Days 20 & 21: In, around and under Carmona

Disclaimer: All voyages in this blog are being taken safely in the comfort of our imaginations - based on our plans and intentions for travel in 2020. What is reality after all? 

From our last visit to Carmona in the mid 1990s, we brought back three posters that adorn out bathroom walls (lining the toilet alcove if you must know). They have beckoned us back to this town in Andalucia, Spain, for many years.

The largest poster, slightly faded now, depicts the doorway to the Casa Palacio Marchés de la Torres:

We wondered if it was still there. So the mission became one of finding it again - and hurrah!, it is now the City Museum of Carmona and they've got rid of the tatty blind upstairs:

though on first walking past, the doors were closed.  But we returned (see later in this blog) and had more success.

The second smaller poster, was of the Seville Gate and Alcazar, where one enters the old city from the new:

and yes - they haven't demolished this either:

It's where the main tourist office is - where we bought these posters, we seem to remember.

And the third poster, medium sized, provided drawings of seven of the church towers of Carmona; most (with the exception of San Pedro, which is just across the road from the Seville gate) are in the old walled town:

So this became our detailed mission: could we find these, and see if the drawings are accurate?

And do that in the order of the depiction on the poster.

The Church Towers

San Pedro

San Pedro, as we noted, sits just outside the old city and looks across the Seville Gate in the Alcazar:

The photos of the Alcazar are taken from its tower:

San Bartolomé

San Bartolomé is the first church you come across inside the gate:

Inside:

San Felipe

Off to the right, and along Calle San Felipe, just near where we are staying, is San Felipe.  This is the view from near where our alley comes off the calle:

Supposedly, there's a Hipogeo Romano there, but we never discovered it - or what it was.

Santa Maria

Off to the left from here, round the Plaza do Cristo Rey and its un-named church (maybe Christ the King?) (which doesn't have a tower so it doesn't count):

we find the main church: Santa Maria:

We dropped in to have a look:

and hang out in the quiet cloister:

Santa Clara

The Convento de las Descalzas is just up the road, but it doesn't appear to have a tower either, so doesn't get a look in. As distinct from the nearby Convento do Santa Clara, which also doesn't appear to have a tower on first glimpse, but is pictured as having one - maybe this squat little one is what they had in mind:

The inside is much more spectacular and makes up for the disappointment of the tower:

Santiago

The Church of Santiago is nearby (let's face it - everything is nearby ... this town has a serious surfeit of churches with towers) towards the Córdoba gate where we first entered Carmona:

The entry is in the typical whitewashed area:

San Blas

Finally, San Blas - or in full: Hermandad de la Sagrada Expiración de Cristo Señor Nuestro - San Blas - is back to the northern part of the old city, and glimpsed up some back streets:

Whew- we did it!

Elsewhere in the Old City

City Museum

We trekked back later to the Museo de la Ciudad de Carmona, and found it was open this time:

We spent a pleasant time inside:

wandering around its exhibits:

and also found that it had a pleasant restaurant (more on food later) for lunch:

Mercado

Near where we are staying is the old city market - the Plaza de Abastos. We first glimpsed this through a doorway as we poked around our neighbourhood:

and inside found a vast, if a little run-down, space:

The paving was sharpened by a short shower:

but dried out nicely to provide some little cafes for a drink:

There was also a lovely bodega in the back street near the market:

- anything near a market is going to have access to good food.

Elsewhere in the old city

At the centre of the old city, and not far from our house, is the circular Plaza San Fernando:

Also in our neighbourhood, and near where we parked the car, is the Carmona Parador, set in the ruins of the upper Alcazar, and accessed through its own ancient gateway, the Puerta de Marchena:

But we didn't go there to stay or for a drink or meal, preferring the restaurant in the nearby Molino de la Romera, with a terrace:

and a view down from the rise on which Carmona is set, over the plains to the south east:

Roman Carmona

Another of the reasons to come to Carmona was for some very special Roman ruins. Yes, there's a Roman bridge outside the old city, that we spied in the distance on our arrival:

but also, in the newer city, the Roman Necropolis.

We remembered this from our previous visit and decided to show Suzette and Mike a good time in the cemetery.  The first stop was the amphitheatre, but this was sadly degenerated:

so we crossed the road into the Necropolis proper. It's a vast space, with apparently only some of it excavated. Close to the gate is the Elephant Tomb: La Tumba del Elefante:

You can get up close and personal with the Roman burials, including the elephant statue (we assume it's an elephant), which names this part of the site:

Elsewhere, there's the large Seville tomb - or maybe the tomb of Servilia:

and the smaller Postumio tomb:

Whatever all that means.

Sustenance

All this guided tour nonsense was very exhausting, and we frequently maintained our energy at the many restaurants in the town, including La Yedra, almost just round the corner from us:

There were many courses consumed:

and we finally wended our way back to our alley:

for a good lie down:

before we took Suzette and Mike into the new city to catch their bus to their next adventure:

For us, it is onwards to Trujillo - and more on that in our next blog.