The Story of SevilleSEVILLE the sunny, the gem of Andalusia, is a city in the midst of a vast garden. Within its ancient walls, the vine, the orange tree, the olive, and the rose flourish in all open spaces, while every patio, or court, has its trellises whereon flowers blossom throughout the year. Spreading palms overshadow the public squares and walks, and the banks of the brown Guadalquivir are densely clothed with an Oriental verdure. The surrounding country of the Province of Sevilla, La Tierra de Maria Santisima, is flat, and in the neighbourhood of the city sparsely wooded. On the low hills of Italica and San Juan de Aznalfarache, the Hisn-al-Faradj of the Moors, olive groves cover many thousands of acres. The plain is a parterre of wide grain fields, and meadows of rife grass, divided by straight white roads, with their trains of picturesque mule teams and waggons, and their rows of tall, straight trees. Here and there the cold grey cactus serves as a fence, but there is no other kind of hedgerow. Far away, across the yellow wheatfields, and beyond the vine-clad slopes of the middle distance, rise the huge shoulders and purple peaks of wild sierras. The Guadalquivir, rolling and eddying in a wide bed, takes its tint from the light soil and sand, and is always turbid, as though in spate. Below Seville, on the left bank of the river, stretch the great salt marshes, or Marismas, haunted by the stork, the heron, and innumerable wildfowl. Here, among the arms of the tidal water, the cotton plant is cultivated. Winter floods are a source of danger to Seville, especially when a south-west wind is blowing and the tide ascending the river. Then the Guadalquivir overflows its banks and deluges the town and the flat land, drowning live stock and destroying buildings. In 1595 and 1626 occurred two of the worst floods, or avenidas, on record. The flood of 1626 washed away the foundations of about three thousand houses. |
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Abdelasis adorned Alcázar Alfonso Almohades Almoravides Alonso Cano altar Andalusia architecture artists azulejos beautiful building bull bull-fighting Calle Capilla Casa Pilatos Castile Catholic century Cervantes chapel CHAPTER charm chief Christian Church colour Columbus Convent Córdova corrida court dances death decoration Doña doors Ermenigild faith Feria Fernando fight figure finest Francisco fresco gardens genius Giralda Gothic Granada Guadalquivir hand Herrera Holy Inquisition Isabel Isidore Italian Juan Justa Justa and Rufina King León Leovigild lived Luis de Vargas Madrid Mañara Maria Maria de Padilla matador mediæval Miguel monument Moorish Moors Morisco Mosque Mudéjar Murillo Musa Museo orange Pacheco painted painter palace Patio Pedro Pedro Campaña pesetas Philip plateresque Plaza portraits Puerta Roelas Roman Rufina Sacristía saints Santa sculptor seen Señor Sevilla Seville Cathedral Sevillian Spain Spaniards Spanish splendid sport streets style thousand toro tower town Triana Valdés Leal Velazquez Virgin visitor Zurbaran