Concepción

As soon as I woke up, I was determined to make the most of today - in that we had to hit up at least one touristy destination.  It's our third day here and I'm starting to get afraid that we'll start living like locals and forget that there are amazing things to see in this city!

So I booked a walking tour of the Alcazar (Royal palace). The tour was at the latest time slot available because by then, it was already 11am even though we had just had desayuno (breakfast).  We are certainly catching onto the rhythm of late nights, late mornings and siestas enjoyed by the locals!

First we took a quick train tour of the city.  There is only one line and it only has 4 stops, so we rode it all the way up and stopped at the University.  I couldn't help but wonder how amazing it would have been to have had the opportunity to study there, nestled among all that history.  Perhaps I can take some sort of a language course while I am here.

1pm quickly rolled around and we made our way to the Plaza del Triunfo, where the tour group was meeting. By now, Marco has finally fixed his watch so that it could determine which direction we were traveling in, and this has certainly made a big difference to our getting from A to B.

As soon as I met our tour guide, I couldn't help but tug at Marco and whisper, Look!! Doesn't she look just like Concepción??!  Right before leaving SF, Marco and I had watched an episode of "Rick Steve's Europe" on PBS because he was doing a coverage of Sevilla.  The local guide that was hired to show Rick around was a dark-haired lady named Concepción.  I remarked at the time how unique of a name that was, and I guess it stuck in my mind.

Now, the woman standing right in front of us had a face that was a remarkable match for the one that I saw on TV.  But still, both Marco and I was totally stunned when she opened her mouth and introduced herself as Concepción!  It was the one and the same - apparently she did the show 6 years ago and now frequently have people asking her about it.  We met a local celebrity!

Concepción and Lucia

The walking tour was excellent - Concepción had a fun sense of humor, very well informed, and took great care of us (I now know that Spanish kings are nearly all named either Ferdinand or Alfonso).  The palace was stunningly beautiful, with walls upon walls filled with an abundance of intricate carvings, lace-like in their delicacy and detail, as well as brightly colored ceramic tiles.

Although un-airconditioned, the interior of the palace was surprisingly cool, thanks to the effect of the high ceilings, openings on the roof to let out the rising hot air, as well as the ceramic tiles.  I loved the Moorish influence of the palace, which was evident upon almost all the facades.  Concepción took great care in emphasizing the fact that the Moors never had ownership of the building - they were merely craftsmen hired by the Christian Kings to decorate the palace because of their superb skill and speed in ceramics and carving.

Also surprising to both Marco and I were the fact that the delicate carvings on the walls were all done on plaster.  The craftsmen would first paste the plaster on the bare wall, and when that dried, they would trace designs onto them and hammer or chisel out the intricate designs.  The plaster is very soft and easily molded.  Obviously, it also wears quickly as the years pass, and the only reason that the palace is still in such good condition is because it has always been used and thus cared for and renovated through the centuries.

One of the paintings hung up on the chapel wall in the palace is said by scholars to contain the likeness of Christopher Columbus.  If the rumor is true (it matches with the descriptions given by Columbus' son), then it would also the only likeness of Columbus because none other was ever created.  Sevilla contained the port that Columbus left to set out for the Americas, and the city has gained much fame because of that expedition.

Columbus is the man in the center panel, to the left of the Virgin, at the front with the bald spot and curls

The garden surrounding the palace is also breathtakingly beautiful.  As with many other parts of Sevilla, the air is perfumed with the smell of orange blossoms (it has a fragrance very close to gardenias) and it makes it absolutely delightful to the senses.  I feel like I'm constantly walking in a fresh Spring meadow.  Everywhere, there are trees heavily laden with oranges.  I asked Concepción to whom the oranges belonged, and who can pick them.  Although she said that anyone could help themselves, much to my excitement, sadly she also said that they are very sour and that's why so many of them were left untouched on the branches!

By the end of the tour, we were almost faint with hunger.  It was drawing close to 3pm and we still had not had lunch, so we decided to skip a full tour of the gardens and head straight to lunch.  That's the good part about being here for so long - we can leave the gardens to another day without any ounce of regret whatsoever.