Seville

7.10.11

City images

Basilica de la Macarena

central square in front of the cathedral

a city loaded with history and tradition

in the 19th century walls, gates and religious buildings were demolished to make way for plazas and avenues

detail from La Puerta del Perdon

a typical tapas bar in barrio Santa Cruz

let the fountains spring

Parque de Miraflores

now and then

elements of elegance

a house of tourists right next to a house of god

Isla Magica

La Macarena

charming buildings

culture

romance

simplicity

reading a newspaper and relaxing in the doorway

the tower of towers ever present

"I have sinned"

Convento de la Encarnacion

fountain in Triana

outside Maria Luisa's Park

Portada de los Palos

Casa 1800

a 19th century palace-house converted into a luxury hotel

built around a courtyard

the smell of orchids ever-present

decorated in neutral tones with opulent chandeliers and furnishings

Plaza de Toros de la Maestranza

The Baroque entrance to the bullring known as "Puerta del Principe" ("Gate of the Prince") only opened for those who triumph

One of the first circular bullrings and one of the most beautiful for the brightness of its whitewashed walls, the carved stone box seating that presides over the ring, and the harmonious relationship between the floor of the bullring-with its characteristic ocher-yellow colour- and the stands which are crowned with a ring of arches over marble columns

6.10.11

The river god Guadalquivir

called "al-wadi al-kabir" ("the great river") by the Arabs, it runs through and separates Seville into two

Paseo de Colon

Torre del Oro. Its name is still an enigma

pleasant riverside promenades under the shadows of orange trees

the only great navigable river in Spain

its natural environment is one of the richest and most varied areas of plant

it passes through Cordoba and Seville and ends in the Atlantic Ocean

La Barqueta Bridge, main entrance to the Isla Magica theme park and Sevilla Tecnópolis technology park

Its name has been attributed to the golden tone that the tower takes on at dusk, as well as to its former purpose of guarding the king's treasures and the precious metals unloaded from the galleons

Triana Bridge

cold, very cold water

the Gold Tower served as a prison during the Middle Ages

the river as seen from La Giralda

Seville's history is intimately linked to that of the river Guadalquivir because from its most remote past the city has been both a river port and bridge between the Atlantic Ocean and the land of Andalucia

green tranquility

An architectural attitude or more?

Few are the cities that can show off so many surviving and coexisting architectural styles

From the horseshoe-shaped arches and delicate wooden carvings proceeding from Moorish architecture to the simple but daunting structures of the Renaissance-Escorialense period, Seville is an architectural enthusiast's ultimate playground

Dazzling displays of shapes and highly stylized facades

Having ruled Spain for centuries – up to nearly 800 years in some parts – it comes as no surprise that the Muslim culture had a lasting effect on Spanish architecture

buildings on Plaza Virgen de los Reyes

Inmaculada Virgen

Even when the Moorish empire fell to the forces of the Catholic kings Fernando and Isabel, the typical Muslim architectural forms lived on through the Mudejar style