Viva Sevilla

The Spanish people are well known for their love of festivals, and they certainly excel at producing them. I’d seen a programme about the Jerez Horse Fair some years back, which lodged at the back of my mind. My husband has a passion for horses, and I was determined that one day we would go and see this spectacle.

Information about the Feria del Caballo (Horse Festival) was easy enough to find, but I wish the travel arrangements were as easy, or was it just me? Anyway, unless we wanted to go to Gatwick, which we didn’t, getting to Jerez was not as straightforward as I had hoped so I eventually settled for splitting things up and our holiday became a series of mini adventures. We flew to Barcelona and had a few pleasant days in the seaside resort of Sitges before taking an internal flight to Seville (Sevilla), it being the nearest destination with an airport at the time. I love internal flights, they add to the adventure. We were probably the only English people on the plane and it makes you feel as if you belong somehow even though a few eyebrows are raised when people realise you are not a national.

What a city Seville is. Historical, cultural, magical. We booked into a small hostal in the old town where the streets were only just wide enough for the taxi to negotiate. Not the best of choices, but we only wanted to sleep there, and it was central. It was hot and stuffy in our little room, so after depositing our belongings we set off to explore the area.

We wandered down narrow streets passed a small park and eventually out in to a large open plaza. Much to our surprise there was a small encampment of men who turned out to be municipal workers striking for justice and fairer pay. It seems to be the same world over and I’m not sure how long they had been there, but the public were very sympathetic to their cause.

The streets after this were wide and lined with beautiful buildings and we soon found somewhere to rest and eat out of the hot sun. We knew we had six days, so our first trip out was more of a recce. We had focused so hard on Jerez and the Feria del Caballo that we had not reckoned with Seville being such a beautiful place to be.

Day one and we were on the lookout for a Post Office and Tourist Information Bureau which we found in a large square. The Post Office was quite an imposing building and very efficient, whilst the Bureau was tucked away. I said that we wanted to go to the Horse Festival in Jerez and asked how we could best get there. I was bit surprised by the response until I realised that the lady seemed to be offended that I had not known there had been a Feria de Caballo in Seville only the week before. She gave me a frosty look and a map and that was that. We walked out into the square and would have liked to have visited the Jardines de Los Reales Alcazares, but each time we arrived at the gate there was a queue a mile long, so there’s one place to go back to.

Our first find was the Archivo de Indias. This magnificent sixteenth century building houses 80 million pages of documents and maps about the Indies and tells of Spain’s mighty empire in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries in the New World. At the time, Seville was the Empire’s major port with ships sailing down the Guadalquivir and docking in the heart of the city. Originally the merchants would gather at one of the gates to the Cathedral to do business until the church hierarchy complained to the city fathers that it wasn't appropriate, after which the Casa Lonia de Mercadores was built to house the merchants’ exchange. Towards the end of the seventeenth century the Royal Fleet, its trade and merchants moved to Cadiz and the building became a private residence for many years before becoming an archive. The collection of records, which were impressive included cargos, dates, prices, ships and ships’ logs and I was transported back to school History lessons with Mrs Price.

It was a real eye opener to wander around the display cabinets and read transcripts of documents that talked of England’s piracy on the high seas. The Spanish Ships that were robbed and the treasures carried back to Elizabeth I’s court and the copy letters written to Queen Elizabeth pleading for her to intercede or take some punitive action (which she never did) on the likes of Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Frances Drake and many others. It was war on the high seas and very interesting but also a bit embarrassing to see things from Spain’s perspective even though they had 'removed' the treasures themselves. I believe the collection was taken over by the University of Seville who were busy transferring the many thousands of documents on to a digital archive.

In the meantime, Seville had become an extremely wealthy city and this is still very much in evidence as you wander around the older streets. The following day we set out (with our map) to find the train and bus stations and work out how we would get to Jerez. It soon became clear that it was further than we thought and the train was best so we headed back in to the city centre to enjoy some sight seeing. Jerez tomorrow!

The Red Tourist bus is always worth the trip if just to make a note of all the places we wanted to visit. One of the most fascinating places was the Plaza de Toros (Bull Ring), not that we agree with the practice, but we had an open mind about the history and the artifacts and the stadium itself with its allocated social areas i.e. the Royal Box and stand for dignitaries faced east so that the occupants would not have the afternoon sun in their eyes, or the heat of the day whereas the cheapest seats did. It was like a smaller version of a Roman coliseum. There were posters, magnificent costumes, trophies and story boards of the life and times of the Toreadors and their horses, the Toreros and the bulls and all of it surprisingly worth seeing.

