Artistry seemingly everywhere you look at Sevilla's Real Alcazar (Photo-essay)

As I came to know over the course of my Spain trip, the country is home to a number of Alcazars (with a capital as well as small "A/a").  But as far as I know, there's only one Real (as in "royal" but it's easy enough to read the English meaning into it!) Alcazar in Spain -- located in the heart of Sevilla and UNESCO World Heritage-listed to boot.

Built for the Christian king Pedro I (1334-1469) by Muslim workmen -- whose artistic talent I'm absolutely in awe of -- on the site of a 10th century Abbadid Muslim fortress, the oldest royal palace still in use in Europe was added to and enlarged over the centuries and consists today of a number of palatial buildings and also has sprawling gardens within its expansive grounds.  The Real Alcazar was the Spanish attraction that I queued the longest to get into (more than one and a half hours!) but I have to say that it was totally worth the wait and I loved the place so much that I ended only leaving at a few minutes after its official closing time (and am grateful that the Spanish aren't the best of timekeepers!)!

Behold!  The entrance to King Pedro I's Palace!

 

 

Stairway leading up to the Upper Royal Apartments

Seemingly every bit of the Real Alcazar,

including its ceiling space, is a work of art

 

See what I mean?

 

And again... this in the Salon de Embajaroders 

(Hall of Ambassadors) that was King Pedro I's throne room

The Patio de las Doncellas (Courtyard of the Maidens)

with its long, rectangular reflecting pool

 

Puppet Ponyo wishes it to be known that even the doors

of the Real Alcazar are beautifully decorated

 

Seemingly every thing you look at, everywhere you look

in the complex, is a thing of dizzyingly gasp-inducing artistry :)