After spending four days in Northern Morocco, Dean and I caught a ferry across the Strait of Gibraltar from Tangiers to Algeciras on the morning of 11 October. Two hours later, we docked in Spain, where we leveraged our Eurail ticket to buy a discounted ticket to Seville. We stayed overnight in Seville before continuing to Paris via Barcelona in a single marathon journey covering more than 2000 km.
Seville was a last-minute addition to our itinerary. I added it in part because it offered the most efficient route for getting to Paris. At the time, we had just two travel days left on our flexible 15-day Eurail pass. I worked out that we could catch an overnight train to Barcelona, then transfer to Paris, arriving early evening the same day. At the time, Eurail rules let you catch an overnight train and only count the following day on your ticket, provided you didn’t change trains before midnight. This meant we could spend two days travelling north while only using one day on our Eurail pass.
This itinerary also meant we'd finish our time on the road near the English Channel and the UK. We both had British Working Holiday visas, which had to be endorsed before the end of October. We debated options for squeezing in a second stop along the Spanish or French Atlantic coast. However, we decided to head for Paris and use the last remaining day on our Eurail pass to visit the Netherlands. Dikes and windmills ultimately held more appeal than anything in regional France. In hindsight, had we been a little more prudent with our time in Scandinavia, we could have squeezed in a stop in Bilbao, San Sebastian or Bordeaux. Decades later, I’ve yet to visit any of these cities.
Both bridges span Canal de Alfonso XIII, a manmade diversion of the River Guadalquivir, which divides the inner city. Puente de la Barqueta led directly into the Expo's main entrance, while Puente del Alamillo carried traffic past the site's northern boundaries. The images above were pulled from the web to illustrate this post. The first shows the Barquet Bridge, followed by the Almaillo Bridge. Both were still under construction during our visit, so I've yet to see them in their finished form.
Dean and I spent barely 24 hours in Seville. We stayed overnight in a cheap youth hostel in the heart of Santa Cruz, the city’s historic neighbourhood. This bustling, rambling district is filled with character. It was once Seville's medieval Jewish Quarter until its residents were expelled by royal decree in 1492. You could spend days exploring its labyrinth of narrow streets, whitewashed houses, and orange tree-lined squares.
For example, on our first afternoon in town, the stunning Baroque facade of Iglesia Colegial del Divino Salvador caught my eye. Translated, its name means the Collegiate Church of the Divine Saviour. It’s Seville’s second-largest church, surpassed only by the city’s famous cathedral. It sits on the edge of Plaza del Salvador, a central hub in Santa Cruz. I love the Lonely Planet’s description of this quirky building, “Its Mannerist red-brick facade masks a cavernous, light-filled interior crowned by a soaring dome and filled with extravagant gold altarpieces.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.
The following day, Dean and I explored as much of central Seville as time would allow before catching a train late in the evening. This included the iconic Parque de María Luisa, a public space created for the Ibero-American Exposition in 1929. The park includes two major plazas, the iconic Plaza de España and the Plaza de América, and several monuments and museums. Plaza de España was breathtaking. This semi-circular plaza is marked by tall towers and a series of benches covered in painted tiles dedicated to the 48 provinces of Spain. The overall experience is unforgettable, as you can see from the image opening this post.
Equally memorable was the Lonja Palace. Parts of this 16th-century building are still used by the Spanish royal family. Inside, a series of publicly accessible rooms is filled with maps and documents relating to the discovery of the New World. It was fascinating to see these yellowing parchments on display, including some created by Christopher Columbus during his four voyages to South America and the Caribbean. It's hard to believe that the world map, filled with continents and landmarks we take for granted, was once completely unknown.
Next door to the Palace stands the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See, colloquially known as Seville Cathedral. It’s considered the largest Gothic cathedral in the world and one of the largest cathedrals in general. The main nave is 126 metres long, and its ceiling rises to a dizzying 36 meters, while its bell tower is an impressive 105 metres high. As with many other religious structures in Southern Spain, parts of the city's former Almohad mosque, once its primary mosque, have been integrated into the current structure. For example, the cathedral's prominent bell tower, the Giralda, was once the mosque’s minaret, minus the Renaissance-style bellfry added in the 16th century.
Inside, much to our surprise, we discovered the ornate tomb of Christopher Columbus. As you can see, the tomb is an impressive structure, sitting in Capilla Antigua (or Ancient Chapel) alongside the central nave. For many years, there were questions over its authenticity. His remains were moved multiple times over several centuries, travelling from Valladolid to Seville, then to Santo Domingo, Havana, and finally returning to Seville in 1898. However, DNA analysis in 2006 finally confirmed that the remains in this tomb are truly his.
As is traditional in many Spanish cathedrals, Seville's cathedral features a verdant, immaculately maintained internal courtyard filled with orange trees and other citrus fruits. It's another of those repurposed elements from the original mosque. In this case, the sahn, or traditional Islamic courtyard. I recall how wonderfully calm and contemplative its surroundings were, in stark contrast to the inner-city hustle and bustle beyond its cloister walls. It was a memorable way to end our time in Andalusia.
Follow this link to read about our week exploring Paris and nearby Versailles.
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