We started today again with a breakfast buffet in the hotel. Yesterday there was a small area in the lobby set up for the buffet, but after speaking with some of our group, we found out that there was a much larger buffet in the hotel’s restaurant, so we went there. It was large, crowded and noisy and we didn’t care for it. However, the smaller buffet was not set up, so we had to endure a rather confusing and noisy breakfast. Our hotel apparently is a location that large tour groups use, so depending on the day, the hotel is packed with busloads of people.
Our lecturer today was another history professor and her topic was Al-Andalus, which was the Muslim-ruled area of the Iberian Peninsula. Al-Andalus covered the period from 711 to 1492 when the last small area around Granada was conquered by the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabela, the same people who sponsored Christopher Columbus on his voyages to the New World. Although the lecturer gave an incredible amount of information, it was interesting to learn about the very significant influence the Muslims had in Spain. The lecturer talked about the Spain of the 3 cultures, Christian, Jew and Islam and how these 3 religions and cultures interacted, both with periods of positive co-existence and and at other times with horrible ethnic and religious cleansing. The Muslims, during the period of the Caliphate of Cordoba, had a period of stability from 929 to 1031 that is referred to as the Golden Ages. The society was very advanced and we learned of great advancements in mathematics, astronomy, medicine, botany, agronomy and many other scientific discoveries. I was fascinated to learn that during this period they developed cataract surgery and invented glasses. Part of our homework before the trip was to watch a YouTube video on this period in history and I was quite fascinated by just how advanced the Arabic influence was in Spain and throughout the entire Mediterranean area.
Eventually, one of the things that brought an end to Muslim control was the conflict between Sunni Muslims and Shia Muslims. Muslims from Northern Africa (Sunni) controlled much of the territory in the Al-Andalus, but then Syrian-based Muslims (Shias) started to gain control. But then, the Christian districts in mostly northern Spain decided to band together and gain control. Ferdinand III, king of the Castile district, conquered Sevilla, which was the capital of the Arab-controlled region. There are many statues of Ferdinand around Sevilla and he is considered a patron saint here. As the Catholics expanded their control, the the Muslims in Spain were coming to an end, with the last eradication occurring in 1492.
But everywhere you look in Sevilla you’ll see remnants of Arabic culture and architecture. Also, Jewish culture is embedded into southern Spain, which we’ll be hearing more about tomorrow on our walk through the Jewish ghetto.
After our lecture, we walked toward another amazing landmark in Sevilla, but I’ll post some photos of things we saw along the way. We walked by the Cathedral again, then into some smaller streets. We stopped in a fan shop, which had beautiful fans of display.
We walked through Jardines de Murillo, a lovely park that had walkways lined with beautiful flowering trees. It also had a statue honoring the discovery of the New World by Columbus.
After the first lecture the other day, Christine asked if she could take a photo of the lecturer. Our group leader gave Christine a playful hard time about not wanting to take her photo. So in the garden Lucia posed for Christine. Lucia is a real character and we’ve enjoyed being with her.
After navigating our way through the Murillo garden we crossed over into the Parque Marie Luisa, the most famous park in Sevilla. It was formerly the private formal garden of a palace, but was donated to the city in 1893. In the early 1900s, much of the park became the location for the 1929 Ibero-American Exposition, the World’s Fair. One of the featured buildings was the Plaza de España, a really fantastic plaza. This was our destination for a visit.
The buildings of the Plaza de España are in a semicircle around the square, which, naturally, has a fountain. The buildings are an example of Regionalism Architecture, mixing elements of Baroque Revival, Renaissance Revival and Moorish Revival styles of Spanish Architecture.
At each end of the semicircle are identical towers.
Around the semicircle are 52 alcoves representing the various provinces in Spain. They are brightly colored with a map showing the location of the province. It was obvious that people love sitting in their province’s alcove to have their picture taken.
Everywhere you look there is something beautiful to see.
After spending time walking around Plaza de España, we took a taxi back to the hotel and then went across the street to the little corner bar and had a drink and tapas. We sat outside with the group. Unfortunately, a motorcyclist stopped at the corner and asked Lucia for directions, and when he sped away, the exhaust from his motorcycle was really awful and it triggered an asthma attack for Christine. Fortunately, she had her inhaler with her and within about 10 minutes, she recovered. But it scared everyone and Lucia said to me, “I understand now why you sat inside last night for dinner.” We had been leery of the fumes from the traffic, but took a chance for lunch. Turns out it was a risky choice.
After lunch, we rested. Then our next activity was meriendas with a local host at their home. We divided up into 3 groups and went off with our host. Meriendas translates to snacks, but our host Nina Alarcon laid out a feast. Nina lives nearby the hotel and has an apartment on the 8th floor of her building. She has a large L-shaped balcony so we had great views of the city. Nina is a lovely women and we spent nearly 3 hours with her. Another couple from our group, Linda and Joel, were with us and we all had lively conversation about our lives. It was a delightful time with a wonderful host who was warm and friendly. She certainly has a fabulous apartment and we enjoyed sitting out on her balcony for meriendas.
After meriendas with Nina, we walked back to the hotel. It was another full day and we were tired. One of the things that is a bit disconcerting is that it doesn’t get dark until after10pm. So being back in the room at 8:00, it’s still very daylight. Nevertheless, it was nice to be back “home” so we could relax and unwind and talk about all the things we’ve done.
I’m excited about tomorrow because we’ll be touring the Alcazar, an historic royal palace.
So nice!!!