We had no specific plans today other than to take an early morning walk with Neil before his calls started. He would return home to work while we continued with our day of explorations.
Modern art 🙂 This is the bus station at Plaza de ArmasThe fenced in area on the right was the grounds of the 1992 Expo, which used to be large banana farms. They are now just remnants of concrete structures (and a rocket ship) and abandoned – depressing. Puente del Alamillo built as part of the Expo ’92 improvements. It is a cantilever spar cable-stayed bridge. The post has 13 cables that counterbalance the 200m span.Morocco Pavilion (Pabellón de Marruecos) also built as part of Expo ’92We didn’t take a tour, just walked around the outside.The Torre de Seville, the only skyscraper in Sevilla, is a 40 storey office tower that is 180m high. According to our segway guide (more to come later), the law in Sevilla is that no building can be higher than the Giralda (100m). Somehow, this one got built anyway (it was built by a bank with loads of money…).Schindler Tower or Torre Mirador is an elevator testing facility. You can take in the views from the top as part of the Pabellon de la Navegación admission, which we did on another day.We walked by this with Neil and wondered what it was. Some googling revealed that it was a monastery that you could visit.Back in the 12th century, before becoming a monastery, the Almohads (Berber Muslims) used the lands for pottery kilns since it was close to the river. It became a monastery in 1400.We weren’t sure what to expect with this sign (I learnt later that this was one of the contemporary art exhibits)!
I paid €1.80, which included access to the monastery and the Contemporary Art Museum. The kids were free. Woohoo! We had the place mostly to ourselves as you can see from the photos, and spent hours exploring the grounds and the rooms at our leisure.
First thing we see past the arch are these doors. There is no one around …… so we took a peek.The kids were very taken with this piece called Alicia, supposedly inspired by Alice in Wonderland.
We explored the extensive grounds of the monastery first since the buildings themselves didn’t open until 11AM.
Courtyard of the library. Christopher Columbus spent time in this monastery (alive and dead), and it was used as barracks for Napoleon’s troops.In 1839, an Englishman bought monastery and built a ceramics factory. These are the remains of the kilns and the chimney.Looking up in the towerSee the kids?The kids are in there.
We found the chapterhouse of the monastery containing tombs and very ornate carvings.
Lots of speculation from the kids about these stairs leading to dungeons or jail cells.
Then we entered the contemporary art portion …
Art piece by dayAnother piece showing the night view
After the monastery, the kids had to release some energy at the “mall” below the Torre de Seville.
Of course, I couldn’t resist the more modern courtyards on the way home.
Total distance: 26.2 km, duration 8 hrs.
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2 thoughts on “Monastery of Cartuja”
wonderful experiences for all! so much ‘public art’. Does Spain show us the way? Very provocative, thank isabella for funding Mr Columbus’s trips. Coping with the heat in Europe and home. P
wonderful experiences for all! so much ‘public art’. Does Spain show us the way? Very provocative, thank isabella for funding Mr Columbus’s trips. Coping with the heat in Europe and home. P