Seville may be known for its oranges, but today it offered us lemons. We were supposed to go on a tour of the Royal Alcazar of Seville but it was booked solid – this news only came after we discovered a mix-up in the tickets we already had. John even got up early and stood in line (pro tip: they hold back several hundred tickets each day and offer them on a first-come basis) with no luck. (Second pro-tip, get in line SEVERAL hours prior to opening if you really truly want to go and can’t buy tickets online.) Plan A was in the trash; fortunately a city like Seville is a target-rich environment for exploration.
Our intrepid guide, who had been booked specifically to guide us through the palace, was light on her feet and offered instead to take us to the Palacio de las Dueñas, which we think was probably a better experience anyway. Also known as the House of Alba, the Palacio holds a literal wealth of treasures of one of the oldest noble families of Spain. Las Dueñas, literally “the nuns” and so-named because in the 1200s a monastery of nuns (which I was sure would have a different name than “monastery” but apparently not), who cared for the members of the noble Pineda family, was itself started in the 1500s. The residence was sold to the House of Alba to ransom a family member captured by Moors in 1612. During the 19th century the building was reinvented as a tenement house and finally became a family residence in the 20th century.
The famous poet Antonio Machado was born here in 1875, and writes of his life, “My childhood is memories of a Seville courtyard, and a clear orchard where the lemon tree ripens…” (Campos de Castilla (1912), and “It is this light of Seville… It is the palace where I was born, with its murmuring fountain” Nuevas Canciones (1924).
The ground floor was opened to the public in 2015, with the upper floor remaining the private residence of the Duke of Alba. Upon entering we found ourselves in the main courtyard, a great example of a typical Andalusian courtyard with a tiled fountain and white marble columns from the 16th century, decorated with 20th century cimacios (curve s-shaped molding), as well as the plasterwork arches on the upper floor from the 15th century. The main hall features a fantastic coffered ceiling of carved wood.
The marvelous aspect of this place is that it is a living residence, albeit grand. There are several rooms decorated with items related to the owners’ passions: predominantly bull-fighting, reading, and flamenco. It offers a rare combination between the majesty of the building itself, with its courtyards and gardens, and the attractiveness of its collection formed by a selection of paintings, sculptures, tapestries, furniture and antique objects of high historical and artistic interest. For not being able to see what we had planned, the day turned out pretty great.
