La Macarena, Seville

La Macarena district is located in the north of Seville and it's one of the districts that is not overrun with tourists. We visited during our first full day in the city and did consequently get the wrong impression - we thought everywhere would be quiet like this. It has a very Spanish feel which made us want to visit again, which we did later in the week.

During our first day, we intended to explore Santa Cruz and the Cathedral area.  We started walking and arrived at this modern structure, the Metropol Parasol, known locally as Las Setas (The Mushrooms).

 A post will follow. 

We started exploring the Plaza de la Encarnacion which is where structure is situated 

and which is full of bars and restaurants

surrounded by beautiful buildings

 
Saw this narrow street which looked inviting, decided to explore it even though it was in the opposite direction of where we were headed,

Thought we'd go a little further, and that was that - our plans abandoned and we were exploring La Macarena.

Lots of cafes and restaurants with people sitting outside

small, artisan shops

tourist shops where flamenco merchandise dominates

I noticed this in Barcelona as well - lots of organic and alternative health products for sale

and hundreds of churches - everywhere

a lot of statues as you'd expect

Pictures of saints outside the churches

and these hay structures, which we decided must have been left over from Palm Sunday. This one outside the church, but lots of buildings had them draped over balconies

 

Carrefour seems to be the main supermarket - I remember the one near our hotel in Barcelona was picketed every evening by pro-Palestine, anti-genocide supporters because of the supermarket's connections with Israel

We continued exploring Calle Feria, the main street for shopping and browsing in La Macarena

I went inside this ceramics shop. Note the name - almost everything in this city seems to have religious connotations

lots of old pots and tiles

There are very few new buildings in Seville - the city has preserved its traditional character

We got to Plaza de Montesion

another church

so many pictures of saints on people's balconies

a painting on a door

gorgeous architecture

another balcony with a Palm Sunday thingy

another church

We had arrived at the Calle Feria Market,

the main market of the city

lots of meat and ham

olives and pickles

bread and pastries

They sell everything

and the place gets transformed Sunday lunchtimes as you will see later

fresh fruit and veg

like everywhere in Spain, lots of ham and cured meats

delicious fruit

oh! the cakes

We wandered around the market for quite a while and then we continued on our way

We thought this would be another church so we turned into this little side street to explore,

but it's a housing development so we continued on Calle Feria

This explains how Seville has managed to keep its traditional character - buildings get gutted, the exterior is kept, and the interior is modernised

We turned left into Resolana

we were intrigued by this tower, we never managed to find out what it is

Wandered round Parque Cerando for a while

Arrived at this huge square where this bridge dominates

then turned into quieter streets

past this school

Went inside this building

where a two-week puppet festival was in progress

We moved on to

a wide avenue, Alameda de Hercules., the Tree-lined Avenue of Hercules.

Originally, the Alameda was a fragment of the eastermost branch of the Guadalquivir river. After it was cut off by a dam in 1383, it was developed and now is a key nightlife center of the city. It's has a vibrant and diverse atmosphere: Heavy Metal or Funk or live Flamenco, Nouvelle Cuisine and traditional restaurants, tapas and cocktail bars, and cafes are to be found here. The area is also the gay-friendly quarter of Seville

Roman columns stand at the beginning and end of this large, long avenue that functions as a square.

There is the central, wide part where various activities take place - we witnessed a political rally. 

People sit here, particularly in the evenings, children play, ride their scooters

on either side of this central area are two narrow roads for cars, one of which is just for service venicles - you can barely see it in this picture, but it's between the restaurant chairs and the yellow benches in the middle

and then you have two large areas where the trees are, which are full of bars and restaurants. We came here a few times and loved it.

We sat here and had a cool drink during our first full day in the city

and then moved on. Quite a few jacaranda trees have been planted here, they are still quite young, but they will look majestic when they grow taller

they are my favourite flowering trees.

We continued on our way - this tree lined avenue is 480 metres long

I turned right into a side street and went inside this building as it interested me

It's a secure space for women and girls - I was very pleased to see that.

Eventually we got to the other two columns at the end of this wonderful avenue, and entered the Santa Cruz district.

We came here lots of times in the evenings. At dusk the whole place changes, as people come here to sit, talk, play or just walk

and it gets even busier at night

such a wonderful atmosphere

The bars fill up

This is Tapas, Vinos - we came here three times for our evening meal

This is the queue for the bus - it was always like this, day or evening.

We visited La Macarena one more time, on our last full day, a Sunday. We started from Metropol  Parasol again. This is a queue for the beauty bus of the El Corte Ingles, the department store.

We took a different route this time, much more to the north of the district, had a look at  another church

so much gold!

We must have seen at least five weddings that morning

This part of La Macarena is residential

We came across a craft market

a typical entrance to a building, with all the tilework

lots of people sitting in the sunshine, resting

We eventually got to the Wall, (Murallas de Sevilla), part of the old defensive wall that used to surround the Old Town. The city has been surrounded by walls since the Roman period, and they were maintained and modified over the years. They were partially demolished after the revolution of 1868. 

The walls originally had 18 gates and four survive today. This is the Puerta de la Macarena.

A busy street on the other side, 

but we stayed on La Macarena side,  walked along it for a while

then retraced our steps

came across yet another wedding

and eventually started walking down Calle Feria again, as we wanted to have another look at the market.

It was packed.

It was lunchtime by then, and people were having drinks

or Sunday lunch.

A bit too frantic for our tastes, so we re-joined Feria

and in one of the side streets, found Quilombo, sat here and had a lovely lunch.

We then walked back to Metropol Parasol and moved on to  Santa Cruz.

Phew! I think this is probably the longest post in this blog. Well done if you managed to finish reading.