John Edward Cooper’s Notes

SEVILLE
Seville is a city which defies words. It is simply one of the most beautiful cities in the world, with a history spanning the centuries and a wealth of monuments and buildings coupled with extensive peaceful parks, with the serene River Guadalquivir flowing through the centre.
It has its origins in Roman times: the Emperor Hadrian, builder of the famous wall came from here. During the 8th Century that most fascinating of peoples, the Moors arrived, stayed for 500 years and left a unique legacy still in evidence today. However, if one event changed Seville, it was the discovery of the New World. Indeed Christopher Columbus is fittingly buried in the imposing cathedral. Immense wealth poured in from the Empire and catapulted Seville into one of the largest, and certainly richest cities in Europe. Much of Seville was built during this time and it seems to have changed little in the last five hundred years, with tiny winding streets, and cool hidden squares where the locals hide from the midday sun in high summer. Today though, it possesses a spirit which is very special. The city of Figaro, the setting for the classic opera Carmen, is here. It’s the home of Flamenco too, the origins of which are lost in the eons of time. In short this is real Spain at its unspoilt best.
This morning, after breakfast we have a tour of this fascinating city, during which we will see the gothic cathedral, the world’s largest, the fantastic Alcazar – the fortified palace of the Moors with a richness of decoration which will astound you, the Tower of Gold, so named as it was used to store the plunder from the Americas, plus much more. During the afternoon you are free to explore Seville at your leisure, and if you wish, you could take a cruise on one of the many river boats.

I didn’t hear the clock-bell again till three. I’d been awake for some minutes. Then I also heard, with several seconds between them, fainter bells doing the same from elsewhere. Janet told me that she hadn’t slept at all. That was in addition to the disturbed night before, and the night before that when we were up at 1am. I heard the nearer bell again, but not the others, ringing six and seven. Janet got up not long after the latter. After she had departed for breakfast, I got up, shaved and showered. Checked e-mail accounts (08:23). Went down and joined Janet in the ground floor breakfast room. There was a neat machine that fed sweet oranges into a juice-extractor. The pale, almost white, corn flakes, made soft by my applying hot milk by mistake, were almost tasteless. Then I had baked beans with leathery bacon. (I left the tiny cocktail-style sausages alone.) The coffee from the machine was more or less OK. We went back to the room.… I looked up Ronda, Puente Nuevo and Iglesia de Santa María la Mayor (Ronda) on the internet (09:07–09:13).…



At 9.30am we all boarded the coach for a tour of Seville. Perhaps I should say, “A coach”, because unlike yesterday’s this one had comfortable, roomy seating, with some 3" clearance between my knees and the seat in front. Janet and I found our seats on the right side of the coach, as one boards (i.e. the left side, after one is seated and faces the front). A guide, Jaime, came aboard, who told us about the city as we proceeded through it and pointed out landmarks — most of which passed by too quickly for me to photograph. I did manage to get a couple of snaps of the city wall from Calle Muñoz León as we passed by—[iii]

[iii] We were travelling in a direction left-to right as one looks at the first two photos, but the arch and the tower in the first photo are to the right of the tower and same arch in the second photo; so I must have taken the first photo looking out somewhat forward and the second looking out somewhat rearward. There are 24 seconds between the two photos, so we must have been held up in traffic.

Sunday 3 September 2017 — 09:43:58
Views from the coach: walls of Seville


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 09:44:22
Views from the coach: walls of Seville

—and one of its surviving gates, the Gate of the Macarena, adjacent to the Basilica of “Saint Mary of Hope of Macarena” (a wooden image of the Virgin Mary venerated in Seville). It’s suggested that “Macarena” comes from some important Roman landowner’s name, Macarius (itself from Greek μακάριος, “blessed, happy”). But during Muslim rule, the gate named Bab-al-Makrin.[iv]

[iv] I assume that this implies that the name may have originated in Arabic, rather than being borrowed from prior Latin or Greek. But what is the meaning in Arabic? “Gate of the Plotters” or Planners”?

