Seville, Narrow Alleyways and Flamenco Dresses

Seville -

Narrow Alleyways and Flamenco Dresses!

Friend Jackie Halliday having a Rest at the Alcazar


As we left Madrid for Seville the landscape continued to be very dry and brown but soon olive trees began to appear and became more numerous the further south we went. A few wind farms dotted the landscape. Olives slowly merged into smaller landholdings containing fruit trees and houses. The trains are excellent - run like clockwork and very comfortable.

Fantastic!! The apartment here has airconditioning, wifi and a swimming pool on the roof. And it's on a quiet street. It's so narrow only motorscooters can bump along the cobblestones. Babies in pushchairs also have a bumpy ride as most of them have those small double wheels - the pushchairs that is. A good market here, I think, for our Mountain Buggies with their larger wheels. Funny how you notice different things as you get older. We can't help but smile when we see Grandmas and Grandpas out with their grandchildren doing exactly the same things in cafes and parks that we do with ours. A very trendy grandmother arrived at the table next to ours yesterday on a large tricycle, complete with wire basket, large enough for a small child, on the back! Perhaps we could set a trend in Takapuna! Then again.....

We are close to Plaza Alfalfa which comes alive in the coolness of early evening with mothers meeting (coffee groups I suspect) and young children playing in the fenced off playground. Little boys kick their soccer balls around deftly, trying to avoid people as the plaza is only about the size of two NZ sections. The cafe owners are very tolerant as children come and go using their toilets or helping themselves to drinks of water. We noticed this in Madrid too.

Navigating the streets here is a challenge as there is no apparent logic. They are so narrow and winding that it is hard to read the street names on the map. Everyone else is having the same problem as on every corner there are people studying their maps looking puzzled. Every so often we emerge into a small plaza with five other streets running off it - which one to take is the question! There is a one way system for cars and motor scooters so you do have to be careful. The footpaths are sometimes about a foot wide! However we can get to the Cathedral and Alcazar, which are the two main sights, and back quite reliably now. We know we are on the right track when we pass the primary school. The windows are open and we can hear the delightful sound of the juniors singing. As you walk around sometimes you get a peek into a building to discover the most beautiful internal courtyard with masses of plants and colourful tiles.
We really enjoyed the Alcazar and were surprised to learn that it is still the official residence of the King and Queen of Spain when they visit Seville. It was built by the Moors in the 12th century and is decorated with beautiful coloured, geometric patterned tiles everywhere. Islamic art prohibits the depiction of human figures so that is why they put their creative talents to work on geometric shapes. Heaven for Maths teachers! They certainly knew how to build for the heat before airconditoning. The gardens are extensive. There are water features everywhere, ponds, small and large fountains, trickling streams and groves of orange trees in the gardens. With internal courtyards and loggias it all adds up to cool, beauty and tranquility. Even when it is full of tourists. In the winter it gets quite cold so the royal family moved to the upper floors to escape the damp and catch the sun. How sensible is that?

We climbed the Giralda, the cathedral tower early morning before it got too hot.There are 37 ramps, all the way to the top as the king of the day liked to ride his horse to see the view! And they are much easier to walk up than steps. The view from the top was spectacular and good for getting acquainted with the layout of Sevilla. The cathedral is huge - the third largest in christendom after St Peters in the Vatican and St Pauls in London. It was built in the 13th century on the site of a 12th century mosque, of which only the tower remains. I've never seen so much silver and gold. Among them a huge silver alterpiece, a lifesize bust of Mary, a huge piece that looked like a tiered wedding cake as well as numerous gold platters. Two incredible gold and jewel encrusted crowns also featured in the treasury. I guess this is the gold and silver that came from the mines in the Americas.

We have seen some beautiful flamenco dresses, some with mother and daughter combinations and shoes to match. I went into a shop in Madrid which catered for the very serious flamenco enthusiasts. A big sign said No Tocar! so what did I do? Oops. Well, being my mother's daughter, I wanted to feel what the fabric was like. What I did learn was that it (the dress) was very heavy. It was like being in a paint shop - everything was set out according to colour. Choose your colour and you can have your dress, flower, scarf, mantilla, beads, bracelets and shoes to match. You can even get polka dot shoes!

We found a club, La Carboneria, last night that the Lonely Planet book said has real flamenco dancing. Real as opposed to put on specially for tourists. It reminded us of a folk club, same atmosphere and enthusiastic support for singers and in this case dancers. Although there was only one singer, dancer and guitar player. The latter two were very good, although the dancer wore black. (I thought she should have worn red.) The singer sang in a monotone varied only by volume. What was amazing was the clapping they did, how they (the singer and dancer) clapped very fast and complicated rhythms, again using volume for emphasis. We were going to go there again to see if there was a different group playing. The trouble is they don't start until 11pm!

The next night, our final night in Seville, however, we found another bar which advertised a show that started at 9pm so thought we would check this one out. Well, it was fantastic. The singer was much more tuneful and so intense you wanted to know what he was singing about - lost love probably. The female dancer was excellent and we could see all her footwork but the male dancer was extraordinary, fast, vigorous, intense and exhausting to watch. At the end, his shirt was absolutely wringing wet.

It was with some trepidaton that we headed south to the painting course.