Not too hot, not too wet, just right. That was today, for almost the first week we experienced intensely warm weather especially with the humidity. Our strategy for packing was to err on the side of having warmer clothing for November and December in France at the expense of being overdressed in Spain and we’ve paid the price. Then yesterday things changed and we were treated to a day that would have taxed Noah’s faith. The basements next door and across the street were both pumping out water as fast as the fire hoses of the fire brigade could work. This morning dawned cloudy and cool but the sun broke through without a corresponding rocket in the temperature. So we ventured out around noon with the determination of visiting the Palacio de las Duenas, the palace of the Dukes of Alba. The family still lives there but have opened the house and gardens to the public beginning in 2016. We navigated towards the palace by taking a route through the heart of the Thursday market that we attended last week. Once again there didn’t seem to be anything that really made us open our wallets. But it’s like hunting you go out but you can’t force the prey to appear just for your amusement. So we basically walked through and found the entrance to the palace. But before going in we decided to have lunch, a short one, and then have a visit.
We walked a couple streets over and found a little plaza that had 3 or 4 little tavernas with tables outside and waited a couple minutes for one to become available. We’ve been pretty aggressive in our menu selections up to now so we kept it simple today and only ordered three tapas and drinks. We had our one standby order of Salmorejo, and followed it up with a leek tart and a little plate of grilled pork and frys in a garlic heavy meat reduction. Perhaps our expectations are too low, but again the dishes coming out of the kitchen were delicious. I’m beginning to think that the competition for dining euros is strong enough that the little neighborhood places have to give good food at good prices. We were entertained by a group of young people who sat at another taverna, they were all dressed in costumes associated the bull-fighting, one of them dressed as a matador and another dressed as the bull. The rest were dressed as if they were running with the bulls in Pamplona. Very amusing.
We finished lunch in record time and walked back to the palace. It is a very famous destination for celebrities and royalty visiting Sevilla and has been for around 500 years, Napoleon III, The duke and duchess of Windsor, Jackie Kennedy have all been guests in the Ducal palace at one time or another. As I said it only opened to the public in 2016, but only the ground floor and gardens. The second floor is still the habitation of the current Duke of Alba. But the areas that can be visited are pretty spectacular. There are three separate gardens with rare botanical specimens on two sides of the building and another
little garden surrounded by the house. Once again the abundance of ceramic wall tiles is legion, and the coffered ceilings are considered to be some of the oldest and most accomplished in all of Spain. Deb was enraptured by the gardens and all the plantings. The tour took us through their ballroom, and several rooms including their private chapel, a summer dining room, the late duchess’ studio where she painted and studied flamenco dancing, and the library. We also saw the stables and the room where guests alighted from their carriages during parties hosted by the family. An interesting little note, the ballroom and several others had family pictures displayed on the tables standing in the rooms. They showed the previous duchess and the current duke and his family as well as pictures of other European royalty from previous
visits. They also have an entire series of 16th century tapestries illustrating the story of Mercury and Herse (whoever that was). As good Spanish nobility they were really into bull-fighting and had original posters and gifts from famous matadors as well as the mounted heads of several famous bulls. So to say they live in a different world than the rest of us is only the truth. It was a great visit and quite enlightening. The picture at the right is the stairway landing going up to the family quarters.
The day was indeed just right.
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