Sunday 3 September 2017 — 09:45:24
Views from the coach: Puerta de la Macarena, one of four surviving gates in the walls of Seville; (right:) Basílica de La Macarena

We crossed from Macarena over the Guadalquivir river,[v] or a branch of it, onto the “almost-island” Isla de la Cartuja; we passed the sites of the several pavilions of the Universal Exposition of Seville (Expo ’92), some of which had been demolished, some turned to other uses, and some replaced by a large theme-park Isla Mágica. We also passed the Monastery of Santa María de las Cuevas, associated with Christopher Columbus;[vi] and the controversial Sevilla Tower, an office skyscraper under construction — controversial because of the tower's “negative visual impact” on the old town skyline of Seville.

[v] The Guadalquivir river was something that Manuel had spoken about during our coach travels yesterday. In Roman times it was called Baetis, and was navigable to Córdoba. It was also called the river of Tartessus — at Manuel’s mention of which my ears had pricked up, because I remembered that that was the name Moffatt used, to render the Hebrew “Tarshish” in A new translation of The Bible.
[vi] I thought Jaime said that Christopher Columbus had lived there, but the only reference I can find is to his having been interred there (and latterly moved to Seville Cathedral).

Sunday 3 September 2017 — 09:57:10
Views from the coach: Sevilla Tower, an office skyscraper under construction on Isla de la Cartuja

We crossed back from La Cartuja over the Puente del Cristo de la Expiración[vii] to the old quarter Casco Antiguo (Spanish: “Ancient Shell”), turned right, and proceeded parallel to the river. As we passed Triana on the other side, over to the right, Jaime pointed out the coloured façades of the 18th century houses in Calle Betis there, formerly dwellings of seafaring traders; while to the left he pointed out the bullring, “Plaza de toros de la Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla”.

[vii] It’s clear from a comparison with Google Street View that I took the photo (immediately below) from the eastern end of this bridge.

Sunday 3 September 2017 — 09:57:56
Views from the coach: Schindler Tower, part of the Pavilion of Navigation in Seville’s 1992 Universal Exposition (Expo ’92) on Isla de la Cartuja


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 10:01:02
Views from the coach: Seville bullring, “Plaza de toros de la Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla”

We stopped at Maria Luisa Park in the Sur (“South”) district, and Jaime led us through it, stopping from time to time to point out features and talk about them.


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 10:14:56
Maria Luisa Park, Seville


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 10:14:56 (detail)
Maria Luisa Park, Seville


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 10:19:40
Maria Luisa Park, Seville: (background:) Mudejar Pavilion


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 10:21:44
Maria Luisa Park, Seville


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 10:23:20
Maria Luisa Park, Seville


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 10:26:32
Maria Luisa Park, Seville: north side of Mudejar Pavilion


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 10:28:20
Maria Luisa Park, Seville: Garden of the Lions


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 10:28:52
Maria Luisa Park, Seville: Garden of the Lions


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 10:29:42
Maria Luisa Park, Seville: Garden of the Lions


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 10:30:38
Maria Luisa Park, Seville: Fountain of the Lions


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 10:33:20
Maria Luisa Park, Seville

We walked to the Plaza de España at the north-east corner, built in 1928 for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929, where a rendezvous point was indicated and we were given free time to look around till 11 o’clock. I took a panorama of photos of the huge semicircular building complex, but the sun was very bright behind the southern half. That enhanced the spray from the central fountain but rather put the southern part of the complex into silhouette.


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 10:39:28
Plaza de España, Seville


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 10:39:34
Plaza de España, Seville


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 10:39:44
Plaza de España, Seville


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 10:39:50
Plaza de España, Seville


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 10:40:10
Plaza de España, Seville


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 10:41:26
Plaza de España, Seville


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 10:41:36
Plaza de España, Seville


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 10:43:24
Plaza de España, Seville


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 10:44:30
Plaza de España, Seville

First impression was that it was “Renaissance” in style, but then more “Moorish” features became apparent, especially when we entered the middle building of the northern wing; then the impression went back to “Renaissance” when I saw the coffered wooden ceiling of the semicircular gallery connecting the buildings. I think I first saw such a ceiling in a “true-Renaissance” church in Lecce nearly a year ago, 20 September 2016. The stylistic impression was further compounded when the humped bridges crossing the moat reminded me of similar features outside Tiananmen and in the Forbidden City, Beijing.


