Seville Snapshots: Beware the Falling Oranges!

July 16, 2012 by · 7 Comments

Camp is moving along smoothly, save a few bumps (literally) in the road, so I appreciate all of your contributions to Seville Snapshots. Today’s takes us to the chillier winter months, where the orange trees that dot the city become one of the city’s most important symbols.

Says Sam: I’ve been loving looking at your photos of Sevilla and reading your blog! I wanted to submit one of my own photos from my most recent trip there in March. It was taken with my phone, so it’s nothing fancy, but I love how it sums up what it’s like to walk around Sevilla at that time of year. Anyone who has spent time there knows the familiar resounding “splat!” of an orange hitting the sidewalk, usually just narrowly missing your head. This was the first time I’d seen a bunch of the oranges cleaned up off the ground in one bag. And to think, they look both harmless and delicious when they’re packaged up like that. There’s nothing about them that suggests that they’re just tiny little bombs, waiting to knock you out or obliterate your tapas and vino!

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Many thanks to Sam Ley from wiesagtman.wordpress.com !!

If you’d like to contribute your photos from Spain and Seville, please send me an email at sunshineandsiestas @ gmail.com with your name, short description of the photo, and any bio or links directing you back to your own blog, Facebook page or twitter. There’s plenty more pictures of the gorgeous Seville on Sunshine and Siesta’s new Facebook page!

Filed Under: A Few of My Favorite Things, andalú, Andalucia, El Centro, food, guest post, Oranges, photo post, Sevilla Center, Seville, Seville Shots, typical Spanish · Tagged:

Seville Snapshots: The View from Patio de los Naranjos

July 9, 2012 by · 7 Comments
As I hang out up north, running a summer camp and looking after 16 teachers and a blogger, I’m pining for Seville: the heat, the food, the open, wide sky. I’m delighted that Christine in Spain sent me a gorgeous picture that encompasses so many wonderful things about the city, and that she was patient enough to wait in line.
Says Christine: I chose to contribute this photo in particular because I think it captures the essence of Seville: the orange trees which are so symbolic of the city, and the commanding presence of the Cathedral and Giralda in the background. I took this on a mild, sunny January day when the streets were buzzing with people as they so often seem to do in Spain.

Links:
If you’d like to contribute your photos from Spain and Seville, please send me an email at sunshineandsiestas @ gmail.com with your name, short description of the photo, and any bio or links directing you back to your own blog, Facebook page or twitter. There’s plenty more pictures of the gorgeous Seville on Sunshine and Siesta’s new Facebook page!

Filed Under: andalú, Andalucia, Architecture, Churches, El Centro, guest post, living abroad, photo post, Sevilla Center, Seville, Seville Shots, spring, tourism, travel photography · Tagged:

Spain Snapshots: Plaza María Pita, A Coruña

July 2, 2012 by · 12 Comments

Right now, I’m boarding a flight to my second Spanish home, A Coruña. The northwest corner in Spain is a breath of fresh air in Seville’s stifling, 40º heat, and I’ve got all the things I love about Spain in one place – great food, a breathtaking city and the warm nature characteristic of the people there. It’s like putting on my favorite pair of Mango jeans after a few months of skirts and dresses – I could see myself living here.

Plaza María Pita, crowned by the charming town hall, is the throbbing heart of the mushroom-shaped peninsula. Buried within the vast, colonnaded square is the first place I ever tried pulpo a la gallega, and crunched up between a light post and hundreds of others, I watched Spain win the World Cup in 2010. Just recently, the Novio and I walked arm-in-arm as I showed him my favorite rincones of the Crystal City.

My heart is completely andalú, but I leave a small piece of it at the Riazor beach or in the coves next to the Torre de Hércules every time I’m in Galicia.

Have you been to Galicia? What are your favorite parts?

If you’re new here, check out my first few entries in a series on photogenic Seville and other parts of Spain, which will be posted every Monday. If you’d like to participate with your photos from Spain and Seville, please send me an email at sunshineandsiestas @ gmail.com with your name, short description of the photo, and any bio or links directing you back to your own blog, Facebook page or twitter. There’s plenty more pictures of the recital on Sunshine and Siesta’s new Facebook page!

Filed Under: A Few of My Favorite Things, Coruña, Galicia, photo post, Seville Shots, summer camp, the north, tourism · Tagged: ,

Seville Snapshots: Flamenco Recital

June 25, 2012 by · 8 Comments

It’s 9:32 when Carmen strolls in, still tightening the straps on her flamenco shoes.

