Seville

We had hoped to find the advertised campsite in Huelva, Spain, but missed it somehow, so drove on to Seville, arriving after dark. We were so tired we decided to stay in a hotel in Seville, but could not find a hotel garage large enough to get the camper inside, and we had been warned about parking on the street, especially in Seville.

A friend, who we spent the night with in their Spanish home, had been to Seville recently and was told someone would break into a car, if they could see anything inside. If what they found was worthless, they would then “trash” the car, because they had wasted their time and effort breaking in.

We thought we were following the directions we had been given to guide us to the campsite, but nothing looked just right and by this time it was completely dark. We stopped at a gas station and asked for directions. We found it amazing that a man who spoke no English could make a few notations on a piece of paper that I could understand, and the directions would be so accurate. We found the campsite exactly where he said it would be, way across Seville from his station. We got there about 10:00 PM, and were happy to get to bed. We awoke the next morning in a lovely campground with flowers and the smell of orange blossoms in the air—no hotel could match that, even in Seville.

Seville’s Cathedral, with two aisles plus chapels on each side of the nave, is the world’s largest Gothic building. There’s room for a ball game and a church service at the same time, neither would disturb the other. Its bell tower, The Giralda, is one of the finest examples of Moorish tower architecture. The Cathedral is huge, and a portion of the ceiling vaults are embellished by barnacle-like encrustation. There are 45 yard-square sculptured scenes, each filled with intense detail.

On the streets in front, there were horse-drawn cabs waiting to drive tourists around town. We didn’t do that, but we did drive and park and walk through the old city that is characterized by its narrow winding streets, Moorish architecture, large courtyard houses.

The City of Seville and its Cathedral are fascinating and attractive, and certainly deserved much more time than we had available, that time.