Sabores de Seville

 

A View from Giralda Tower

Sabores de Seville, translated as 'flavours of Seville', comes to mind when visiting this splendid city in Spain. The range of exotic flavours especially during the Christmas festive time is a wide array of choices, be it food, the flavour of music and dance, fairs, or illumination in a truly magnificent way. Every nook and corner was vibrant with activity.

The historic La Campana

A day spent exploring the magnificent castle and Giralda tower was soul-enriching, The intricate mosaic inlay work in the cathedral, the huge tinted glass, the coffin of Christopher Columbus and bird's eye views of the city from the Giralda Tower were enough to take the breath away. I will devote a full post to sharing my experience of this huge edifice in the forthcoming post. After a walk around, the hunger pangs took over and a quick search brought us to ' La Campana' in the heart of the city. This shop has been in existence since 1885 and the decor has not changed much over time. The beautiful glass cases show off the delicious selections of cakes and pastries. Don't forget to seek the opinion of friendly salespeople who can suggest some exotic treats that will go down memory lane, with the flavours igniting the taste buds. There is a galore of Tortillas, Empanadas and a lot more besides the sweet savouries.

The Bullfight Arena

A walk further down the alleyways bursting with people brought us to Plaza de Torros de la Real Maestranza de Caballeria, or the famous Bullfighting Arena. Unfortunately, there were no shows so we had to be content by admiring the beauty of this huge circular venue. This is the largest ring in Spain with a unique Baroque facade dating back to 1762-1881. A number of statues of the greatest bullfighters adorn the periphery of the arena. There is also a museum that recounts the history of the place.

A Flamenco performance in Sevilla

A fitting finale to an eventful day ended on a slightly dark end of a street where the theatre staging a ' Flamenco Dance' was to be held. There are several such performances held every evening in Seville and we were fortunate to attend one. Nobody knows the exact origin of this electrifying dance but origins can be traced back to the Andalucian region of Spain, Latin America or the Caribbean. An interesting fact that I learnt was that around the 9th-14th  century, some migrants from Rajasthan ( yes in India) migrated to Spain. They brought with them tambourines, bells and wooden castanets and with a repertoire of dances and music set the stage ablaze. The passage of time with the Jewish and Moorish influences brought these dances to the present form. The underlying beauty of these performances is the 'cante' or the song in its different forms, the rhythm and synchronization of tapping of feet and gyrations of the performers. The ' baile' or the dance leaves spectators asking for more. 

I will continue with the journey in the forthcoming posts to share more such memories of the vacation.

PS- All pics and videos are mine