Bueno, chicas, empecemos. An air of confidence has blown in with her, though you’d hardly know on such a hot night. The cante cracks on the old stereo, and we roll our heads and stretch our fingers. I’d argue that they’re the two most important conveyors of emotion in the baile, so we spend extra time making sure they move gracefully but with tension. One of flamenco’s contrasts.

I roll my ankles, tapping out a tiki-tat, ending with a golpe, the stomp that produces a great, flat sound. It’s Tuesday night flamenco class, and I’m ready for the arte, the duende and the emotion that accompanies flamenco.

A year later, I’ve bowed out of the class, but Cait is still tapping away three or four nights a week with Carmen. The outdoor stage is set up with an array of microphones, lights and gadgets, but flamenco needs no introduction or fancy equipment. Carmen’s master class takes the stage and I raise Camarón to my face. Lights, camera, arte.

If you’re new here, check out my first few entries in a series on photogenic Seville, which will be posted every Monday. If you’d like to participate with your photos from Spain and Seville, please send me an email at sunshineandsiestas @ gmail.com with your name, short description of the photo, and any bio or links directing you back to your own blog, Facebook page or twitter. There’s plenty more pictures of the recital on Sunshine and Siesta’s new Facebook page!

Filed Under: A Few of My Favorite Things, dance, flamenco, photo post, Seville, Seville Shots, Spain, Things to do in Sevilla · Tagged: , ,

Seville Snapshots: La Giralda

June 18, 2012 by · 12 Comments

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The Moors had control over a large portion of Spain for some 400 years before the fundamentalist Almohad Dynasty built the Giralda in their most-favored city in al- Andalus. Originally a minaret to the mosque in Sevilla, Catholics repurposed the Giralda after capturing the city in 1248. It was modeled on the minaret of the Koutoubia Mosque in Marrakech, and symbolized both the power and piety of the Almohad Dynasty. After a series of architectural alterations and additions following the capture of Sevilla, the Giralda now stands as a symbol of Spain’s rich cultural heritage and its long, victorious struggle against Islamic rule on the Iberian Peninsula.

Taken on an unusually cloudy day in the summer of 2011, this photo details the upper third of the tower that was added during the sixteenth century.

Text and photo © A Painter of Modern Life (http://apainterofmodernlife.wordpress.com).

Twitter: www.twitter.com/apoml Facebook: www.facebook.com/APainterOfModernLife

If you’re new here, check out my first two entries in a series on photogenic Seville, which will be posted every Monday. If you’d like to participate with your photos from Spain and Seville, please send me an email at sunshineandsiestas @ gmail.com with your name, short description of the photo, and any bio or links directing you back to your own blog, Facebook page or twitter. Don’t forget to follow Sunshine and Siestas on its new Facebook page!

Filed Under: Andalucia, Architecture, El Centro, La Giralda, photo post, Sevilla Center, Seville, Seville Shots, Spain, tourism, travel photography · Tagged: , ,

Seville Snapshots: The Battle of the Towers

June 11, 2012 by · 9 Comments

My life has been lived next to rivers. Every home I’ve ever known has been in a city where the river runs through it, so it was no question I had to find a place blocks from the Guadalquivir when I moved to Seville. From the Triana side of the city, the commanding skyline had very few blips, just the spires of churches, the Giralda tower and the Torre del Oro, where gold was kept during the New World Exploration. Nowadays, the tower hosts a small naval museum (with free entrance every Tuesday) and is a reference point for the city.

But that may all change.

Further up river, the construction of the Torre Pelli has the UNESCO up in arms. In fact, this skyscraper will effectively change the city skyline the way the setas did a few years ago, and the organization is threatening to put Seville on their blacklist and strip the Cathedral, Alcázar and Archivo de Indias of their world heritage status. During a visit in January, the organization effectively called for the construction to be halted, and even at only half its height, it makes a statement.

Do you think skyscrapers are right for Seville or small Spanish cities? Many thanks to Fiona for her insight via the Andalucía Blog!

If you’re new here, check out my first entry in a series on photogenic Seville, which will be posted every Monday. If you’d like to participate with your photos from Spain and Seville, please send me an email at sunshineandsiestas @ gmail.com with your name, short description of the photo, and any bio or links directing you back to your own blog, Facebook page or twitter. Don’t forget to follow Sunshine and Siestas on its new Facebook page!

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Filed Under: Andalucia, Architecture, El Centro, la vida loca, photo post, Sevilla Center, Seville, Seville Shots, Spain, Torre Pelli · Tagged: ,
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