Spirited Travelers, bite-sized travel stories.

Our Quest for Sun in Seville

This orange tree reminds me of Seville: cheery with abundant, delicious food.

Previously known as Hisball (Phoenicians), Hispal (Romans), Ishbiliyya (Arabs) and Sibilia (early Spanish), the 2,200+ year-old city of Seville is the fourth-largest city in Spain. And like Córdoba, it’s sunny in February.

Seville straddles the Guadalquivir River about 90 miles downstream of Córdoba. Even though it’s about 75 miles from the coast, Seville was an important port for both the Romans and, after the discovery of the Americas, for Spain. Eventually, the silting of the river and Spanish politics diminished Seville’s  importance as a sea port.

Seville is a lovely city with much to do. On warm, pleasant evenings Sevillanos can be found relaxing along the Guadalqluivir River.
On sunny days, Sevillanos are out shopping in flea markets, stores, or just hanging out with friends…
…while we tourists are in the old town, checking out the Seville Cathedral and the Alcazar.

The Seville Cathedral

When it was completed in the 16th century, the Seville Cathedral was the largest cathedral in the world. For the prior 1,000 years, that title belonged to the Hagia Sophia and today, according to the internet, that title belongs to Milan’s Cathedral. Of course, the internet’s answer depends on whether you’re searching for cathedrals, churches or basilicas.

In the 15th century the Seville Cathedral, officially known as the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See, replaced the grand mosque that had been built by the Moors. The distortion in this image is the result of using a very wide-angle lens.
Seville Cathedral in 1927. This photo gives a better sense of the size of the structure. When inside, the columns, chapels and such carve up the space so that it’s difficult to grasp the cathedral’s immensity. Photo credits (1) at the end of the story.

Are Christopher Columbus’ remains in Seville?

Christopher Columbus’ remains are interred in a catafalque (a raised box or similar platform that is used to support the casket, coffin, or body of the deceased) in the cathedral. At least we think it’s Columbus’ remains. Although Columbus died in Spain in 1506, he wished to be buried in the New World, so in 1542 his remains were sent to Santo Domingo. Skip forward to 1898 and his remains were in Havana. When Cuba gained independence as a result of the Spanish-American War, his remains were moved to the Cathedral of Seville.

Or were they?

In 1877, a lead box bearing the inscription “Don Christopher Columbus” and containing bone fragments was discovered in the Santo Domingo cathedral. The Dominican Republic believes these are Columbus’ remains.

The Dominican Republic believes they have Columbus’s remains, just as Spain believes they do. Who is correct?

In 2003, the remains in Spain underwent a DNA test. The test results supported the claim that the remains are Columbus’. However, the Dominican Republic dismisses the results of the test, refuses to allow their remains to be tested and maintains that the remains in the Dominican Republic are the real Christopher Columbus. So we may never know.

But we do know that Ferdinand Columbus, Christopher’s second son, is buried in the cathedral.

Christopher Columbus’ remains are believed to be in this catafalque.
The cathedrals choir.
In the aisles of the cathedral (the parts that run parallel to the nave), you can appreciate the height that’s characteristic of Gothic cathedrals.
In a gothic cathedral, you always want to look up…
…if only to enjoy the beautiful stained glass windows.
The cathedral’s bell tower is known as The Giralda (from giraldillo, which means “weathervane on a tower with a human or animal figure”). The bell tower was built upon the minaret from Moorish times. It’s height was increased to about 323 ft and 25 bells were installed. The viewing platform offers a great panoramic vista of the city, which is perfect for a selfie with your paramour.

The Plaza de España

The Plaza de España was built in 1928 for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929. The exposition was a world’s fair designed to promote Spain’s culture and economic progress. Other countries built other pavilions for the expo, but Spain’s Plaza de España is the most impressive.

