Reportage on the goings on of Craighan
Triana is a neighborhood in Seville on the west bank of the Guadalquivir. Founded as a city by the Roman emperor Trajan, Triana has been, among other things, the center of a traditional pottery and tile industry since the Almohad period (and possibly as early as the 3rd c.).
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I’ve got some more pictures of churches in Seville for you. Santa Marina Basílica de la Macarena Santa Catalina
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Called the “Cathedral of Triana,” the Church of St. Anne (Iglesia de Santa Ana) in Seville’s Triana neighborhood is not an actual cathedral. Construction began in 1266 on the order of King Alfonso X, and it was finished in the 14th century as a Gothic-Mudéjar building.
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The Cathedral of Seville was built on the foundations of a 12th century mosque. As John Allyne Gade notes, “each of the four side aisles is nearly as broad and high as the nave of Westminster Abbey, while the arcades of Seville’s nave have twice the span.” Some remnants of the 12th century mosque remain. Most notable are the Court of the Oranges, the Giralda, and the Gate of Pardons.
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The Royal Alcazar of Seville (Real Alcázar de Sevilla) is a palatial complex built mostly after the reconquest of the Iberian peninsula. The vast majority of the of the existing palace was built for the Christian monarchs, but the Mudejar design gives the Alcazar the appearance of Islamic origin.
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In Seville, at a housewares chain called Muy Mucho, we purchased a plastic placemat to use as a cutting board. The words on that placemat, under a silhouette of a unicorn, couldn’t sum up Seville any better: It’s magical.
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What we see today of the Alhambra dates from the early 14th century when two successive Nasrid kings made improvements to the fortress-palace complex on top of the hill al-Sabika on the east side of Granada. It’s origins, however, go all the way back to the Roman era and the subsequent construction in the 9th century of a small fortress on top of the remains of Roman fortifications.
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This all our photos from Granada. Mixed in here are photos of the town itself, the Alhambra, the cathedral, and other assorted bits of Granada. You find photos of just the Alhambra and the cathedral in other posts.
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Craig jokes that our tagline for Ávila should be: “Ávila: they can’t all be winners.” We did not love our stay there, which is a bit unfair to the city because some of it was just circumstances and timing.
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