We passed the Monastery of Santa Maria de las Cuevas which flourished as a ceramics factory in the 19th century under the auspices of an Englishman called Charles Pickman. Still down by the river, we stopped by the Torre del Oro (Tower of Gold) which was built in the 13th century and was part of the defence of the city and later used as a warehouse before becoming a gallery. It is topped by a golden orb but the name does not come from this but rather the light that is cast on to the water from the building itself. There were beautiful parks and avenues flanked by Jacaranda trees which, being May were all in blossom. We were also delighted to see the former Fabrica de Tabacos (Tobacco Factory). What a beautiful building, very long and in the classical style with a flat roof which was used for drying the tobacco leaves. Now part of the University of Seville, we know it as the focus of Bizet’s opera, Carmen.

Back in our hostal for a rest before our evening meal we were fascinated to hear some people running round the narrow streets and decided to investigate. There were about a dozen of them wearing strange white scarves, carrying a huge frame on their heads, and with a few runners alongside. They would run so far then stop and change places and then continue. These we discovered to be Costaleros who run as a team and feel it a privilege to carry a saint or statue of The Virgin Mary in procession through the streets. The team that we saw were busy doing their practice runs.

The following day we caught the train to Jerez which is a story for another time.

It was late at night when we finally got back from Jerez, and still very warm. The sky was a dark velvet blue and there was a touch of magic in the air. As we walked towards the Cathedral we could hear music and people and we quickened our steps. The sight that met our eyes was incredible. What seemed like hundreds of people were packed into the narrow streets and a huge statue of The Virgin Mary was being carried in procession from the Cathedral. In the retinue were church and civic dignitaries, followed by a band of musicians, young and old. The music began, the procession set off and crowds of citizens and tourists jostled to get a closer look and it was then that we caught a glimpse of the Costaleros under the skirt of the frame. Each time the procession halted one would slip out, another would take his place and they all set off again. It had been a long and very happy day and we left the crowds, the carnival atmosphere and the sound of music and Swifts screaming as they swooped up and down in the night sky. A perfect conclusion to a day we will never forget.

We went back to the Cathedral the next morning and this time to look inside. What was originally a twelfth century mosque, was slowly adapted and converted for Christian worship until the beginning of the fifteenth century when it was decided to build a cathedral so beautiful that none equal it. The nave is the longest of any in Spain and the altar piece with its scenes from the life of Christ are the dedicated work of Pierre Dancart. Many people have heard of La Giralda and this refers to the bell tower which is actually a converted minaret from the original mosque building. The building is quite beautiful inside and I think we spent most of our time looking round with our heads gazing upwards and our mouths hanging open at the sheer splendour of it all.

Outside in the sunshine, we bought some food and a drink and sat in the square listening to one of the many gifted classical guitar players. He was so good we bought one of his CDs as a souvenir.

Europe began to change in the 1920’s and with an era of peace governments were looking for trade and prosperity. The Spanish government decided to stage a World Fair to showcase its industry and talents which resulted in the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929. A large area of the city was cleared and redeveloped creating The Parque de María Luisa and adjoining Plaza de España. They did a good job too. We wandered into the Plaza and were immediately struck by the grandeur and astonishing beauty of the place. The architecture is listed as “a striking mix of Mudéjar and Renaissance styles, with splashes of Art Deco also to be seen on the colourful façades.” The main building is half-moon in design with steps leading down to a moat (which you can actually take a boat on) and a beautiful fountain. There are four bridges which represent the four kingdoms of Spain and the whole effect is magnificent. We spent quite a bit of time there soaking up the atmosphere and listening to the classical guitarists who played in the stairwells where it was not only cool but the acoustics were brilliant. Someone had brought their stock of Fans to sell and displayed them as a cascade down the steps which added to the magic.

Eventually we drifted into the Parque de María Luisa to find some shade ourselves. We had been told that it was the hottest May for a long time and it certainly felt like it. With its half mile of fountains and pavilions, it is a wonderful place to spend some time relaxing. It is laid out in the Moorish style so there are plenty of paths with benches and shade is provided by Orange Trees, Mediterranean pines and Palms and a number of buildings that were intended for use in the exhibition.

We hired bikes one morning and enjoyed a ride along the river bank until we eventually came to the Basilica Macarena which a friend had recommended we see. But it was not to be as we had forgotten that it was Saturday and one wedding followed another. It was also our last day so we returned our bikes and took a trip along the Guadalquivir river instead. It is big a river like the Thames, the Nile the Seine and many others which have played such a big part in history that you can sense it all around you. I could imagine the Spanish Galleons getting ready to sail and bringing back cargoes of gold and other plunder from the New World. And further back in time, the lifeblood of the city flowing ever onward. On the other bank we could see the area which is known as Triana and realised all too late that we did not have time to visit. This is where we would have seen the artistic quarter, where the poorer people lived and the gypsies settled and where Flamenco and Classical Spanish guitar playing is at its best. But to do it justice we needed much more than half a day.

With the list of places to go back to growing, we finally made our way to the big crossroads to catch the Airport Bus, sorry to be leaving this beautiful city and vowing that we would return one day. Happy memories.

Olé