The Ham Nomads

5 Feb 2015. <ES> Sevilla, Andalucia —

Back into Sevilla again today. We started off at Starbucks, redeeming our discount voucher from yesterday. Then we walked back to the Archivo de Indias (The General Archive of the Indies). This is the most incredible building. It started off as the place of trade for all transactions dealing with the Americas. When the main port moved from Sevilla to Cádiz, the building became the domain of squatters, and became a residential tenement. But then there was a need to find a building to house all the documents dealing with trade and treaties to do with the Americas, and this building was selected. It has fulfilled this role magnificently, and has been named a World Heritage site!

The archive itself is open to scholars, and there is a major project under way to digitise its entire holdings and make them available via the Web. There is an exhibition space with facsimiles of many of the most important documents. There is currently a display of a model made by the Turkish jeweler Avendis Kendir (using 23.54 kg of gold and silver, 37.6 carats of diamonds and 1.6 of rubies) of Columbus's ship, the Santa Maria, 1/40 scale, 1 metre long. Priceless! Incredible!

We then went back to the kebab shop by the cathedral from yesterday, as a kebab had proved to be an ideal light lunch!

We then went up to the Museo del Baile Flamenco (the Flamenco Museum), via the usual narrow streets we had found in old Seville. This museum has a lot of computerised videos of various styles and dances in the flamenco tradition — you can choose to watch examples bulerias, or tangos, or sevillianas, or whatever. Then you go through an exhibition of the major performers of the past 40 years. There are photos, and examples of costumes. If we had wanted to return in the evening, they also had live performances. There was also a collection of paintings, drawings and statues relating to flamenco — fascinating. Warren is threatening to start watching about ten flamenco movies by Carlos Saura that he has brought along on the trip!

From the Flamenco Museum (via a gelateria where we succumbed to the temptation of a nougat and a pistachio gelati!) we walked down past the Plaza de España, through the Parque de Maria Luisa to the Museo de Artes y Costumbres Populares (The Museum of Folklore and Arts). This is in an old Mudejar building, and is a wonderful exhibition of the anthropological and ethnographical heritage of Seville. There are exhibits of actual workshops of artisans — blacksmiths, goldsmiths, potters, tanners, porcelain painters, gilders, and so on — and a large collection of household artefacts from various periods. In its upper level is a wonderful exhibition of lacemaking. And the building itself is a delight!

We left this museum, and went through the Plaza de América, where we were entranced by the Parque de las Palomas (The Park of the Doves), where people can buy food to feed to the doves. The kids love it!

We then walked back to our bus stop, and caught our bus back to Puerte Gelves for the night.

Distance driven — today, nil; to date, 12,390 miles ( 19,940 km )