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 10:49:36
Plaza de España, Seville


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 10:51:54
Plaza de España, Seville


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 10:52:56
Plaza de España, Seville


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 10:56:36
Plaza de España, Seville: coffered ceiling in the semicircular gallery


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 10:56:44
Plaza de España, Seville: gallery


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 10:57:26
Plaza de España, Seville: tiled alcoves representing the provinces of Spain


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 10:58:02
Plaza de España, Seville: tiled alcoves representing the provinces of Spain


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 10:58:02 (detail 1)


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 10:58:02 (detail 2)


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 10:58:14
Plaza de España, Seville


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 11:02:12
Plaza de España, Seville: cupola of the northern tower


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 11:02:30
Plaza de España, Seville: building at the north end, adjacent to the northern tower


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 11:02:30 (detail 1)


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 11:02:30 (detail 2)


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 11:02:30 (detail 3)

In Plaza de España there were many people selling souvenirs, especially castanets; and the continual clacking of them all over the place by the vendors got very annoying. After we all met up, ca.11am, we passed through the middle building of the northern wing. On a nearby corner of two avenues we split into two parties: those who wanted to go on a walking tour of the old city followed Jaime; and those who wanted to go on a river cruise followed Manuel. Janet and I were in the latter party. It was a walk of just over ¾-mile to the quay by the Torre del Oro.


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 11:05:48
Plaza de España, Seville: middle building of the northern wing, outer side


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 11:18:34
Torre del Oro (“Tower of Gold”), Seville

Manuel obtained the tickets and handed them out. Their face value was €17, but we paid him only €12 each for them.


River-cruise tickets


River-cruise ticket (reverse)

We boarded the boat, and Janet and I went to the awninged upper deck. The cruise started just after 11.30am, heading initially in a southerly direction—


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 11:41:20
Seville, Guadalquivir cruise: Puente de San Telmo


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 11:43:16
Seville, Guadalquivir cruise: Puente de los Remedios; (left:) Argentina Pavilion of the Ibero-American Exhibition of 1929


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 11:46:14
Seville, Guadalquivir cruise: Puente de las Delicias; (just beyond it:) railway bridge with leaves raised; (background:) Puente del Centenario


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 11:46:14 (detail 1)
Seville, Guadalquivir cruise: Puente de las Delicias; (just beyond it:) railway bridge with leaves raised; (background:) Puente del Centenario


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 11:46:14 (detail 2)

—before turning back, passing Torre del Oro, and heading on northwards.


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 11:50:16
Seville, Guadalquivir cruise: Puente de San Telmo and Torre del Oro


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 11:50:16 (detail)
Seville, Guadalquivir cruise: Puente de San Telmo and Torre del Oro


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 11:52:50
Seville, Guadalquivir cruise: Torre del Oro; and Teatro de la Maestranza, opera house and one of the main cultural venues of Expo ’92


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 11:53:44
Seville, Guadalquivir cruise: Puente de Isabel II or Puente de Triana (“Triana Bridge”)


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 11:54:30
Seville, Guadalquivir cruise: Calle Betis, Triana, with brightly-coloured townhouse façades, some of them 18th-century, formerly seafaring traders’ homes


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 11:56:02
Seville, Guadalquivir cruise: Seville bullring, “Plaza de toros de la Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla”


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 11:56:10
Seville, Guadalquivir cruise: western extension to the Seville bullring


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 11:56:46
Seville, Guadalquivir cruise: Puente de Isabel II or Puente de Triana (“Triana Bridge”)


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 11:57:30
Seville, Guadalquivir cruise: “Puente de Triana”


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 11:57:38
“Inaugurated on 23 February 1852”


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 11:59:20
Seville, Guadalquivir cruise: Puente del Cristo de la Expiración


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 12:00:46
Seville, Guadalquivir cruise: Puente del Cristo de la Expiración


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 12:01:12
Seville, Guadalquivir cruise: Schindler Tower and the Pavilion of Navigation (from Expo ’92) on Isla de la Cartuja


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 12:01:42
Seville, Guadalquivir cruise: Torre Triana (“Triana Tower”), an administrative building of the Regional Government of Andalusia on Isla de la Cartuja


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 12:02:12
Seville, Guadalquivir cruise: Triana Tower; (foreground:) buildings associated with the Sevilla Tower


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 12:02:34
Seville, Guadalquivir cruise: Schindler Tower on Isla de la Cartuja


