Carmona, Spain

Tuesday afternoon Jeff and I headed about 25 miles northeast of Seville to a town named Carmona. The town is situated on a ridge overlooking the central plain of Andalucia. The city of Carmona has been continuously inhabited dating back to roman times and was strengthened more by Moorish Rulers. The town was a strategic point throughout history and one of the last Muslim strongholds before the Christian Inquisition at the end of the 1400's. The town is surrounded by low flat plains with steep ridges surrounding the city. 

The weather was rainy off and on all day but it wasn't too bad. We made our way to the Alcazar of Carmona, which is a fortress and was the gate to the city in ancient times. The Alcazar has remains dating from the 14th - 12th centuries B.C. The Romans in the early 1st century BC began to build and make the Alcazar what it looks like today. It is build right on the edge of the city overlooking the flat farmlands of southern Spain. 

Ridge dropping to farmland below

View of city from Alcazar

View from top tower of Alcazar

After touring around the Alcazar we started walking around the city. They had a nice "tourist path" that you could follow throughout the city. It was raining most of the time, but we had our gear to keep us dry. We popped into a cathedral where a group of people were gathering inside. They had their 'pasos' or floats for Holy week in the church. The two floats below are to be carried from the church and make a trip through the town, carried by a group of men who sit below the floats. There are always two floats, one of the Virgen and one of Jesus. We plan on seeing Semana Santa in full in Seville this week. A more detailed description of Semana Santa is to come. 

Holy Week floats inside the Cathedral

After doing the tourist route we decided to head to the other side of the town to check out a Roman necropolis.

A necropolis is a large city or burial ground usually built on the outskirts of cities. The word necropolis means "city of the dead." The first evidence of burials in this necropolis dates to 7th century BC. However the first Roman burials are from the 2nd Century BC. The complex was a large plot of land that was excavated and preserved from the end of the 1800's. There were large underground tombs that you could enter and see where these ancient romans and other civilizations were buried.

latter down to the tomb

Heading into the Circular Mausoleum

Inside a tomb underground

Some of the tombs were massive and well designed. It would have been interesting to see what this site looked like when it still stood. We took some time walking through the complex and checking out some of the other tombs and structures that the necropolis once had.

Tomb of Servilla.

We took a quick 45 minute bus ride back to Sevilla and hung out around my place. The weather was still raining off and on and we watched the Semana Santa processions from home because most of the floats didn't leave the church due to weather. We had a great day trip to Carmona even with the rainy weather