El Arenal, Seville

The El Arenal district lies on the east bank of the Guadalquivir river and to the west of the district of Santa Cruz. The two main historical sites of the district are the Torre del Oro, the Golden Tower, a 13th century Moorish watchtower, and the Real Maestranza, Seville's bullring, the second most important in Spain after the one in Madrid. 

The Museo des Bella Artes was the main attraction for us. We walked through this district three times, the first time to visit the museum, and the other two to gain access to Triana, the district across the river.

It was a pleasant walk from our hotel down to the river through narrow streets and beautiful buildings

These palm trees are so tall

The Plaza del Museo is a quiet, peaceful square which gets transformed on Sundays as there is an art fair there every week

 The museum, a former convent is an impressive building

as are the two huge old trees 

with these  impressive roots. I did not manage to find out what these trees are.

A lot of flowering jacaranda trees are also to be found here

Plaza de Armas and its commercial centre is a busy thoroughfare, not far from the museum

the river is on the edge of the square,  with views of Triana and the Sevilla Tower, an office skyscraper

There are quite a few bridges that connect the two parts of the city, the Puente Cristo de la Expiracion is one of the biggest.

The river walk is very pleasant

with a park next to it

a tranquil place, with lots of people sitting by the river

Another of the many bridges

boats cruize up and down the river 

the flowering jacarandas everywhere

a much smaller bridge, much more pedestrian-friendly

Triana across the water

a monument to the men and women who have fallen

We were nearing the Golden Tower

but first, a replica of the Nao Victoria, the first ship to circumnagivate the globe which departed Seville in 1519 and returned in 1522.

Amazing sky

The Torre del Oro, the Tower of Gold, iks a dodecagonal military watchtower which was erected in the first third of the 13th century in order to control access to Seville via the Guadalquivir river. Its name comes from the golden shine it projected on the river, due to its building materials which are a mixture of mortar, lime and pressed hay. It served as a prison in the Middle Ages. 

We did not visit the Tower, nor did we visit the bullring.

Instead, we took the boat that took us along the river

and then we sat here and had a cool drink.

Parque Maria Luisa, Seville

On our third day in Seville, we wanted to explore Placa Espana and the Parque Maria Luisa. We walked from our hotel through the Santa Cruz area,  the Cathedral area, and got to this square with the wonderful fountain in the middle

along Palos de la Frontera, a wide avenue, with lots of cafes and restaurants on one side of it

past the grand historic five-star Hotel Alfonso XIII

past the Royal Tobacco factory, which, today,  is part of the University.

The building is massive, walking past it took ages.

At the end of the avenue, another square,

the horse-drawn carriages for tourists are to be found everywhere in the centre of the city.

We arrived at Parque Prado de Sebastian which we had visited the day before,

and eventually, arrived at

Parque Maria Luisa, a wonderful park, with fountains, flower gardens and mature trees - it's  Seville's principal green area.  Many of the historic buildings situated within the park were erected for the Ibero-American exposition of 1929 - the crescent shaped Plaza de Espana is the most striking legacy from this.

We really enjoyed walking around and exploring this park and on that day we did not manage to explore all of it. We did intend to come back and explore the rest of it, but never managed to find the time to do it.

This massive tree was at the entrance, and we never managed to find out what it is called. There are many examples of it throughout Seville

and every time I marvelled at its extensive network of roots.

We walked through one of the main avenues of the park

it was a warm, sunny day, so there were lots of people around

fountains, lots of flowers as well as shaded areas

lots of water birds

 

We could see Plaza de Espana at the end of the avenue

We spent a considerable time here, and then, a bit fed up with all the crowds, 

returned to the park where we spent the rest of the afternoon.

The park was fairly quiet, some people around, but after the crowds of Plaza de Espana, it was bliss.

As I have said before, there were tiles everywhere...

We came upon these rocks with water cascading down them

and then a central square with fountains, statues

lots of paths with palm trees

surrounded by shaded walkways

with the most amazingly vibrant bourgainvillea in two shades of pink/violet

that went all the way around that area.





Amazing.

So many paths all around

We walked through 

and then saw an orange bourgainvillea, a shade I had not seen before.

We left that area and then saw a tunnel beneath a small hill that had a gazebo on top of it

intrigued, we walked through the tunnel

and arrived at the rocks with the water cascading down them we had seen earlier

We looked for a way to get to the top and the gazebo and started climbing

we could see it clearly now,

and then we arrived.

Good views of the park from here - some of the palm trees are so tall

We descended,  past the tall palm trees

and got to this fountain

I loved the frogs

and continued exploring.

We got to a series of ponds, one after the other, 

some with fountains

another tree

with those magnificent roots

All those tiles!

Eventually, we left the park,  crossed the road and went back to Parque Prado de San Sebastian for a late lunch at the cafe.