The maritime expedition of Magellan and Elcano forever changed more than just the cartography of the earth's surface.
We do not need excuses to travel to Seville, but the V Centenary of the First Circumnavigation of the World is celebrated and no one is bitter about an extraordinarily documented exhibition in which there is room for feelings, a hotel that takes seriously its close relationship with the city or a boat trip to the historical and seafaring essence of the capital of Seville.
THE EXHIBITION
500 years ago, Ferdinand Magellan set out from Seville to reach the East through the unexplored side of the planet without knowing that his feat – the first trip around the world completed three years later by Juan Sebastián El Cano – would open much more than a new route for trade of spices: with this impossible trip A new era in global communication was beginning.
This is the informative thread of the exhibition The longest journey, which will remain open to the public for free at the General Archive of the Indies until February 23, 2020 and which aims, in a didactic way, and very, very well documented (it brings together the original testimonies of the main actors), make us understand how an expedition that was initially going to be merely commercial became a “symbol of the exploring spirit of man”, as Guillermo Morán, curator of the exhibition, reminds us, along with the archivist Braulio Vázquez and Antonio Fernández Torres, director of the project.
In Herrerian Renaissance style, the Archivo de Indias is the main documentary repository of the Spanish administration in the New World.
The sample itself It is much more than a journey through time in which we navigate by figures – days of expedition, miles traveled, kilos of cloves obtained, number of deaths (only 18 of the 250 circumnavigators survived) – and names – of the protagonists, of the countries visited, of the five ships ( let us remember that only the ship Victoria returned) –, is an immersive experience in which from the initial "dream" to the global "transformation" we can feel the tension, the uncertainty, the cold, the fear… Sensations and feelings that we are able to understand much better thanks to the immense work of the artist Javier Romero Abrio, who condenses them and expresses them in seven small sculptures distributed throughout the different rooms.
Beautiful sculpture designed by Javier Romero Abrio to represent cold and fear.
THE ROUTE
Many are the points of the city that had special relevance or close relationship with the greatest maritime adventure of all time. For this reason, the Junta de Andalucía and the municipalities of Seville and Sanlúcar de Barrameda (which at the mouth of the Guadalquivir served to connect overseas expeditions with the capital of Seville) have devised to commemorate the V Centenary of the First Around the World cultural and artistic itinerary entitled Magallanes en Ruta which includes “the most important enclaves through which the life of the navigator passed between Seville, where he spent two years immersed in the preparations for the trip; and Sanlúcar de Barrameda, where they finished supplying the five ships that made up the squadron for the trip, to finally set sail for the sea on September 20, 1519”.
In this way, the Puerta de Jerez, the Plaza de la Contratación, the Patio de Banderas of the real Alcázar, the Mateos Gago, Alemanes, Temprado and Santander streets, are obligatory stops in Seville. the cathedral, the Archivo de Indias, the Torre del Oro , the Marqués del Contadero promenade, the Triana bridge and market, the Santa Ana church and the old Las Mulas dock (you can check the historical connection with each place on the web magallanesenruta.com) .
In the Alcázar many of the businesses of the Indies took place.
THE HOTEL
If there is a hotel in Seville that has always been linked to the age of discoveries (in 1992 the architect Javier Carvajal designed his three circular buildings symbolizing the three caravels of Columbus) that is the Barceló Sevilla Renacimiento, which also has wanted to join the celebrations of the V Centenary of the First Circumnavigation of the Earth redecorating 300 of its rooms with motifs allegorical to the journey, creating a documented space dedicated to the theme, developing a specific program of activities for children and nourishing its new gastrobar La Santa María with Hispanic-American flavors very appropriate for the occasion (which share the limelight with Andalusian tapas).
One of the new rooms at the Barceló Sevilla Renacimiento hotel.
But the icing on the cake, where this five-star located in the Cartuja plans to unleash all the artillery, is during its MICE events, which for this its modern convention center has more than 5,000 m2 and 25 rooms. Those companies or organizations that request it will be able to relive the adventures of Magellan during congresses, exhibitions or incentive activities.
There will be a cocktail set at the time of the great trip, a thematic and theatrical dinner about the protagonist (which includes traveling dishes such as sea bass ceviche with avocado, tomato and corn foam or spicy Philippine rice timbale with beef ragout) and finally, the event will end with a performance by Balinese dancers inspired by Indonesian dance.
Traveling tapas at the gastrobar La Santa María del Barceló Sevilla Renacimiento.
THE EXPERIENCE
If you also want to relive the first part of the journey –that of the dream, the illusion, the origin–, you can ask the hotel for a boat route from the center of Seville to the marshes on the banks of the Guadalquivir, where the famous Isla Mínima is located, which gave its name to the intriguing movie starring Raúl Arévalo and Javier Gutiérrez.
Both the hamlet of the farm, an interesting example of Andalusian agricultural architecture, and the town of San Lorenzo del Guadarquivir, which housed the rice-farming workers, have been declared Andalusian Property Heritage and are rented for events.
Here, among rice fields, birds and crabs, tranquility fills an area declared Biosphere Reserve, since it is part of Doñana, and Seville shows its most rural and agricultural side.
The hamlet of Isla Mínima, surrounded by rice fields, has been declared a Heritage Site of Andalusia.
Nearby, in the geographical center of the area, is Isla Mayor, a municipality in which the restaurant stands out. Estero, specialized in products from the Guadarquivir marshes. Their duck rice dishes and crab tails are well known, but their broken eggs with shrimp do not detract from a visit either.
And for dessert? One of improvised flamenco on the terrace, which we are in a Seville different but just as authentic and cheerful.
Crayfish are the specialty of the Estero restaurant, on Isla Mayor.