Basic HTML Version
lunchtime at El Rin-
concillo, on Seville’s
Calle Gerona. Paper
napkins are strewn
on the flagstone floor and the scent of fried
garlic and good coffeefills the air. Three sturdy
sherry barrels serve as tables for those enjoy-
ing their tapas standing up, while the rest of
the patrons perch at the ancient wooden bar
or sit at tables at the back of the large room.
A sheaf of Ibérico hams hangs, cloven-footed,
fromtheceiling, and inthe tinykitchenbeyond
the bar, cooks turn out plates of
chorizo
and
croquetitas
, saffron-scented
arroz
and
stewed
espinicas con garbanzos
. There is no
background music, only the sound of the
Spanish tongue in full, rapid-fire flow.
The fourth largest city in Spain, Seville
sits astride the Río Guadalquivir, the coun-
try’s only river port. With an illustrious past
dating back to prehistoric times, Seville was
variously ruled by Visigoths, Romans, Moors
and, eventually, theCatholic kings and queens
of Spain. As the words inscribed on the city’s
iconic JerezGate proclaim, “Hercules builtme;
Caesar surroundedmewithwalls and towers;
the King Saint took me.”
For all the influences that have been
brought to bear here, though, Seville’s great-
est legacy may be its Moorish architecture,
wonderfully preserved within the city’s
history-rich center. There, you can wander
the narrow cobbled streets andwhitewashed
buildings of the former Jewish barrio, Santa
Cruz, or take shade inone of themanymagnif-
icent gardens around the Alcázar palace that
form an oasis of cooling fountains, orange
groves, aromatic plants and secluded glades.
While the gardens speak to a more emo-
tional vision, the palace’s impressive interior
reflects meticulous architectural principles.
Vaulted ceilings, huge windows, numerous
courtyards and balconies and tiled interiors
of intricate geometric detail meant lifewithin
was cool and serene. The glorious ceramics
found inside the Alcázar are indeed the signa-
ture of all the great Andalusian cities—from
Córdoba to Cadiz—but Seville is unmatched
in its wealth of this art form. (Witness, for
instance, the century-old Plaza de España, a
vast semicircular brick-and-ceramic monu-
ment to the regions of Spain, with the story of
each province told in tiled tableaux.)
The city’s showpiece is its stunning 16th-
century cathedral, purported to hold the
remains of Columbus. It was built on the site
of a demolished mosque, though the only
remnants of those Islamic foundations are
the Patio de los Naranjos and its minaret, now the bell tower, called La Giralda.
A gentler climb than you might expect, involving a series of ramps big enough
for riders onhorseback, leads to a heart-swelling viewof this city of trees: orange,
poplar, yew, cedar andpine, shading the streets andmakingSeville’s parks ahaven
even in the fierce Andalusian summer.
At night, when the heat recedes, the aroma of cooking wa s through the air
and the people spill into the streets to indulge in that most beloved Spanish
ritual: dinner. Jovial, entertaining, noisy and o en lasting well past midnight,
it’s the best way to partake in the Sevillian way of life. But it’s not all that the
evenings have to offer. Down these narrow streets a burst ofmusic occasionally
escapes from one of the shadowy caverns where flamenco performers act out
tales of struggle, longing and lament. There’s a man, a guitar, a woman and
sometimes a scuffed, ba ered stage. The tiniest of movements in the dancer
build slowly, quietly, almost menacingly, until her heels erupt into a violent
punishment of drumming, her floor-length dress whirling around her in a fury.
The elusive quality of flamenco is known as
duende
, the spirit of the music
and the visceral connection the listener instinctively feels to it. As the evening
stretches on, however, and moonlight fills the city’s crooked alleyways, never
is it clearer that in Seville, a place that reveals its heart through its music and
architecture, its zest for eating and drinking and talking late into the night,
duende
is applicable to more—far more—than just music and dance.
It’s
HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
•
81
•
MARCH 2012
p076-090_HEM0312_Fashion.indd 81
02/0