12 days in Spain & 4 days in Paris- 9/12/14- 9/9/28/14
Sevilla-Day 2
After a good night sleep we started our day around 9:00AM. Our first breakfast in Sevilla is at the Giralda Cerveceria a well known tapas bar in Seville.
Conveniently located in right in front of the Giralda tower (I'll tell you about it a bit later) and I was told that the bar is usually packed with customers especially on weekend nights.
This is their special breakfast: "Desayuno completo"
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The special breakfast came with toasted bread rubbed with garlic, smeared with ripe tomato, a drizzle of olive oil and topped with Jamón Ibérico
It also came with a glass of freshly squeeze orange juice and a nice cup of coffee. All of that for a mere 4.5 euros per person.
Minh wanted some eggs so he ordered the Revuelto (scramble eggs) Jamón
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What a great breakfast, it was the perfect portion and it hit the spot. We also love our cafe con leche and it became a must have for all the breakfasts to come...
After breakfast and with a full stomach we are ready to tackle the day. The first thing on our "to do list" is to go shopping for Hoa. Hoa's luggage still did not show up so he is still wearing the same outfit, long sleeves shirt, jeans in a 90 degrees weather. Hoa is suffocated and is longing for a simple t-shirt. On on way to the shopping area we walked by:
The Plaza de Virgen de los Reyes is a historic square in Seville, dominated by the cathedral and the Giralda bell tower.
The square is a great place to start exploring the city, since many of the city's top attractions including the cathedral and the royal palace are only steps away.
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Fuente de la Plaza Virgen de los Reyes At the center of the Plaza de Virgen de los Reyes stands a monumental fountain and lamppost, created by José Lafita Diaz in 1925 for the Ibero-American exposition of 1929. |
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On top of the tower an Italian bronze sculpture called “Faith", a 4,500 pound bronze statue symbolizing the triumph of Faith (specifically, the Christian faith over the Muslim one) was added to the tower between 1560-68. The statue serves as weather vane (in spanish, girar means "to rotate").
The Giralda Tower stands 130 feet above street level, including the 7' statue of "Faith." The tower is 22 feet square at the base.
Close look at the Faith Statue.
The statue of "Faith" is the image of a young woman clothed in a sleeveless flowing gown. She has a garland on her head. In her Left hand she holds what appears to be a palm frond. In her Right hand she holds a staff as tall as she is (7' tall). Attached to the staff is a bronze half-circle, served to rotate the statue and to act as a weather vane or "giraldillo"
To the north the Plaza Virgen de los Reyes
is bordered by the Archbishop's Palace, still actively used by the clergy.
Construction of the building started in the sixteenth century. The Baroque
entrance portal was added in the seventeenth century.
Plaza Del Triunfo (Triumph Square)is one of the most visited and touristy plazas in Seville. It is surrounded by the most significant buildings of the city: the Alcázar, the Cathedral, the Giralda, and the General Archive of the Indies.
Opposite the Archbishop's Palace is the white facade of the Convento de la Encarnación (white building on the right), a convent founded in 1591 by the Augustinian order. It was built on the grounds of the fourteenth century Santa Marta Hospital and the convent is still commonly known as the Convent of Santa Marta.
In Seville you will find the streets lined with thousands of Seville orange evergreen citrus trees named after the city because they have been grown there as an ornamental since the end of the 12th century. Seville orange is also called bitter orange or sour orange. Seville orange fruits have a bitter peel and sour pulp and are not eaten as fresh fruit and are mostly used to make marmalade.
Plaza Nueva located not far from the cathedral, at the end of Avenida de la Constitucion is a 19th century square and feature a statue of King Ferdinand III of Castille. King Ferdinand III is a local favorite because he freed Seville from the Moors in 1228.
City Hall of Sevilla or Ayuntamiento is located between the Plaza de San Francisco and Plaza Nueva. It was built in the early sixteenth century in a local version of the Renaissance style.
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We are getting close to the shopping area located on the most popular pedestrian streets Sierpes and Tetuan which are really close to Plaza Nueva and City Hall (pictures above).
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This is one of the main shopping street. It is usually very crowded but this on a Sunday so a lot of stores are closed.
The one that are opened are catered to tourists so all they sell are T-shirts with Seville's logo and souvenirs. Fortunately Hoa found a shop and bough a simple black t-shirt.
Note that he is wearing a long sleeve shirt here (this is before he bought the shirt).
Here Hoa is wearing his new T-shirt. The weather was in the 90's so Hoa could was so happy to wear his new t-shirt and at least show some skin...
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Here we are heading back toward the Cathedral de Sevilla |
This is one of the many doors of the Cathedral of Sevilla |
The Door of the Conception
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The Door of the Conception (1895-1927), (Puerta de la Concepción) opens onto the Court of the Oranges (Patio de los Naranjos) and is kept closed except on festival days. It was designed by Demetrio de los Rios and finished by Adolfo Fernandez Casanova in 1895. It was built in the Gothic style to harmonize with the rest of the building.
The Patio de los Naranjos (Orange Tree Courtyard) was originally the courtyard of the former mosque.
At the center of the patio is a stone fountain which dates back to possibly the Roman era.
Next.. Catedral De Sevilla
