Sevilla, Cádiz, Carnaval

At the end of February, Natalie and I made another trip to the south of Spain to visit the cities of Seville and Cadiz. We had wanted to check out Cadiz, a small city on the "Costa del sol" (Coast of the Sun) in the south of Spain, for its huge Carnival celebrations. Unfortunately, we couldn't find a place to stay, but we found out about a travel company that had a shuttle bus there from Seville, which is only about an hour away, to take part in the revelries. It ended up working out perfectly, because we had plenty of time to visit Seville, the fourth largest city in Spain, but still didn't miss out on the Cadiz craziness!

An old-timey poster in a restaurant exemplifying the "spirit" of Sevilla, and of Andalusia in general

Cádiz Carnaval

The whole point of our trip to Sevilla was to spend a night in Cadiz, where the biggest Carnival celebration in Spain takes place. Carnival (or Carnaval in Spanish) is based on the same idea as Mardi Gras - a huge, crazy party to sate yourself on sins and revelry before the beginning of Lent's forty-day privations. The Carnival celebrations in Venice and Rio de Janeiro are probably the most famous ones in the world, but the festivities in Cadiz are without a doubt the best-known throughout Spain.

A few views of the crazy Carnaval celebrations in Cadiz

The celebrations basically consisted in dressing up in a crazy costume and drinking in the streets. This would have been a whole lot more fun if it had not been freezing and miserably windy! Nevertheless, it was pretty impressive what an insane amount of people came from far and wide to cram into this tiny port city, dressed in all kinds of silly costumes. However, because the Old City Center is quite small, and made up of tiny, winding, labyrinthine streets, it got quite crowded and quite claustrophobic at times. It was difficult to stay together with your friends and there was beer, broken bottles and all kinds of other unpleasant substances all over the streets. To be honest, I can't say that "enjoy" is really the best word to describe my feelings towards it, but it was certainly a unique experience, and all-in-all I'm glad we went!

Sevilla

Aside from the one night in Cadiz for Carnival, most of our trip was concentrated in Seville (or Sevilla in Spanish). It is the fourth largest city in Spain, has the third largest cathedral in Europe, and unending layers of history dating back at least to Roman times. It is also the capital of Andalusia, a province in the southern part of Spain famous for Flamenco, orange trees, warm weather and countless architectural monuments left over from Spain's Islamic period.

La torre del oro (The Golden Tower)

I had already been to Seville once before when Elizabeth came to visit me at the end of my research summer two years ago, but I enjoyed it even more the second time. The weather was about ten degrees warmer than in Madrid and lovely almost the whole time we were there: mid- to upper-sixties and mostly clear and sunny.

Young people taking advantage of the weather to drink in a park by the river. Drinking in public, or botellón, has long been a big part of Spanish culture, and although it is now illegal, the tradition still persists in many parts of the country

Seville was once the official port of entry for all ships coming from the Americas during the days of Spanish colonialism, and many of its famous monuments derive from this period of wealth and commerce. All of this was made possible by the now no-longer navigable Guadalquivir River, which cuts picturesquely through the heart of town.

A view across the river to the neighborhood of Triana

The Royal Castles and the Cathedral

Seville's two most famous attractions - the royal castles and the cathedral - both date back to this time period of bustling trade, lively commerce and great wealth. The castles, which have their oldest roots in Islamic fortresses which preceded the current buildings, were added to and expanded over a long period of time by various Spanish kings and queens. They feature a style of architecture called mudéjar which is found in few places outside Andalusia. Although they seem enormous and labyrinthine as you are wandering through them, what remains of the castles today is actually a tiny percent of their original extent.

Right to left: Patio de las doncellas, Royal Gardens, Entry Courtyard

Famous mudéjar tile-work, found throughout the castles

The cathedral also has its roots in Islamic architecture - in fact, the tower, whose height gives the cathedral its claim to fame as the third largest in Europe, is not a "Christian" construction at all, but a leftover from a mosque that once stood in the precise location of the current cathedral! You can still climb the tower for great views of the city: the most interesting part of this experience is that, instead of stairs, you ascend the entire tower via ramps! The Muslim architects built it this way so that the muezzin, or the man who sang the call to prayer five times a day every day, could ride his donkey up instead of having to walk.

The cathedral tower, which is called "La giralda"

Other Sites

In addition to its medieval cathedral and castle complex, Seville also has many buildings and parks which were constructed in the early twentieth century in preparation for the city's hosting of the World Fair. The largest and most famous park in the city - Parque María Luisa, with its enormous plaza which is famous for having been featured in a number of movies, most notably Star Wars - along with one of the nicest hotels in all of Spain - Hotel Alfonso XIII - were constructed during this time period. The hotel is still running today and is so fancy that it holds a rating of "5 star plus!" We went one night to have fancy drinks in their beautiful courtyard and spent an hour feeling like we had been transported to a ritzy mansion in early-twentieth century Spain.

Plaza de España in the María Luisa Park

The Hotel Alfonso XIII

We were able to learn all of this information, and come to appreciate the city's conflicted and multifaceted history, thanks to a couple of "free walking tours" which we heard about from our hostel. The tour guide, whose name was Medi, was absolutely fantastic - not only was he funny and engaging, but he really knew his history and did a good job recounting a lot of dense, difficult stories in an enjoyable way. His tours really made the trip, and have encouraged us to do more walking tours during our future travels whenever they're offered!

Our guide, Medi, in the midst of a fascinating story