Our Andalucian Adventure: Seville- Real Alcázar and Barrio Santa Cruz

"Experience, travel- these are as education in themselves" - Euripides

We arrived at the Real Alcázar, a Spanish royal palace still in use today, to find a long queue, which moved along surprisingly quickly giving us the brief opportunity to discuss its history. And as we  went in and wandered about this marvellous palace  really came alive for us. Again I found discovering the history of Andalucía profoundly fascinating. I hope you do too as I don't want to bore you too much with this history lesson, which I thought a fitting accompaniment to the photographs of the beautiful Alcázar.

To bring history alive for the kids in the places we have visited, we have attempted to get to know a little about someone who lived there long ago. For Seville I had decided on Cristobal Colon, that Genoese explorer, who under Spanish auspices sailed from Seville in 1492 and instead of reaching Japan as he planned (which he thought was just over there to the west) he landed instead in the New World. But there was so much more to the Alcázar than it connection to Christopher Columbus.

 

We discussed how fortresses had stood on the site of the Alcázar since Roman days, and the current palace started out as a fortress for the Muslim Kings from the 8th to the 13th centuries, becoming a palace of the Kings of Castile after the Reconquista in 1248. We had already met the Muslim Arabic rulers of Al-Andulus in Malaga, which was not conquered by the Christians monarchs for a further two hundred and thirty nine years. It was therefore a real surprise to find that despite Christian rule during the period that the current Alcázar dates from, to us it appeared intriguingly Arabic.

We learnt however that the Christian rulers appreciated the beauty of the Moorish style of architecture and the Mudéjar architectural style continued and developed over centuries. The Mudéjar were the Muslims who remained in Al-Andalus after the Reconquista, who did not convert to Christianity and retained their Islamic style of art and architecture.

Much of the Alcázar was rebuilt by Pedro the Cruel of Castile and his mistress Maria de Padilla in the mid 14th century. For a history buff like me this was a thrilling discovery as I recalled that they were the parents of Constance of Castile, the second wife of England's John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, one of my favourite characters from history. This I did not bother trying to explain in depth to Rob and the kids, too much information might have resulted in burn out and rebellion.

Later in the gardens we saw what is named Maria de Padilla's bath house, but apparently in reality this was simply the castles water source. Pedro's palace, including the Patio of the Maidens, was very beautiful, and while unfurnished this a good thing as furniture might detract from the beauty of the rooms and add to the traffic jams that form due to the crowd of visitors. 

We did however speak of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile and how their marriage paving the way for the unification of the Spanish nation. Together they completed the Reconquista of Al-Andalus and it was Queen Isabella who sponsored Columbus in 1492 resulting in the Golden Age for Seville, through which all goods imported from the New World needed to first pass before being distributed further afield. Seville at this time had a population of over a million people, four times the population of London in 1600.

Isabella added a new wing to the palace as an administrative centre for the planning of New World exploration and dare I say exploitation. Whilst all this sounds a little intense for young children, told in little snippets, in the style of story telling, it made our visit more interesting.

Of course they whooped for joy when we found a door leading into the gardens and "school was out" for the day and we enjoyed discovering the delights of the gardens including a maze the kids could not resist, though they were ready for lunch.

 From the Alcázar it was a short walk to the Barrio Santa Cruz, which was the home of Seville's Jewish population between the Reconquista of Selville in 1247 and 1492, when all Jews were expelled from Spain.

 On our next opportunity to return to Seville this would be the area in which I would wish to stay. The narrow streets are like a fabulous mediaeval maze, designed for getting lost and then finding yourself in another beautiful plaza, shady squares surrounded by cafes and shops selling ceramics or souvenirs.

Though we had hand picked our restaurant for lunch from Trip Advisor before we reached it we came across Restuarante La Cueva overlooking Plaza de Dona Elvira and we gave into our hunger and enjoyed a delicious lunch.

While walking through Seville the day earlier we had seen a number of Christmas markets, and while none of us were keen for anymore wandering through market stalls, seeing we had seen a lot of these since November, the kids really did like the idea of seeing the rides and sideshow attractions.

 And so we left Santa Cruz via the Jardines de Murillo, taking time to visit the Columbus monument which sits within the gardens.

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After a quick visit to the markets the kids were most keen to return to the hotel just to hang out and rest after another long day, and after all that walking to take advantage of room service before an early night. We had a special day planned for the next day, we were all keen to climb to Giralda and we had a Flamenco Show booked in the evening.