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 12:03:26
Seville, Guadalquivir cruise: Pasarela de la Cartuja, a bridge built for Expo ’92


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 12:04:04
Seville, Guadalquivir cruise: the former Monastery of Santa María de las Cuevas on Isla de la Cartuja, where the remains of Christopher Columbus had been interred, latterly a pottery with kilns visible


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 12:06:44
Seville, Guadalquivir cruise: Expo ’92 items on Isla de la Cartuja — (left:) Rocío Jurado Municipal Auditorium; (right:) a replica of a European Space Agency Ariane 4 rocket in what was the Pavilion of the Future


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 12:07:00
Seville, Guadalquivir cruise: Rocío Jurado Municipal Auditorium on Isla de la Cartuja


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 12:07:52
Seville, Guadalquivir cruise: replica of a European Space Agency Ariane 4 rocket and remains of the Pavilion of the Future (from Expo ’92) on Isla de la Cartuja


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 12:07:52 (detail)
Seville, Guadalquivir cruise: remains of the Pavilion of the Future (from Expo ’92) on Isla de la Cartuja


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 12:08:46
Seville, Guadalquivir cruise: Torre Banesto, 92m high observation tower (disused since 2004) on Isla de la Cartuja


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 12:09:04
Seville, Guadalquivir cruise: Puente de la Barqueta (“Bridge of the Barges”), built as the main access to Expo ’92


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 12:09:14
Seville, Guadalquivir cruise: the Andalusian Pavilion of Expo ’92, now a Radio y Televisión de Andalucía building, on Isla de la Cartuja


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 12:09:38
Seville, Guadalquivir cruise: Isla Mágica theme park constructed on part of the Expo ’92 grounds, on Isla de la Cartuja


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 12:10:12
Seville, Guadalquivir cruise: the Andalusian Pavilion of Expo ’92, now a Radio y Televisión de Andalucía building, on Isla de la Cartuja


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 12:10:38
Seville, Guadalquivir cruise: (left:) Barceló Sevilla Renacimiento hotel, and (right:) Teatro Central (from Expo ’92), on Isla de la Cartuja


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 12:12:44
Seville, Guadalquivir cruise: Puente del Alamillo constructed for Expo ’92


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 12:12:44 (detail)
Seville, Guadalquivir cruise: Puente del Alamillo

Just before the cantilever spar cable-stayed bridge Puente del Alamillo, the boat turned back to the Torre del Oro. From there, Manuel led us northwards ca.½-mile to Seville Cathedral.


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 12:48:10
Seville Cathedral

“After a bit of searching, I found Las Escobas, and we went inside,” Janet wrote: “a very old and traditional restaurant[viii] (as was yesterday’s in Ronda).” The above photo was taken on the south side of the Cathedral, but Restaurante Las Escobas (“The Brooms Restaurant”) was found near the start of Calle Álvarez Quintero, off due north of the Cathedral. Like the gallery of the Plaza de España complex, it had a coffered wooden ceiling. I started with gazpacho and Janet had a tropical salad with Marie Rose sauce. I then had a mixed meat skewer, which was served dangling over a plate from a metal stand. It was just about OK, not my all-time favourite. Janet had a veal fillet entrecote steak. “It was huge,” Janet wrote, “and rare. I struggled at first with [the sight of] the blood on the plate, but it was delicious. A lot of meat. It was served with a few potato slices and braised red cabbage. Plus gorgonzola sauce.” I had a half-bottle of Rioja to drink, and because it was very hot outside a bottle of water. Janet had 7Up. I finished with two cafés americanos.

[viii] According to Sevillapedia, it was founded in 1386, and was patronised over the centuries or even frequented by the likes of Miguel de Cervantes, Alexander Dumas and Lord Byron.

Sunday 3 September 2017 — 13:26:14
Restaurante Las Escobas, Calle Álvarez Quintero 62, Seville


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 13:33:16
Restaurante Las Escobas, Calle Álvarez Quintero 62, Seville

Afterwards, we headed north along one of the narrow streets till we got to the main east–west street, where we turned right (east).


