Tue 03.Sep.2019
Sevilla & Toledo
imagery April & May 2019
Spain last Spring
Through the magic of photography and my shameless laziness about posting while I was there,
here we are
last April in Sevilla, that most dazzling of Spanish cities.
The Plaza de Toros appears to eyeball the fans before swallowing them up.
One could argue that sitting through a bullfight is partial punishment for supporting
such a horror. I like Arthur Clarke's idea of allowing the spectators to feel what
the bull feels. His Alien Overlords (in Childhood's End) ended the practice real fast
by doing that.
I've never attended a bullfight and never intend to. Moving on, this rooftop penthouse
looks like a small palace in its own right!
That long plaza, the Alameda de Hercules. A fine leisure diversion on an
already-warm spring day.
The last light of evening puts a glow on the Plaza Nueva.
An afternoon's diversion in the Plaza de España.
Not too shabby, no?
This year's dramatic view of the lamp post at the cathedral.
Various ways of coping with a hot day at Sevilla cathedral.
Put your feet in the fountain ...
... just wilt.
I tried a third aproach - walk around taking photos.
Toledo
Toledo is a hill town, surrounded by a loop of the river Tajo.
The Tajo is a longish river - it's estuary on the Atlantic is the "bay" you sometimes see
in photos of Lisbon. It has its own Nature Trail, which makes a great walk outside
the walls of Toledo proper.
A hiker needn't stick around Toledo.
The trail goes far in both directions!
I wonder which was more intimidating to attackers: the walls, or the agave cactus?
Did assailants allow themselves to be distracted, and make tequila from the
agaves?
Up on the hill, inside the old city of Toledo, the blazing Spring sun makes a
near-oven out of the maze of medieval streets. Canvas awnings give some relief on
a sizzling afternoon.
At least it is a dry, desert-like heat!
Easier to bear than the humidity
of many Mediterranean islands in the Summer!