Drinking and eating in Seville

These are some of the places where we had a drink or a meal while we were in Seville.

We sat here for a cooling drink on our first day after a long walk exploring the district of Macarena. It's on the Alameda de Hercules and I don't remember what the place is called.

It's a wonderful tree lines avenue, and it was very relaxing sitting here.

Cafe Santa Marta became our regular place for our pre-dinner drinks.

It's set in a small square which it shares with a restaurant. The square is a quiet, residential one, and it was just wonderful sitting here

An imposing church on one side of the square

and residential buildings around the rest

They also served food and we ate here one night, but the rest of the time we preferred to move on to a different place

There were queues for a table after 8:00 every evening

We loved it here. We were disappointed on our last night when it was closed because it was Sunday.

We sat here, at Cafe Regina for a drink on our first evening, before discovering Cafe Marta

it's in the square where Metropol Parasol is, so it was lovely sitting here, people watching - the square is very busy and vibrant

We also sat here one evening for a meal. The food was awful. Just awful. I mentioned it to the waiter. He shrugged and two minutes later the manager came. He said that everything was on the house. I was very impressed and I told him so. When it was time to pay for our drinks he said that the drinks were on the house as well, but I insisted that we would pay for the drinks as there was nothing wrong with them. So, that's what we did. 

So much life around this structure.

The Hosteria del Laurel is in the Santa Cruz district, very near the Cathedral and the Real Alcazar Palace.

We stumbled upon it by chance and had lunch here twice. The third time we tried to eat here it was full.

The food was excellent. I was particularly keen on the artichokes with a shrimp on top of each. Delicious.

Busy, vibrant, lots to look, good service and excellent food. What more could one want?

Quilombo is just round the corner from the main market on Feria in the La Macarena district. We were looking for somewhere to eat, it was Sunday, the market was packed, and we found this place. It was very good - excellent service and delicious food.

We had lunch here twice. It is situated in the park of Prado de Sebastian. The first time we sat here was when we explored the park and the second time after our exploration of Parque Maria Luisa and the Placa de Espana. There was nowhere in Parque Maria Luisa so we walked here and sat here again  

it's cool, shady and very relaxing.

First nights are always difficult when you are trying to orient yourself, particularly on a Sunday night, when a lot of places are closed.  We could not find anywhere we liked to have our evening meal and we ended up here, La Mafia, an Italian restaurant

Accepting the fact that we had an Italian meal in a Spanish city, it was not a bad choice at all. It was packed, the service was excellent as was the food 

On the wall behind me were these dots - I could not understand what they were

and then I stuck my finger inside one. I still don't know what they were.

Anyway, it was a great place.

Tapas and Vinos, on the Almeda de Hercules, a great favourite - we ate here three evenings.
 

Vibrant, full of life,

excellent food and service, great location

We loved sitting here - the Almeda is one of the main night spots in the city, so always lots going on and we would sit there, eat delicious food, have some wine and just look around us

A lot of restaurants around that area, this one was next door, and there were always people queuing for a table

For the last but one evening I ate here. I can't recall the name of the restaurant but it's located on the south side of the Encarnation Square. This was not my first choice, but it was the only place that had any places left. This side of the square gets very busy, it's so vibrant. 

Good view of the Metropol Parasol

I had an ok meal and the whole time I was sitting here, I could hear the music from the entertainment area of the Parasol so after the meal I went to investigate. The band was excellent so

I sat down and listened

when they started playing Bella Ciao, the crowd went wild, singing along, 

and lots of people got up and started dancing to the song

It was electric.

So, on our last night we came back to this area. This time we managed to get a good table at the place we wanted to sit, the Malvaloca.. It was perfect. The food was excellent, and this is where I met the wonderful Palestinian waiter who was so lovely and who I will always remember. We had such a wonderful time that I neglected to take as many photographs as I should have.

Sitting at the Malvaloca we had an excellent view of the Parasol

After the meal we went to the performance area. The band who were playing were good, but nothing compared to the one of the previous evening, we stayed for a while and then went back to our hotel.

The Centre of Contemporary Art, Sevilla - the buildings

CAAC, Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporaneo, Sevilla.

An imposing and maybe unexpected entrance which gives a clue to the history of the building

another clue is the chimney on the side of the entrance.

It's a fascinating history so I will spend a bit of time on it.

The Centre of Contemporary Art used to be a monastery, the Monastery of Santa Maria de las Cuevas, also known as the Monastery of the Cartuja (Charterhouse). 

Legend has it that the area, in Moorish times, was honeycombed with caves made by potters for ovens and to obtain clay, and that after the capture of the city by Christians in the 13th century, an image of the virgin was revealed inside one of the caves, where supposedly it had been hidden. This prompted the construction of the chapel of Santa Maria de las Cievas to house the icon. In the 15th century, a Franciscan monastery was founded at the site.  Monks of the cloistered order of Saint Bruno were housed in the monastery. For a while, the remains of Christopher Columbus were interred here.

During the Napoleonic invasion, the monastery was sacked and used as barracks. After returning in 1812, the monastery was finally vacated with the general closure of monasteries in 1835-36.

Following the confiscation of church property during that time, Charles Pickman, an Englishman acquired the property and turned it into a ceramics factory. He established innovative manufacturing methods such as importing raw materials, the use of molds, using specialised machinery, mechanical arms and presses. He employed pottery workers from nearby Triana. This led to La Cartuja de Sevilla becoming one of the most popular brands in Europe and in Latin America. Production continued until 1984. The bottle shaped kilns and tall chimneys are the legacy of the ceramics factory.

