J said “do I understand you correctly... we’re not going to have breakfast today?” It was 8:30 AM “Yeah, we’ll eat later... maybe get some churros or something” he laughed... “we’re never getting churros, liar!” It was day 3 of the trip. Our eating habits were erratic and haphazard at best. Nachos, salad and tea at 10 AM on day 1, followed by 10 pm shrimp steak dinner on the way to plaza del sol.. day 2 late cod fish, potato salad, fried camembert cheese, squid tapas breakfast with paella at 3 pm followed with left over paella at night. Maybe it was jet lag, maybe it was the pressure of seeing all the architecture sites, maybe the presence of great architecture nourishes my soul... maybe eating was subsumed by the aggressive itinerary. J. packed a spare banana and bread in his backpack to for emergency situations.
The day before, the alcazar gardens were closed due to light rain. Today, we wanted to go into the royal gardens of alcazar before heading to Córdoba. We had 3 hours left in Sevilla and were waiting in a long line at the alcazar gates 30 minutes prior to the opening of the alcazar. I like waiting in lines almost as much as I like going to the dentist. I saw an open gate at the rear and scouted it out for a sneak entry. It looked too good to be true, the rear entry, the bathrooms... no one in sight. in my mind I plotted out sneaking in, ‘using the bathrooms’ and continuing to the gardens. We had paid for the entry the day before, so it wasn’t really cheating an entry fare I rationalized in my mind. I returned to the line and asked the guy ahead of us to save our spot in line. We then went to the rear gate, only to realize there was a guard hiding to the side. Plans were foiled, and we went back to the line where the guy saved our space. J. saw a bakery to the side and brought back ginger tea and some baked goods. A proper breakfast finally. At the X-ray machine, the guard made a big fuss about the ginger tea. When he placed it down to find a plastic bottle to pour it in, before he could blink I hid it behind my jacket and told him to follow me in. Act naturally and the guard won’t suspect contraband tea. We made our way straight to the garden. Hardly anyone was there save for a security young millennial guard looking at her phone. While the guard was inattentive J drank his ginger tea.
The garden was foggy and mysterious with the palace off in the distance. The palm trees which hissed and swayed in the wind the day before looked stationary and calm today. Unlike the interior, the ground was rough and unpaved. The borders of the gardens were defined but the vegetation within was natural and overgrown giving a sense of openness, calm and relaxation. Throughout the garden were calm fountains and running water. “I have a theory... all the piping here runs independently from the main water source so if one fountain malfunctions, all other downstream fountains will not fail,” he said with a smile. I told him to walk to a fountain down the path about 10 meters away. I put my finger on the spout of my fountain and asked him to observe whether the water from his fountain spouted faster or not. It didn’t. We concluded the fountains were not connected.
Further up the path, we spotted a rare lemon tree among all the orange trees. What better place to throw like an American than the royal alcazar garden? First look away from the tree, with palm facing backward, pick a lemon from the tree, then rotate the hand so the palm faces forward and throw the lemon while rotating body (thereby engaging the powerful trunk of the body) towards target flicking the wrist while the hand is above shoulder with throwing hand ending its arc at left hand pocket position. Throwing is not just about using the arm, it’s about using the whole body. We tossed a couple lemons and left.
Save for a couple plans and a few pictures, I had no idea what the alcazar was constructed for, why it was constructed, how it was made, etc... every intelligent question he lobbed my way (i.e, when was this alcazar built?) met a “I don’t know” sheepish reply... to which he replied with a “I thought I was coming here to get a guided architectural tour by an expert” look of disappointment and amusement. What i did supply was a little humor and entertainment and a promise to write about the site intelligently later on. We recorded all our theories for further research.
"I have a theory - the ornament is tied to muslim conceptual perception of space"
"I have a theory - the people were short when alcazar was built, that's why the ornament wainscotting is rather short."
