Carmona

When I looked around Andalusia trying to find a good day trip from Seville earlier in the year, I came across this small town that seemed highly recommended. We went to San Bernardo train station and got on the bus. The 33km journey only took us about half an hour. Nice and easy.

Carmona is a lovely place that was built on a ridge in the middle of a huge flat plain.

It has a long history as even during the time of Julius Caesar it was an important city. One of the city’s gates still stands as a memento for the Romans, the Puerta de Córdoba.

Who do you think came after the Romans? Yes, the Moors! Seems like a trend here in Andalusia that never seems to fail. Anyway, they also realised the strategical importance of the place and build a huge wall around it. And when I say huge I mean at least 6 meters across! This is the Puerta de Sevilla which leads the visitor into the Old Town.

The view from the wall of Carmona.

Apart from the wall the Moors made their marks on the city in other ways, too. The white walls of the well-kept houses and the signs of the mudejar-style decoration can be found everywhere, together with the many fountains and the Alcázar of Carmona.

The Alcázar later was taken over by the king of Spain (Don Pedro) who made a castle for himself out of it and during the modern era the building was turned into a Parador Hotel. It now runs under the prestigious name of Alcázar del Rey Don Pedro. We decided to take a look from the inside and after the pretence of ‘just having a coffee on the terrace’ we nosed around as much as we could. Well, it’s certainly beautiful.

 

Not to mention the view from the terrace!

Some more details from this lovely town.

After lunch we went to do a 5km walk around Carmona. It was such a strange sight, a GREEN Andalusia! We took a lot of photos of this short stint of colour. (Later in the year we went this way with some friends and saw it for what it looks like most of the year, an enormous golden sea of wheat swaying gently in the breeze.)

On the way back to the bus we noticed that Carmona has its own Giralda tower, complete with the Giraldilla on top! What´s all this about?

Apparently Ferdinand III, who freed the town from the aforementioned Muslims, gave this motto to Carmona: Sicut Lucifer lucet in Aurora, sic in Wandalia Carmona ("As the Morning-star shines in the Dawn, so shines Carmona in Andalusia" - wikipedia). How sweet! He must have liked a place a lot.