A Day in Carmona

Panorama of the new town from the entry gate.

Carmona is a small town about half-way between Seville and Córdoba. It’s served by frequent buses from Seville—and rather infrequent buses from Córdoba. Our first thought was to stop there on our way back from Córdoba, but the only two buses from Córdoba to Carmona left at  8AM—too early! and 2PM—too late! So we saved the trip to Carmona for another day.

Now, having finally visited Carmona, we’re glad we waited. It’s larger and more interesting than we’d thought!

The city is located on a hill, a natural fortification, very steep on three sides with a long gentle slope facing west. There’s evidence that people have been living here, and fortifying that western slope, for a very long time. The Romans built massive walls which were reinforced by everyone who came after—the Visigoths, the Moors, the Spanish. The old town has a very impressive entrance!

But getting there was a bit harder than we thought. First we had to find the right bus station in Seville. We’ve spent a lot of time in this city and we know our way around pretty well. But once at the bus station we discovered, oops, this ain’t it! It was another 10 minutes’ walk, but we had plenty of time, even with fumbling around asking which bus we needed.

The spire of Iglesia de San Pedro (the Church of St. Peter)

The 30-minute ride to Carmona was pleasant enough. Then it was a 10-minute uphill walk to the massive gates, and the tourist office, conveniently located right in front. (Whenever we arrive in a new place, we always like to start at the tourist office: get a map, ask about what’s happening, what’s worth seeing.)

The massive fortified entrance to the old town.

The nice ladies in the office suggested we pay the two Euros (one each, with our “senior discount”!) to tour the fortifications, located right above the office. The view from the top of those massive gates made the whole trip worthwhile! As we gazed out over the fertile plains, impressive even with the haze (and air pollution, sadly), and the towers and domes of the old town, we were glad we’d dedicated a whole day to Carmona.

 

Part of the massive fortifications above the entrance gate.

A sweet little casita tucked into the old walls.

Narrow streets and tall church spires... must be Spain!

The 15th Century Convent of Santa Clara

The chapel in the Convent of Santa Clara.

One of our inspirations for going to Carmona was to see the azulejos (traditional tiles) in the courtyard of the Convent.  Every Sunday in Seville there is an art show and market in front of the Bellas Artes Museum, and one artist, Elisabet Conlin, does magnificent watercolors of traditional Spanish tiles. We had to see the originals that had inspired her work!

Some examples of tiles from the convent:

And Paula's watercolor response (which of the above tiles was the inspiration?)

Another view of the convent, this one with a stork. Note the nest on the spire in the lower right.

And, at the far (east) end of town, another magnificent gate.

The same gate seen from the outside.

Looking out the city towards the vast planes to the east...

             Finally… Christmas!

(I'm using a new video editor—it took me a long time to figure it out and finish this video!)

Christmas in Spain—as we have discovered repeatedly—is pretty low key. The big deal here is Three Kings Day, aka the Epiphany, the day in the Christian tradition when the three wise men met the newly-born Christ Child. It’s celebrated in Seville by a massive parade that encircles the town, dominated by huge floats with brightly-dressed folks throwing candies into the crowd. But, ‘nuff said, just watch the video. Oh, since the parade celebrates the Three Wise Men, who were from “the East,” there are always men in blackface representing the kings. The Spanish have a very different history from those of us in the USA, and nobody has a problem with white folks representing darker folks in this way.

Ah—and what was different about this year was, first, that we watched from a different spot, giving a less-attractive background to photos and videos. Also, this year we got a map of the parade route and found it lasted at least six hours. After dark we headed across town to see the parade again, this time in the dark.  Just… watch the video.

Three Kings Day video

We've been having a lot of rain here in Seville. The weather has been rather good, warmer than last year with lots of gorgeous sunny days. Some rain at the beginning... so maybe it's appropriate that we get some rain at the end, eh?

In a few days we'll fly to Marseille, which seems to be recovering from its gritty reputation.  So stay tuned!


                Parting shot:
We talked about feria, the Springtime festival, in this blog, but for Sevillanos it's a year-round concern. Passing by our favorite feria store we noticed the displays had changed.

Feria is still months away, but it's never too early to start getting ready...