Sweating Around Seville (cont)
Exploring begins with food and drink 90% of the time. Keeping the percentages up, we found a little sidewalk cafe that served very local food. Spain has interesting eating hours. For example, in the USA, we can get coffee from Starbucks at 6am… maybe even earlier. It is understood that some of us NEED coffee to get our day started. The earliest Starbucks we’ve found opens at 8am… but mostly 9. So, when we stopped at this little spot, the kitchen wasn’t actually open so we had a limited number of items from which to choose. We ended up having two Sangrias and very thinly sliced meats. Barry had pork tenderloin and I had pork belly. I’m not used to pork belly being paper thin but it was still nicely seasoned and delicious!
We found ourselves at the base of a beautiful church. As usual, I started doing a little research about the building before me. Named Retablo ceramico del Cristo de la Buena Muerte sounded beautiful… until I had it translated. The English name of this church is: Christ of the Good Death of the Students. Odd and intriguing. Young by European standards, this building is just nearing 75 years old. There is quite a bit of work being done to it. Honestly, that’s about all I could find on it! Every article talked about the ceramic dome that initially caught my eye. I suppose when free time is in abundance, I can do a deeper dive…
After staring and obsessing, I took a few more steps into the plaza… and WOW! The Setas de Sevilla… what an impressive piece of architecture!!! Also known as the Metropol Parasol, this is the largest wooden structure in the world! Completed a mere fifteen years ago, this almost completely fills the Plaza de Encarnacion.
Up, up, up the stairs, we wandered around looking for the entrance. Thankfully, I had purchased tickets ahead of time because they were sold out! After walking underneath the giant structure, we found out the entrance was back down the stairs and along the side. We made it exactly at our assigned time!
Appropriately nicknamed “Las Setas” (the mushrooms) because the German designer created six large mushroom shaped parasols that is a great source of shade! While visiting, we noticed that this a popular gathering place for both tourists and locals. At any time of day, you can see groups of people talking and laughing together in the shade provided by this massive structure!
After entering the $16 each. There is a “skip the line” option for almost double the price but it was not at all necessary. Our ticket assigns a time, which they are quite strict about but then you can return anytime in the next 48 hours to view the “mushrooms” after dark.
What a great view of Sevilla! Standing nearly 100 feet tall, we were easily above most of the buildings. The way it is built, I couldn’t see straight down in any spot so my fear of heights did not kick in. I really thought it might. We must have taken one gazillion photos between us! The only thing that could have been better is if this spot had a “rooftop” or “mushroom top” bar. Just to sit and look at the sights!
For photographing, it couldn’t have been better. There were areas like this that allowed awesome views that included the Setas de Sevilla. Looking back at photos, it would be obvious where we were. We could see hotels and all the buildings that line the perimeter of the plaza. As this beautiful piece of work was being built, old Roman and Moorish ruins were uncovered. It was decided this would be incorporated into the project. Everything was saved and preserved in an area underneath called Antiquarium. Visiting this areas is also included in your entry ticket.
Made of 3,500 cubic meters of Finnish wood (the finest), making it accessible was also incorporated. Seeing so many church spires from above is pretty special. If you plan on visiting, buy your tickets early so you can secure one for sunset. Not only would the city be beautiful in the colors of the setting sun, but seeing the city light up would be spectacular. The structure itself also lights up so it would be quite an experience!
For the time being, we left the Plaza to get something to eat. We had a hankering for street tacos. In our roaming around, we happened upon this place. It was REALLY crowded but they were so efficient! When I took the photo, we had already each had a taco. They were stuffed full of seasoned meat! So good… and the best part? They were $1 each. Look at the bill! What a bargain!
On our walk back with full bellies, I noticed this building. It really caught my eye. As you can see, it’s still quite bright at 9pm. In a roundabout way, I found out the reason for this. During World War II, Germany set the time for Spain. The country’s time is set in the CET (Central European Time zone) which is way ahead of it’s geographical location. However, it goes hand in hand with the cultural aspect of dining and socializing late.
Funny story… well, it wasn’t so funny at the time. We decided to head back to the Setas de Sevilla after dark. It was much cooler, thankfully! With the address locked into my phone, somehow, we kept getting further and further! It started out a 5 minute walk and ended up 11 minutes and then 16… before it finally took us in the right direction!
This structure/sculpture/art piece is even more enjoyable at night. Impressive by day, it was cooler and a better environment to take it all in. Also, the constantly changing colors had me mesmerized. Mostly reds, blues and purples, there was also a mix of yellow. The colors started from the far end and waved across through the entire building. I just don’t know what to call it… it is a building in that people go into it but it is also art. I’m thinking “sculpture” was not an appropriate descriptive word.
Still quite warm, we chose the best place we could find to enjoy the view. Switching it up to Spain’s “summer drink”, we ordered Tinto de Verano. It is a refreshing mix of red wine and lemon/lime soda. After sitting for about an hour, we got the check… seven euros for the two drinks. We can’t get bottles of water for that cheap!!! Time to head back to our air conditioning!!! Tomorrow is another day…
