Sunday in Seville

I think I may fast run out of superlatives here in Spain...I visited the wildly romantic Real (Royal) Alcazar yesterday afternoon and my god, it´s like the Arabian Nights by way of a Spanish fairytale!

Lots of lovely rooms and passages with inlaid tiles and Moorish entry frames... slim windows revealing secret gardens and serene water features, gorgeous views from balconies to maze gardens and outlying grotto meeting places. Some of my photos might do the location a little justice, but despite the heat, I felt like I had stepped into the medieval Spanish past of courtly intrigue and timeless beauty.

I feel that if I visited here everyday, a fabulous fantasy novel could very well bubble through me, the location an inspiration of star crossed adventurers and winsome fates; it´s spectacular "jewel box of Mudejar patios and halls" (I´m quoting my DK book now) enriched by each successive Spanish monarch (as reigning royals are apt to do).

I probably can´t capture the sense of romance that seems to permeate the ground here (it´s probably even more spectacular at dusk), but I´m surprised and delighted to have experienced it.

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Just about all the stores here are closed on Sunday (as you might expect from a Catholic country) and so after a very long walk in the morning where I pretty much circumnavigated Seville, figuring out where the bus and train stations were and generally getting lost (the best way to get your bearings!); it was a long lunch break of spaghetti cabornara with champignons (yup, that´s Spanish for mushrooms), a juicy piece of pineapple and a little light reading (I´m catching up on my Entertainment Weeklys).

I had planned to check out the Plaza de Torros this afternoon, Seville´s premiere bullfighting ring and headed out at around 4.30pm, still baking in the heat of the day.
Though it is the season for bullfighting (typically between April and October), there wasn´t a fight scheduled tonight (the muy calinete clima is probably a factor!) so the English speaking guide led us through a simple but interesting tour of the main arena, the chapel of the toreadors and a small bullfighting museum with artwork, posters and costumes. We also viewed the waiting stations for the picadore´s horses, the stalls for the six bulls typically used for each fight (there are usually 3 matadors performing - they get 2 bulls each) and the courtyard for the decorated mules (they are traditionally used to remove the dying bull from the ring).

Yes, I agree this seems like a very cruel and totally un-PC aspect of Spain, but while I don´t think I would ever actually watch a match right to the kill, I have to admit I am curious of this almost intrinsic stereotype of Spain´s culture. The bull, flamenco and matadors decorate just about all of the tourist shops here and I´ll bet that this is echoed throughout the rest of the country too, to a greater or lesser extent.

My last week in Seville is coming up, as I face the rest of my language classes (meh), flamenco lessons (yay!), and try to see whether I can resist buying a souvenir flamenco outfit (just for fun...and to add to my costume collection :) Will I be able to justify it...?