Summer in Sevilla and a visit to Casa de Salinas

Monday February 10 was a beautiful sunny, warm day.  High of 22C.  We headed out late morning to the nearby Feria Market.  We visited the Charcuteria de Rafael Ramirez again and bought some more sheep cheese and some ham.  We talked to Tony (who had lived in Vancouver), who recommended a bottle of local wine, which we also purchased.  He told us that the fish stores are not open on Mondays, as there is no fishing on Sundays.  We will be back for some fish on Tuesday.

A wonderful charcuterie 

Lots of great veg and fruit stalls-- we bought some veg and fruits here

One of the aisles decorated for Valentines Day

We walk across the Alameda de Hércules (La Alameda) every time we go to the market.  It was built in 1574.  There are four columns on the square.  Two are from an original Roman temple and two are modern reproductions.  Hercules is the mythological founder of Sevilla.

We then walked to an office of the renfe (Train company) and got our senior cards and tickets for Málaga, our next destination (we leave on Thursday Feb. 13).  We passed another beautiful courtyard with fabulous tiles.

Wonderful tiles in the courtyard

View of the courtyard

We walked over to the City Hall where we sat in the sun for a while.

Bright sun and great shadows of Alano and I

The City Hall has two sides with different architecture.  We sat facing the main facade of the building on the Plaza Nueva, which was expanded in the Neoclassical style in the 19th century.  The plateresque facade on the other side is located on the Plaza de San Francisco and dates back to 1534.  Quite a spectacular building.

The older facade on the Plaza de San Francisco

The Neoclassical side on the Plaza Nueva

We stopped at a lovely store selling Ines Rosales Tortas and other treats.  We bought a package as they are non-dairy.

Great treats from the area

We stopped for a few photos of the Cathedral de Sevilla and Giralda.  We are planning to visit on Tuesday.

Lovely orange trees in front of the Cathedral

Puerta del Perdón (Door of Forgiveness)

La Giralda

Summer in the city

We stopped by a small store selling delicious Portuguese pastel de Nata egg custard tarts.  They were fresh out of the oven.

Beckoning sign

Alano with his treat

Fresh from the oven

We had decided to avoid the queues at the Royal Palace and instead chose to visit Casa de Salinas, a privately owned mansion where some of the Salinas family still lives.  One can only visit the unoccupied part of the house with a guided tour.  There was only one other person on our tour, which the guide did in both Spanish and English.  The Casa has a fascinating history.  Only three families have lived in the house, which was built in 1577.   The first owner was Baltasar Jaén, a Jew who had converted to Catholicism (a converso) following the Inquisition.  The house is a mix of renaissance, Gothic and Mudéjar styles.

There are many of the original elements present in the house-- including floors, tiles, beautiful wooden ceilings, furniture and even the colour of some of the walls.  The Jaén descendants lived there until 1843.  It then passed to the Ybarra family.   In 1930, the house was purchased by the present owners, the Salinas.  Today the matriarch of the family, Maria Asunción Milá de Salinas, who is 100, lives in the house part time with three of her sons and their families.  She is originally from Barcelona where she still lives in the summer.  She was formerly a president of Amnesty International and campaigned against the death penalty (fascinating history-- interviews of her in Spanish are on You Tube).  Her husband died a number of years ago.  They had 12 sons (no daughters) of whom 11 are still alive.  Her oldest son, Manuel, is an artist.

Poster outside of the Casa

Unassuming exterior-- there are 30 rooms (many of which are not open to the public)

The upper floor is the winter residence and the lower floor is the summer residence.  Because the family still lives there, we could not see the upper floor.  There are beautiful stained glass windows on the upper floor.

One of the courtyards.

Alano posing with the tiles

Summer dining room-- enough chairs for a large family

The Guide said this was a Jewish star (not sure as we had been told by our Free Tour guide that the Star of David was used by Christians in earlier times)

Amazing carvings

Study

Picture by oldest son

Original ceiling

One of the most amazing features was the mosaic patio dating back to the second century and taken from the Roman ruins at Italica (near Sevilla) by the Ybarra family in 1901.  The design was dedicated to Bacchus.   The statue in the alcove was taken from a convent in 1911.

Roman mosaic tile from the 2nd century moved from Roman ruins in Italica in 1901

In the alcove-- statue from a convent

Original colour of the walls updated with the same materials. 

Flemish tapestry from Belgium dating back to the 17th century

Typical old Sevilla floor

This room had a heater and is used by the family

Gorgeous painting by Francisco Pacheco (1564-1644)- teacher and father-in-law of Diego Valázquez

After our visit to Casa de Salinas, we headed around the corner to the rooftop of the Hotel Amadeus where we had drinks in the sun.  A wonderful view of the city.

Alano with his Aperol Spritz and I had a gin and tonic (in February!!)

We meandered back to the apartment and Alano made a wonderful meal of delicious artichokes, pasta with fresh tomato sauce, and salad.  We started our new bottle of wine, which was very good.  Another great day chillin' in Sevilla.