The Alcazar and Flamenco (JULY 29, 2015)

July 27, 2015

This hotel very kindly provides free coffee and pastries for us early risers. So when I woke up at 6 am, I went downstairs and found coffee waiting for me. Leea got up shortly after I drank my coffee and we went up to the terrace for breakfast. If you are ever in Andalucia in the summer you will quickly understand why the Spanish have the siesta time between 1:30 and about 5. It is so hot, it is hard to do anything. So we try to do everything in the morning, siesta midday and go to flamenco shows in the evening. Siesta time doesn't necessarily mean sleep. It can entail editing pictures on my phone, checking FB to see if anyone has noticed I am gone, writing blogs, reading, doing laundry, and other things that can be done inside. Sometimes it includes naps. 

Today after breakfast we went to the Alcazar. It is a palace originally built by the moors, then like all things Moorish occupied by the Spanish after they ran the Moors out of Spain. The area where we are staying is called the Santa Cruz district, or Juderia, which means it is where the Jewish people lived before the Spanish ran them out of Spain. One of the things that make the province of Andalucia in southern Spain so interesting is the culture  

Water Element

 which was formed from the influence of the Moors, the Jews, the Gypsies and the people on the Iberian peninsula we now call the Spanish (basically I think it is people of Roman descent mixed with some Northern European blood.) One of the products of this mixture is flamenco a distinctive music and dance tradition I totally adore. Another is the architecture which includes many churches or cathedrals that were once mosques. For instance, the Seville Cathedral which was once a mosque. A lot was added it to it, but you can still see the mosque in its design. 

The Alcazar in Seville is stunning, and  we learned a lot about how ceramic tile work and designs evolved. The gardens are also cool and soothing and include many water elements and waterfowl.  We learned a lot about how ceramic tile work and designs evolved. The gardens are also cool and soothing and include many water elements and waterfowl. 

After siesta we went and saw a flamenco show at La Casa de la Guitarra. It was a style of flamenco that is very dramatic and sorrowful. As the announcer said, "Flamenco is how the Spanish express their emotions." So sometimes it's dramatic and heart wrenching, or as we might say, soulful.