"I have a theory - they used to have 3 pools in the courtyards and they used to conduct fish races"
"I have a theory - chinese tourists will take exponential amounts of pictures with in groups"
"I have a theory - sectional modulations in the ground plane is a recurring theme in spanish architecture"
"I have a theory - the circulation of the alcazar is composed of nested helices and 3 dimensional spirals"
"I have a theory - water is important to muslims in architecture since they came from the desert"
"I have a theory - a mischievous prince scratched the letter of his first name in the stone floor"
"I have a theory - the muslim wrote words all over their walls. some lines look like calligraphy"
"I have a theory - the spanish close their parks in wind or rain because of liability and tragedy"
The day before, the alcazar gardens were closed due to light rain. Today, we wanted to go into the royal gardens of alcazar before heading to Córdoba. We had 3 hours left in Sevilla and were waiting in a long line at the alcazar gates 30 minutes prior to the opening of the alcazar. I like waiting in lines almost as much as I like going to the dentist. I saw an open gate at the rear and scouted it out for a sneak entry. It looked too good to be true, the rear entry, the bathrooms... no one in sight. in my mind I plotted out sneaking in, ‘using the bathrooms’ and continuing to the gardens. We had paid for the entry the day before, so it wasn’t really cheating an entry fare I rationalized in my mind. I returned to the line and asked the guy ahead of us to save our spot in line. We then went to the rear gate, only to realize there was a guard hiding to the side. Plans were foiled, and we went back to the line where the guy saved our space. J. saw a bakery to the side and brought back ginger tea and some baked goods. A proper breakfast finally. At the X-ray machine, the guard made a big fuss about the ginger tea. When he placed it down to find a plastic bottle to pour it in, before he could blink I hid it behind my jacket and told him to follow me in. Act naturally and the guard won’t suspect contraband tea. We made our way straight to the garden. Hardly anyone was there save for a security young millennial guard looking at her phone. While the guard was inattentive J drank his ginger tea.
The garden was foggy and mysterious with the palace off in the distance. The palm trees which hissed and swayed in the wind the day before looked stationary and calm today. Unlike the interior, the ground was rough and unpaved. The borders of the gardens were defined but the vegetation within was natural and overgrown giving a sense of openness, calm and relaxation. Throughout the garden were calm fountains and running water. “I have a theory... all the piping here runs independently from the main water source so if one fountain malfunctions, all other downstream fountains will not fail,” he said with a smile. I told him to walk to a fountain down the path about 10 meters away. I put my finger on the spout of my fountain and asked him to observe whether the water from his fountain spouted faster or not. It didn’t. We concluded the fountains were not connected.
Further up the path, we spotted a rare lemon tree among all the orange trees. What better place to throw like an American than the royal alcazar garden? First look away from the tree, with palm facing backward, pick a lemon from the tree, then rotate the hand so the palm faces forward and throw the lemon while rotating body (thereby engaging the powerful trunk of the body) towards target flicking the wrist while the hand is above shoulder with throwing hand ending its arc at left hand pocket position. Throwing is not just about using the arm, it’s about using the whole body. We tossed a couple lemons and left.
Save for a couple plans and a few pictures, I had no idea what the alcazar was constructed for, why it was constructed, how it was made, etc... every intelligent question he lobbed my way (i.e, when was this alcazar built?) met a “I don’t know” sheepish reply... to which he replied with a “I thought I was coming here to get a guided architectural tour by an expert” look of disappointment and amusement. What i did supply was a little humor and entertainment and a promise to write about the site intelligently later on. We recorded all our theories for further research.
"I have a theory - the ornament is tied to muslim conceptual perception of space"
"I have a theory - the people were short when alcazar was built, that's why the ornament wainscotting is rather short."
"I have a theory - they used to have 3 pools in the courtyards and they used to conduct fish races"
"I have a theory - chinese tourists will take exponential amounts of pictures with in groups"
"I have a theory - sectional modulations in the ground plane is a recurring theme in spanish architecture"
"I have a theory - the circulation of the alcazar is composed of nested helices and 3 dimensional spirals"
"I have a theory - water is important to muslims in architecture since they came from the desert"
"I have a theory - a mischievous prince scratched the letter of his first name in the stone floor"
"I have a theory - the muslim wrote words all over their walls. some lines look like calligraphy"
"I have a theory - the spanish close their parks in wind or rain because of liability and tragedy"
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