My honeymoon with Madrid was wearing off a bit—a combination of working diligently at my internship, an unfortunate turn of the weather, and a significant amount of outside stress was bringing me off my Spanish high. So I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect time to take a vacation from my vacation. The one thing I could’ve asked for was my camera. I tend to forget at least one significant item every time I travel; at least it’s never been my medication, passport/ID, or money. But this time it was pretty substantial and I kept kicking myself over it only because Sevilla is one of the most photographic and visually stunning places I have seen.
Located in southern Spain, Sevilla (Seville in English) is a sunny and vibrant traditional Spanish city with a backdrop of palm trees, orange groves, and honest-to-god castles. The city earns its fame as the birthplace of bullfighting, tapas, flamenco, and the actual flamenco guitar. I’m proud to say I tasted a little of all four in my thirty-six hours in the city.
Like much of Spain, Sevilla is not without its Muslim/Christian architectural mix, known as mudejar. La cathedral de Sevilla, the third largest in the world, was built upon a visible Roman foundation (a layer of stones with Latin inscriptions), with Arabic architecture scattered throughout the traditionally Gothic walls and ceilings. On the top of the cathedral’s impressive tower stands el giraldillo, a bronze, fifteen-foot weathervane visible from nearly any point around the city. The surrounding areas are scattered with the most eccentric collection of native flora. Alcázar, the gardens, fountains, and palaces of the nobility that used to call Sevilla home, houses row upon row of orange trees made all the more surreal by the surrounding cascades of water and wondering peacocks.
Apart from the majesty of the city’s center, one of my favorite sights was the Plaza de Toros de la Real Maestranza, Spain’s most spectacular bullring. After taking a tour and learning about its long and established history (including the obscene number of bulls that die each year in Spain for the sport: 40,000), I at least can now appreciate bullfighting as a cultural art form. I will, however, be one of the few tourists to not participate in the spectacle. In my opinion, no matter how you dress it up (in this case, as a stylish matador in the middle of a huge arena), I’m not too thrilled about watching any animal suffer and die for an hour for sport.
All of Sevilla was unbelievably breathtaking, relaxing, and overwhelmingly “Spanish” ...and here I was without a camera. But for once in my journeys around Spain, I was not so preoccupied with what I was capturing on film as I was with what I was absorbing at the moment. I found myself a little more appreciative of my surroundings. Indeed, Sevilla is the most stunning place I’ve seen thus far so it was easy to be captivated by its charm. But its beauty was only magnified by the fact that I wasn’t looking through the shutter half the time.
I did, however, manage to tag along with a couple of generous friends of mine who took some solo shots of me around the city. Photos are forthcoming and I’ll add some more to this entry after Wednesday.
Located in southern Spain, Sevilla (Seville in English) is a sunny and vibrant traditional Spanish city with a backdrop of palm trees, orange groves, and honest-to-god castles. The city earns its fame as the birthplace of bullfighting, tapas, flamenco, and the actual flamenco guitar. I’m proud to say I tasted a little of all four in my thirty-six hours in the city.
Like much of Spain, Sevilla is not without its Muslim/Christian architectural mix, known as mudejar. La cathedral de Sevilla, the third largest in the world, was built upon a visible Roman foundation (a layer of stones with Latin inscriptions), with Arabic architecture scattered throughout the traditionally Gothic walls and ceilings. On the top of the cathedral’s impressive tower stands el giraldillo, a bronze, fifteen-foot weathervane visible from nearly any point around the city. The surrounding areas are scattered with the most eccentric collection of native flora. Alcázar, the gardens, fountains, and palaces of the nobility that used to call Sevilla home, houses row upon row of orange trees made all the more surreal by the surrounding cascades of water and wondering peacocks.
Apart from the majesty of the city’s center, one of my favorite sights was the Plaza de Toros de la Real Maestranza, Spain’s most spectacular bullring. After taking a tour and learning about its long and established history (including the obscene number of bulls that die each year in Spain for the sport: 40,000), I at least can now appreciate bullfighting as a cultural art form. I will, however, be one of the few tourists to not participate in the spectacle. In my opinion, no matter how you dress it up (in this case, as a stylish matador in the middle of a huge arena), I’m not too thrilled about watching any animal suffer and die for an hour for sport.
All of Sevilla was unbelievably breathtaking, relaxing, and overwhelmingly “Spanish” ...and here I was without a camera. But for once in my journeys around Spain, I was not so preoccupied with what I was capturing on film as I was with what I was absorbing at the moment. I found myself a little more appreciative of my surroundings. Indeed, Sevilla is the most stunning place I’ve seen thus far so it was easy to be captivated by its charm. But its beauty was only magnified by the fact that I wasn’t looking through the shutter half the time.
I did, however, manage to tag along with a couple of generous friends of mine who took some solo shots of me around the city. Photos are forthcoming and I’ll add some more to this entry after Wednesday.
3 comments:
Within the extremely limited amount of places I've been on vacation, I inevitably forget my camera. I'm bummed for a little while, but have really come to embrace and agree with (big surprise) your thoughts about absorbing/appreciating the moment.
For whatever reason, I just seem to enjoy that more than looking at all the scenery/buildings, etc. through the lens of a camera. Granted, it'd be nice to have photos to recall the memories, but overall, I think sin camera is the way to go...
Spoken like a true print journalist.
Generous friends, eh? You mean that redhead you went to the mosque with?
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