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 15:08:54
Metropol Parasol, known locally as “Las Setas” (“The Mushrooms”) in Plaza de la Encarnación, Seville


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 15:09:26
Metropol Parasol, known locally as “Las Setas” (“The Mushrooms”) in Plaza de la Encarnación, Seville

What I’ve called “the main east–west street” changed its name a few times en route. In its incarnation as Calle Imagen we found and used a Santander ATM on the right side. I made the mistake of converting to sterling locally, so got a worse rate than I would if Lloyds Bank had done the exchange.


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 15:16:32
Church of San Pedro, Plaza San Pedro, Seville

On the other side, just beyond the San Pedro church, Janet spotted an ice cream shop, Helados Rayas, which we visited. I had one scoop of pistacho flavour, and I think Janet had three scoops, of different flavours.


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 15:30:10
Church of Santa Catalina, seen from Calle Almirante Apodaca, Seville


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 15:32:32
Hotel Don Paco, Plaza Padre Jerónimo de Córdoba 4–5, Seville

Back at the hotel, in the lobby, I had difficulty booking tickets on-line for a visit to the Alcázar tomorrow, but did manage to get it done finally. Not only was the stool in the little computer booth too high to see the screen full-on, making the screen hard to see because of the directional nature of its display — and when I tried to tilt the screen, the computer re-set itself! — but also the Real Alcázar website, although it was in English, was hard to navigate, and gave misleading information: a choice of categories to be selected, none of which seemed appropriate to us. There were only a couple of times offered at which to visit — there was no time restriction for visiting the Real Alcázar in general, but there was an additional tour of the “Cuarto Real Alto”, for which a time had to be selected; and we chose “13:00”. Anyway, I got the task done, the price paid (€7.50 each, for retired people), and a ticket printed. There was another woman, who’d wanted to book on-line, who’d experienced the same difficulties; so I was able to explain to her what I’d done, and answer her objection that there was no appropriate category to choose.



Upstairs, in our room, I turned on the computer and checked e-mail accounts (16:10). There was a confirmative e-mail (sent 15:51), much the same as the ticket I’d printed out.… I… looked up “Alcázar of Seville” and “Cuarto Real Alto” (16:14–16:32); I wanted to know exactly where in the building we had to go for the “Cuarto Real Alto” tour. I normally shower once a day, after getting up in the morning; but today had been so hot that I showered again and changed clothes. I showed Janet yesterday’s photos. Janet updated her journal, and I did this and that. We left the room ca.6pm, going first up to the roof — not to use the pool and sun-loungers but to look out — then heading back to the restaurant area near the Cathedral, a walk of one mile.


Sunday 3 September 2017 — 18:00:06
View from the roof of Hotel Don Paco: (centre:) the bell tower (called “la Giralda”) of Seville Cathedral; (left:) Church of “la Hermandad de la Virgen de los Reyes, de los Sastres”

“At 6pm we went out,” Janet wrote. “Still very hot. I put on the studded white sandals and they made my feet sore, so I struggled.” We found a trattoria–bar–pizzeria, Doña Francisquita (not a very Italian-looking name!) on a street corner opposite Las Escobas, with a view of the Cathedral from where we sat outside. I had a couple of beers, and Janet two Fanta Lemon carbonated soft drinks. I chose ensalada mexicana, a mixed salad with chicken and VERY hot chillies; I enjoyed it, though. Janet had a tapa of tomato, anchovies, herbs and olive oil — “Delicious,” she commented — followed by cannelloni, then a sweet dessert. I finished with a café americano. Janet wrote: “I’d put plasters on my feet so was OK walking back to the hotel. We arrived just after 8pm. I had a shower…” I transferred 76 photos from the camera to the WD Elements HDD (20:35–20:38), then looked at them in Windows Photo Viewer, and rotated 7 that needed it (20:39–20:42). Janet added, “…and we both fell into bed at 9.10pm. At 9.30pm [John’s] phone rang: it was G.B. about our taxi home! At first I was half asleep and couldn’t think who he was. Anyway it was sorted and we slept.” The time of the call, according to the phone itself, was “20:17”, i.e. BST (21:17 CEST). It was the last of a number of calls starting this afternoon, the others unanswered because I’d not taken my phone out with me. Because he’d taken us to the airport on a Friday, he thought that to pick us up from there on a Thursday was unlikely, and that he’d mistaken a Friday booking for a Thursday one. I couldn’t remember at first what were the days of the holiday, but found it written and confirmed that we were indeed to return on Thursday.

[Monday 4 September 2017]