SEVILLE
It is a great relief to turn from the squalor in Granada to the comforts and delights of Seville. There is no town or city in Spain that can compare in charm with Seville. By its snow-white cleanliness, its fragrant fruit and flowers, its luxurious foliage, its gay and harmonious life, it invites the traveler to stay—and few can resist the invitation. Once introduced to the home life of the inhabitants, the visitor is apt to renounce gladly for a time all thought of departure. Everywhere about him is competence, comfort, and content. It seems as if families vie with one another in making their homes attractive. The family life is in the inner court or patio. That is the summer parlor, and there in the midst of flowers, plants, and beautiful birds friendly parties gather in happy companionship. It is in Seville, it seems to me, that the life of the native Spaniard may be seen in its most attractive light.
THE HARBOR AT BARCELONA
Through Barcelona passes almost one-fourth of the entire foreign commerce of Spain. This city is the most important commercial and industrial town in Spain, and has a population of 530,000.
The two most notable sights in Seville are the Alcázar, which was the palace of the Moorish kings and afterward the home of Spanish rulers, and the cathedral, which is one of the finest, largest, and most beautiful Gothic churches to be found anywhere.
The Alcázar has much of the beauty that is to be found in the Alhambra. Many of the interior decorations are not of the original building, but were the result of a restoration, and in this work many of the designs were frankly borrowed from the Alhambra.
The cathedral is one of the largest and most beautiful in Europe. Within this great building there are so many interesting and valuable works of historic and art interest that it might fairly be called a museum. One feature of the exterior of the cathedral arrests the eye of a New Yorker at once,—the tower. He is apt to exclaim on sight of it, “The Madison Square Tower!” The similarity is close. When the plans of the Madison Square building were made the tower of Seville was copied.
We have gone now far to the south. A few miles brings us to Cádiz, on the ocean coast, or Malaga on the Mediterranean. The distance from either of these two attractive cities to Gibraltar is short.