construction work began on June 26, 2005. The many difficulties that arose during the project led to disputes and delays that tripled the estimated cost of the project, reaching €100 million. Finally, the Metropol Parasol was inaugurated on March 27, 2011, and has since become one of the city's main tourist attractions, attracting one million visitors in its first year.

We buy our tickets for a visit over this unusual structure.

Since the 19th century, the Plaza de la Encarnación had housed a large food market known as the 'Mercado de la Encarnación,' which was partially demolished in 1948 due to the area's urban redevelopment. The remaining portion of that market was finally demolished in 1973 due to its dilapidated state. The site remained unused until the 1990s, when the Seville City Council planned to build a large underground parking lot there, including the rehabilitation of the space to rebuild the food market.

During the excavation, important archaeological remains dating back to the city's Roman and Andalusian periods were discovered , so the works were halted after an investment of €14.6 million. In 2003, the Historical Heritage Commission of the Provincial Delegation of Culture demanded the in situ conservation of the archaeological remains and a year later in 2004 the city council decided to restore the space's value by holding an international public competition to receive ideas and projects for reorganizing the space to include a food market, a public square and also a space to create a museum in which the archaeological remains found would be preserved.

The competition's idea was to create a structure that would function as a public square, but could also house a market, an archaeological museum, and a multipurpose space. The ultimate goal was to create an iconic landmark in the heart of Seville that would offer a refreshing and futuristic profile and become a tourist attraction in itself.

Sixty-five projects were submitted to the competition, from which the jury selected the "Metropol Parasol" by Berlin architect Jürgen Mayer . Construction of the structure began in 2005, although its sheer size and high cost led to numerous technical difficulties and controversies .

Work on the project began on June 26, 2005. In 2007, when construction was scheduled to be completed and only the concrete structures of the six vertical cores had been erected, the engineering firm Arup, the project consultant, submitted a report to the city council questioning the technical feasibility of the approved design, as the complex structure of longitudinal projection sections was unable to support the weights and stresses of the structure. This document was not made public by the municipal government of Mayor Sánchez Monteseirín until two years later, when a novel technical solution had already been found that would allow the project to continue. This involved modifying the structure of the parasols by replacing the metal with laminated birch wood from Finland. These changes entailed an increase of €25.8 million in its cost, reaching €100.6 million.

Mel in the lift up to the top.

In 2010, when the works were up to 80% advanced, Juan Ignacio Zoido , candidate for mayor of the city, presented a proposal that did away with the wooden structure of the roof and four of the six mushrooms of the project, those currently located near Regina and José Gestoso streets and the two near Puente y Pellón street, in exchange for being able to open the facilities more quickly and saving 20 million euros. Finally, on March 27, 2011, the structure was inaugurated by the mayor of the city, Alfredo Sánchez Monteseirín .