Sevilla: The Devil is in the Details, but so is the Fun!

Before heading back to the land of short days and gloomy grey (Scandinavia :-) there was yet 24 hours to spend in Sevilla. It was fun to go back to the city and realize that the downtown had become so familiar we could get around (more or less) without a map. The original idea was to go visit the Catedral La Giralda, but we skipped it (see first Sevilla post for the reason why) and instead walked near the Guadalquivir River.

In this last post on Spain and Sevilla (at least for now) I wanted to include some of the fun and beautiful details I noticed about Sevilla along the way. As with people, the details of a place give a sense of its inner meaning, history, and perhaps humor.

The first is this photo of the symbol of Sevilla.















This symbol (according to the guidebook) is said to stand for 'No me ha dejado" which translates to "she has not deserted me". These words were supposedly spoken by Alfonso the Wise after the city remained loyal to him during a dispute he had with his son Sancho during the Reconquest of the city. You find this symbol everywhere, the photo above is from a bench at Parque Maria Luisa the largest green area of the city.

Also close to this park is Plaza de Espana, a huge semicircular plaza that was built for the 1929 Ibero-American Expo. The structure is huge, but the beauty to me is in the detail work, like the tile work on this bridge.















As I mentioned in the first post on Sevilla the influence of the Moors is evident throughout the city's architecture. Here is a sample of some tile work from Real Alcazar. Even after so many years the color and style are fantastic.














On the more humorous side is this coffee sign - single espresso or double? One or two? This guy wants the big gulp espresso.















Last but NOT least is this video clip. This was my favorite detail of the trip. This is the crosswalk sign as some of the large crossings in Sevilla


Did you notice how the little guy increases his pace as the clock gets closer to zero? I also like the contrast of the horse (which is pulling a carriage of tourists) and the guy on a moped in the fore ground.

So what do all these details tell me about Sevilla? To me it is place where the old (tiles and symbols) meet the new (high tech crosswalk signs and super sized coffees) and a bridge of architecture and attitude maintain the connection between them.