Sevilla

My Fromer´s guide to Spain says that if you can visit only two spots in Spain, see Seville and Toledo. Well, exploring the first is now a work in progress. Yesterday was my first full day in the city; I´m staying in a cheap ($40 per night) hotel--no TV or room service, but a clean room with a good bed and a private bath. I almost fit into the shower. Truthfully, though, if you´re going to complain about such things, you shouldn´t travel--I´m here to see the sights, not to critique the plumbing. And what sights. My hotel is in the old city, near what was once the Jewish quarter. Some of the "streets" are only wide enough for two to walk abreast. Obviously, it´s all foot traffic. The buildings range in date from 1100 to 1800 and are a mix of styles. Every now and then, a street will bring you to a lovely patio or small square lined with orange trees with a fountain in its center. And yes, the city does smell of oranges--the trees are heavy with fruit and local kids delight in pulling oranges from the lower branches. Then they face the decision whether to eat or to throw the furit. The old city is a contrast to modern Seville that I passed on the way in from the airport. Comprised mostly of aging concrete apartment buildings, new Seville is in the grips of rising unemployment and a crime wave. The Spanish government seems to be doing all it can to increase the tourist trade and to involve its people in this lucrative pursuit.

I walked around the cathedral twice taking pictures; begun in the 1400s and completed in the late 1700s, it´s the third largest Christian church in the world--just smaller than St. Peter´s in Rome and St. Paul´s in London. The great central nave is the largest gothic structure in the world. Attached is a great bell tower, most of which was actually built in the 1300s by Spanish Moors and used as the tower for a great mosque. At 6:30 every evening the dozens of huge bells in the tower begin ringing frantically--a tradition that began around 1500 not only to call the faithful to prayer but also to mock the former Islamic call to prayer that must have issued from the same source hundereds of years before. Today, I´m already on the list for a guided walking tour of the cathedral´s interior--including the art museum.

Last night, I spent an hour and a half in the historic Hospital in the old city. Built in the 1500s, today it houses an impressive art collection including 30 works by Murillo. The tile work (Seville is famous for its tile and other ceramics) that adorns the hospital´s interior is itself a work of art. Delicately painted or shaped, the tiles demand your attention--though I feel a little self-conscious about staring at the walls even when there is no painting hanging there. For dinner I had a mixed tapas plate. For those who don´t know, "tapas" could be anything--a little snack served in a plate the size of a bread plate. The specific nature of the tapas changes each day. A tapas dinner included all five tapas for the day. Last night, that meant that my waiter brought five little plates, each with a side-serving of a different food. My tapas included servings of tomatoes cooked in olive oil, cooked garbonzo beans, stewed anchovies, shrimp on flat bread, and small, halved potatoes fried with calimari. A little fishy, but hey, Seville is a river port connected to the sea. What a great taste of Spain. If I had wanted chicken-fried steak, I´d have stayed home.

P.S. Would somebody please do something about the exchange rate? When I looked last week, it was 1.28 dollars for 1 euro. Today, I exchanged half my cash, and the latest international rate was 1.398 dollars for 1 euro--my money is worth about 10% less than it was last week. Traveling in Spain can be a bargain, but OUCH!