On Saturday, we went on the look out for a dynamic market place....we decided to look for the Feria Mercado but were disappointed in the lack of atmosphere..nothing to compare with what we had experienced in Malaga...nevertheless, we had discovered yet another barrio of Sevilla: la Macarena with  its massive Roman walls and its pittoresque shops..like this sombrero shop.


Coming back to the city centre, we stopped at one of our favorite outside bats located just in front of the marvelous Iglesia Salvador.(Here, saints and even the Virgin Mary are part of daily life...Photographs, or sculptures often ornament restaurants and even bars). The beer was cheap (1euro) which expleins the crowds, at any given time of the day...except Sundays...Saints and bar owners must take a little break, once in a while!

As for the marvelous baroque church of Salvador (the second largest church in Sevilla after the Cathedral) , it was erected on land occupied by the first mosque  in Sevilla (829-830).  We found its interior stunning.

Another interesting visit was at the General Archives of the Indies. an impressive site located close to the cathedral.  This beautiful example of Spanish Renaissance architecture was designed by Juan Herrera and is the repository of extremely valuable achival documents illustrating the history of Spanish naval expeditions to the Americas and the Philippines.  Basiclaly, original documents such as mariners logbooks, crew lists, boat rations, EVERYHTING is kept here in their original format...The exhibition on display was entitled Pacifico: Spain and the adventure of the South sea: we were fascinated by the documents themselves and the building hosting them!

And then it was Sunday...In Spain, Sunday is family day and all the stores close in the afternoon ...streets become unusually quiet..On Sunday morning, after our first breakfast, we elected a visit at the Museum of Fine Arts as well as the Art flea market - basically, artists bring their paintings or sculptures in the garden close to the museum and hope for buyers.  There was a realxed atmosphere and we enjoyed looking at local artists and their work.  We expected more of the Museum itself, espcially after reading that it was the second in importance in Spain after Madrid's Prado. Oh well...Another later, we were back on the street in search of our second breakfast.  Their coffee -doble espresso con leche sin azucar - is so good! as a breafast special, one is offered half a toast (longish bread) with puried tomatoe  and olive oil...we chose the croissant option!

Undeterred in our artistic Sunday expedition, we then proceeded to walk to the Museum of Contemporary art, housed in another Carthusian monastery...this was located in an area that we had not yet explored. 

 We found the site intriguing...with its massive monastery and the orange gardens...hundred of orange trees loaded with big fruits. And once again, irrigation canals, moorish style, giving an element of distinction to the gardens.  Did we eat oranges? YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In the mean time, it was about 14h, and local families were entering the grounds of the Cartuja with children and dogs..all sampling the fruits. When in Spain, do like the Spaniards...the fruit tasted wonderful! We got enough vitamin C for the rest of our stay!

We also discovered that its intriguing chimneys and its numerous mosaics were related to its past (or present?) vocation as a manufacture of ceramic products.

Anyhow, the sun was warm, the oranges tasted good, and we decided to skip the museum itself...prefering strolling in its gardens.

And so, our visit of Sevilla had come to an end...

 All these sevillan impressions will stay with us a long time!

Adios!