The Plaza is a semi-circle, as seen in this photo from 1932. Photo credits (2) at the end of the story.
The Plaza on a sunny, warm day in February 2020.
The fountain is a great place for photos, especially if a few bubbles are added.
Each of Spain’s provinces has their own ceramic alcove.
Tiles are used liberally and masterfully throughout the Plaza, as on this bridge over the small moat. It’s possible to hire a small boat and row the length of this moat.
The tile work extends to the handrails and balustrades.
Flamenco! This shady spot at the Plaza was the perfect place for this troupe to entertain the visitors with flamenco.

Eating well in Seville

We continued the culinary part of our trip with two separate food tours: a tapas tour one evening and a tour of food markets one day. As we discovered in Córdoba, it’s very easy to eat very well in Spain.

The first stop on the tapas tour was Las Terasas, where they proudly displayed their Iberico hams.
The tapas tour included dishes like marinated dogfish, stewed pork cheek grilled pork shank and sherry. Lots of sherry. We now love sherry, especially the sweet version called Pedro Ximenez (PX, for short). And, as seen here, Iberian acorn-fed pork ham, Manchego sheep milk cheese, boiled potatoes with tuna and sherry. It was all yummy.
And for dessert: orange and orange blossom cream, gin slush and mint ice cream. Yummy.
The market tour consisted of three markets spread across the old town of Seville. It’s fun to see how the locals shop and what’s available, such as this selection of meats…
…and fresh fruits…
…and beans.
It was a bit of a walk from the first market to the second one (which was located in the basement of Las Setas), so we were ready for a bit of refreshment. The local drink is Tintos Refrescos, which is red wine mixed with Sprite. You’d think it would be a waste of red wine but it was surprisingly refreshing and pleasant. It reminded us of fröcc in Budapest.
After the Tintos Refrescos, we sampled green olives marinated in vinegar and thyme, grilled sea bream (tasty but had lots of small bones) and a grilled patty of ground beef from the local Retinto cattle breed (delicious).
The final market on the tour turned out to be a bit underwhelming ~ our guide was surprised as the market was usually well stocked and bustling ~ so she took us to a local bar for the final tastings: Tinto Refrescos, lupine seeds (you can eat the skins, but it is not done – instead you make a slit in the skin with your teeth and squirt the seed into your mouth, discarding the skin in the spare plate provided), shrimps in hot oil, a selection of thinly sliced cured hame and sausage, and picos (pick-shaped crackers used to push food onto the fork or other assist). I voluntarily ate more than one shrimp because they weren’t very “shrimpy.”

Parting shots

Our quest was a success: we did indeed find sun. Plus, we also found good food. We were sorry to leave but we plan to come back someday to learn more about sherry (Seville is very close to the Sherry Triangle).

Before I end this post, I’d like to share a few more shots of our time in Seville. It’s a great city; I hope you get a chance to visit someday.

In addition to ancient palaces and cathedrals, Seville is home to beloved modern architecture, such as Las Setas (the mushrooms). I was so intrigued by Las Setas that I did a separate post about them here.
We had a great time on the food tours, but sometimes you just need a pizza. Seville is the only city we’ve visited where we really had to search to find pizza. That made the pies all the more yummy.
Flamenco originated in this part of Spain and Sevillanos love flamenco: the dance, the dresses, the fans. This shop is entirely devoted to selling flamenco fans. Would it be too “punny” to say Sevillanos are “fans” of flamenco? Ouch. Sorry (not really).
This store is in the Sevilla airport. Interesting choice of a name.

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Credits

(1) Vista de la catedral de Sevilla y la Giralda. 1927, Anonymous
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DOsaYphXUAIjSGu.jpg_large.jpg This work is in the public domain in the country of origin and the United States.

(2) Plaza de España in Sevilla, 1932 by Walter Mittelholzer. Source: ETH-Bibliothek, http://ba.e-pics.ethz.ch/latelogin.jspx?records=:457530&r=1587643701779#1587643712446_1. Image is in the public domain.