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.
[Illustration: 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.