Seville

Seaduced
John & Jane Craven
Wed 1 Sep 2010 14:23
This morning we did some more sightseeing and headed for the Real (Royal) Alcazar. This is a palace in the centre of the city which is still used by the King and Queen of Spain as their residence in Seville. The building again is a mixture of Arab and Spanish influenced architecture. The rooms are mostly square in accordance with Arab tradition, and have fantastically carved wooden ceilings and spectacular stucco work. Muslim mottos are inscribed around the walls of the palace. Inside there are large gardens and a fountain which is used to water them.

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The archway leading in to the Real Alcazar.

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Courtyard inside the Real Alcazar

The Plaza de Espana was also built for the 1929 Expo and is a large semi-circular building used to house the offices for the Expo. It is now used as government offices. The whole of the building is covered in mosaics of maps showing the different provinces in Spain. At the end of the Plaza is the Parque Maria Luisa which had lots of shady paths to walk through whilst avoiding the sun - there was no cloud today and temperatures were a little on the high side again.

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The Plaza de Espana

After a tapas lunch in the Jewish quarter again we caught the bus back to Chipiona. As soon as we arrived back at the boat it was clear the holiday was over as the boat had managed to get absolutely filthy while we were away and we spend nearly two hours cleaning the deck and generally sorting her our again.