In 1997, the older part of the monastery became the site of the Museum of Contemporary Art.

We loved looking at the art that was exhibited as much as we loved exploring the historical grounds of the former monastery which include the old chain door, atrium, four chapels, the priory cells, church, cloisters, monks' chapter, refectory gardens and orchards.

Ceramic tiles on the side of the front door

and we walked through the gates

to a massive site

with some gorgeous buildings

and massive gardens

and of course, gorgeous tiling

in all of the buildings

The grounds are extensive and there are so many buildings, so we walked on, searching for the exhibition centre

and then we saw a sign

walked past this sculpture

entered this massive courtyard

and were greeted by this.

Had another look at this amazing sculpture and then went in and bought our tickets

We were directed to this chapel, the  Chapel of Saint Anne or Columbus Chapel

The chapel was built in 1507. It housed the remains of Christopher Columbus with those of his brother Diego and his eldest son, Diego Columbus. Columbus had a close relationship with the Carthusian monastery due to his stays in the guesthouse and his friendship with Fray Gaspar de Gorricio, who assisted him in preparing the case he presented to the Catholic Monarchs to fund his second voyage to the Americas.  The Columbian Archive was stored in the monastery even before the explorer's death. The remains stayed here until 1537, then they were moved to the Dominican Republic, and then returned to Seville, where they now rest in the Cathedral.

During the French occupations (1810-1812)  then later when the site became a porcelain factory, the chapel lost its liturgical functions and was repurposed as an archive for the factory.

Kupindura by Virginia Chihota was exhibited in the chapel.

We enjoyed the exhibition but also the contrast between the contemporary art within such historic building.

We moved on to the atrium which serves as a connecting space between several buildings of the monastery: the church facade; the former prior's cell which later became the residence of Charles Pickman and then a laboratory during the porcelain factory period (1841-1842); the Procuration, which became the Pickman family home.

A small fountain in the middle

We walked along all three cloisters.  

The stuccoes once framed a series of paintings by Francisco de Zurbaran, now housed in the Museo de las Bellas Artes de Sevilla.

We left the atrium and moved on to the open space where the magnificent bottle shaped kilns of the porcelain factory era are to be found

as well as the huge chimney

and then on to the orchard

cypress trees flank the four paths that form a square

and all around them, the fruit trees

an observation tower

old buildings with two chimneys at the end

A small pavilion which we decided to investigate

The Pavilion of Saints Justa and Rufina, also known as the Pickman Pavillion. The building has an open-sided ground floor, large windows on the second storey and a lookout tower at the top.

a diaphanous curtain at the door

Black Pearl Curtain, by Olaf Nicolai, 2004.

Nicolai's work covered all of those openings with curtains of black plastic beads.

We moved on

A nice square

with a fountain in the middle

We left the orchard and entered the main grounds again, where the five English-style bottle kilns, which were built during the 19th century, stand.

 

Looking closer at one of them - I presume this is where the ceramic pieces were put in for firing

The large chimney dominates

We entered the main, large courtyard which, when the site was a monastery, was used as a cemetery for the monks and priors, reinforcing the symbolic role of this space as the spiritual heart of the monastery.

We walked along the Large Cloister, the architectural core of the monastery, structured around three galleries and the central courtyard.

The monastic cells were to be found here, each cell designed as a self-sufficient unit with two floors: a study and workshop on the ground floor, and a bedroom and oratory above. At the back, each cell had a private garden, latrine and woodshed. Meals were delivered through a small window, with no direct contact, allowing the monks to remain in solitude most of the time. They only left their cells for church services, the communal walk on Mondays and Sundays, or shared meals in the refectory.

The prior's cell reached the scale of a small palatial residence, complete with a courtyard, fountain, private chapel, library, guest rooms, and even a jail, reflecting the strict hierarchy of the Carthusian order.

In the middle of the 19th century the site was transformed into a  modern industrial plant dedicated to fine earthenware. The ceramics produced here were shippped all over the world. The factory became the most important in southern Europe and one of the most innovative of its time, marking Seville's transition from a conventual city to an industrial capital.

Between 1986 and 1992, the whole area was reconstructed, blending monastic and industrial heritage to transform it into the Art Centre. The cells have become exhibition spaces.

We went inside those exhibition spaces and saw two exhibitions, The Eternal Present by Cachito Valles and Amefrica, an exhibition of Black art from America and Africa. There will be posts on both at some stage.

And then back to the large courtyard

A look at one of the cloisters from the outside this time

At one end, inside the Arch of Saint Michael, Sun Twist, an installation by Cachito Valles, 

Having finished our tour of the site, we retraced our steps and moved on to the atrium we had walked through earlier

We eventually reached the main courtyard where the chapel and the ticket office are as well as the magnificent artwork that comes out of the two windows

past the sculpture we saw in the beginning

and we were again, in the plush gardens

avenues of flowering jacarandas

Saw this building and went to investigate

could not get inside as the gate was locked

spotted this balloon which we later on saw from the roof of the Metropol Parasol

We continued on our way, Torre Sevilla in the distance

Retracing our steps all the way

Got to the entrance, and walked along the river in Triana, which you can see here