Carmona

Tonight I’m staying with the nuns in the Convent of Madre de Dios. I was checked in by a small black nun, born in Madagascar. She was determined to keep me talking. I showed her the spreadsheet of my Andalusian itinerary, with the prices of all my bookings and she got very excited when she saw what I was paying in Seville. I explained that it’s the Feria and everything costs double. She said: it’s only half an hour away; why not stay here and travel in every day? I told her I wanted to stay in the city centre in order to see as much as possible in a short time. She still thought I was mad, I could tell. As a matter of fact, I had locked in all the dates before I found out about the Feria.

She gave me a tiny room upstairs which would have been a nun’s cell in the days when the convent attracted more takers. The Catholic Church recruited a lot in African countries. Now they have turned two floors into guest rooms. It was very quiet until a noisy French group arrived, talking loudly and walking on the tile floors in hard shoes.

View from my window.

An elderly nun came out to water her flowers.

As I had time before lunch, I went down to the Tourist Office for some recommendations. This is situated at the Fortress of the Gate of Seville, which is accessed by many, many steps. The view from the top is worth the climb:

This had a superb defensive position and could trap attackers so that boiling oil could be poured down on them. I came across a pile of  ‘cannon balls’ made from foam rubber:

Shortly afterwards a class of kids arrived and were treated to a demonstration of how vulnerable they were in this trap, as two men dressed as Roman soldiers hurled these down on them! Eventually they got in and their teachers carried the ‘cannon balls’ up again:

More pics from the fortress:

This is the gate from the outside.

Carmona is an amazing spot that is not overrun by foreign tourists: I’m glad I discovered it!