Plaza De España

This is the main place that I remember from a previous visit to Seville and I have loved visiting it again just as much as I did the first time. It is in the Parque Maria Louisa, the Duchesse who gave much of her garden to the people as a park which was subsequently used as the centre of the Ibero - Americana exhibition on 1929.

It was originally built for 1919 but postponed due to WW1 and ten years later the opening coincided with the Wall Street crash in Oct 1929 so it probably didn’t do much for Ibero American trade then either. When Chris and I came this was all we saw of the exhibition but at the other end of the park is the Plaza De America and lots of other attractive buildings surround the area represented mainly South American countries. Most of them remain and are now those countries embassies. The man who built the Plaza was criticised for it being old fashioned at the time but it has stood the test of time. The remains of the 1992 Work Expo (timed to celebrate 500 years since Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue) across the river are now mainly defunct or derelict. They were built to last 6 months!

The Plaza has tiled sections representing all the Spanish and Portuguese districts. There are beautiful tiles everywhere and the whole place was to showcase Iberia to the Americas.
We had an orientation around the Cathedral and Alcazar for tomorrow and after lunch in the city centre we returned to the park where we sat in the shade listening to classical guitar and watching two ladies flamenco dancing.
More Flamenco tonight after dinner, hope we can stay awake! It’s hot!