Markets and other things: Week 0 / Day 2 / Jan 12
Sevilla, Spain: We headed out this morning to explore a few markets in Sevilla. If you’re going to keep following this trip, I really hope you like markets. Because I love them, so you will get to see a lot of them. The first two we went to (Arenal Markt and Mercado Lonja del Barranco) were fairly underwhelming. I blame it on the time of day more than the markets, as things seemed to still be getting setup. After those two we crossed over the Guadalquivir on the Triana Bridge (shown below), we went to Mercado de Triana.
This market was much more of what I was expecting. The fruits and vegetables were plentiful, lots of interesting fish, good pastries (which we had), and delicious meats (had some of those as well). Hmmm…as I am writing this I just realized that I said we ate pastries and meat, but skipped the fish, fruits, and vegetables. When the heart attack comes you can tell me you know why.
The market was great, but what was below the market was totally unexpected:
OK, I guess it makes sense that we were surprised then. Anyway, Mercado de Triana is built atop the ruins of what were the headquarters for the Spanish Inquisition. I vaguely recalled that the Spanish Inquisition was associated with Sevilla, but I had not recalled that it began there or how long it was (a bit over 300 years). It is possible to go beneath the market and walk through the ruins of the living quarters of the inquisitors, the prisons that held the charged, and the other offices that were used.
