White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1931-09-17
prepared by the National Geographic
Society, Washington. D. CO.

society. washington. u. C.)
wv 7ITH the revolution matter
X/ of history, Seville, which
" majority of visitors who trav-
ell down from Madrid and up
from Cadiz call 1.-THE Most Spanish
City in Spain," has settled down to its
usual routine.
But in Seville, now scintillating, now
sleepy, is discovered Spain not Of
the browsing past, nor yet Of the bus
Ting present; it is an indiscriminate
mingling of both. Abiding through the
centuries here on sun-swept slopes, the
city has built for itself dwelling
place of traditions; but they are moi
high wall hedging it about. Seville
takes pride in her glorious past, treas
ures it, becomes frankly arrogant
about it at times; but her chief love
is life and the living of it.
Her lichen-covered churches she
holds inviolate. Not one cobweb may
be removed, nor a single crumbling
block of hand-hewed stone be remor-
tared; but, across a well-paved ave-
nue., steel-fabricated office building
must incorporate every convenience of
the modern builders art.
Laden donkeys may, and do, wander
willy-nilly through every downtown
thoroughfare, but the driver Of a IL
mousine must keep his eyes open for
'one-way street" signs and his ears
alert for the traffic officers whistle.
Seville's history is as colorful as one
of the silken shawls that drape the
shoulders of her dark-eyed senoritas,
as varied as the moods of her people,
as interesting as any story may well
be that depicts the romance of town
which has lived through the rise, glory.
and decay Of half dozen nations.
The city's actual genesis is lost, hid
den by the obscuring veil which
shrouds much of the remote past of
the Mediterranean, and which was
only slightly torn aside by the adven-
turing Phoenicians, and later by the
warrior-merchants Of Carthage.
But there was Roman Seville OF
that ancient period definite traces re-
main. Some Of the crumbling walls
of the city were built under the direc-
ton of the Caesars. The Visigoths,
following the fall Of Rome's western
empire, fingered for brief three cen
turtles in Seville. The Jews, too, from
behind ByZantium came here to have
their home, rose to positions of power,
endured grievous persecution, passed.
but left carved memories Of their stay.
Gypsies Still There.
Likewise the gypsies came here, and
here they yet remain, crowded together
in noisy little and big families in Tri-
ana, the ragged suburb of Seville,
across the Guadalquivir. Finally, the
Moors possessed Seville. One must
say finally because the city remains
today something Of a Moorish town.
Saint Ferdinand brought it within the
Christian fold some seven centuries
ago; but all his might could not wipe
out the Orient.
The picturesque Santa Cruz district
of Seville, with it's narrow, crooked
streets and flat-roofed, companionable
houses, has changed very little in the
last thousand years. The city's ia
nous and equally beloved Giralda is
today much the same as when Moor
tsh architect completed it, in 1896, AM,
the white-robed followers Of Moham-
med used it as a minaret from which
to call the faithful to prayer
But Seville dwells not overmuch in
"reminiscences. She reverses her he
roes of olden time, but it is the he
roes of today that occupy her thoughts
and newspapers. Annually she de-
votes many holidays in obeisance be-
fore ancient glories, but the days be-
fore and after are spent in widening
her narrow streets to accommodate n
rapidly increasing motor traffic and in
building steel and concrete office build
fngs wherein to house her ever-expand-
ing commercial enterprises.
She points with pride to where the
caravels of the New worlds conquer
ors anchored in the Guadalquivir riv-
err, but barely stones throw away
electric cranes strive the day long with
vast cargoes to and from the earth's
four corners.
Acazar, the old Moorish palace re-
built to house the splendor Of the
courts of Andalusian kings, remains
much the same as 1t was seven cen.
tures ago. but Immediately across
the street the new Alfonso MIL hotel
transplants one straightway to the lux
ury of up-todate Paris, or London or
New York.
Those fortunate individuals who
come to southern Spain armed with