Office hours were held in the gardens at the Alcazar from 11 - 2pm. This was our last class day and I individually reviewed each student's work, from their independent studies to sketch and design exercises over the past month. At 2pm it was finally my turn to see this Royal Palace which began in the 10th century, had an addition in the 14th century, and a final one in the 16th century (you can see bits of two in this image). The palace is still used by the Spanish royal family, but we couldn't tour those rooms. Of the upstairs tour of furnished apartments one intrigue for me were the large paintings of the three wet nurses for the royal children circa 1700. None of the three women was Spanish, but apparently they had great milk. There have been periods of Spanish history with mutual religious respect between Muslims and Christians. That said, Sevilla's Alcazar represents a Moorish design by a Christian king and has many design similarities to the Alhambra both in the architecture and landscape architecture. Philip "The Cruel" did the most work on this building and even had Quran quotes added to the walls of his bedroom.
The gardens are older than the Alhambra with 14th century courtyards surrounding the palace. Laid out on strict grids, these beautiful and lush gardens typically contain a water feature. Small houses for shade become focal points in the garden. My bench was in the shade of filtered tree canopies and was a very comfortable 70 degrees, despite daytime highs of around 100 degrees. As I have said before, the Moors knew how to design for the heat.
We had multiple dinners, as the students are like me, and like to eat as we make our way across the city. Starting at the river at 6pm, we had tapas and cold beer and watched people kayak the Guadalquiver River. From there we moved to another rowdier place and had more tapas, beer and sangria. Chantal's parents joined us and their addition to our tight group was refreshing--like someone new coming to the party. One more stop for the evening was to watch flamenco at a small, locals place. I did not realize the emotional level of this music and dance form. Starting the show, the melancholy voice of the singer was accompanied solely by guitar. When his soulful voice came to a place of crescendo, the dancer rose and danced with his singing, finding physical resolution of the music. It was a fitting end to the evening. Hugs around and safe journeys to all before we headed home.
The gardens are older than the Alhambra with 14th century courtyards surrounding the palace. Laid out on strict grids, these beautiful and lush gardens typically contain a water feature. Small houses for shade become focal points in the garden. My bench was in the shade of filtered tree canopies and was a very comfortable 70 degrees, despite daytime highs of around 100 degrees. As I have said before, the Moors knew how to design for the heat.
We had multiple dinners, as the students are like me, and like to eat as we make our way across the city. Starting at the river at 6pm, we had tapas and cold beer and watched people kayak the Guadalquiver River. From there we moved to another rowdier place and had more tapas, beer and sangria. Chantal's parents joined us and their addition to our tight group was refreshing--like someone new coming to the party. One more stop for the evening was to watch flamenco at a small, locals place. I did not realize the emotional level of this music and dance form. Starting the show, the melancholy voice of the singer was accompanied solely by guitar. When his soulful voice came to a place of crescendo, the dancer rose and danced with his singing, finding physical resolution of the music. It was a fitting end to the evening. Hugs around and safe journeys to all before we headed home.
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