Seville 7 of 8

Outside the palace the grounds are incredibly spectacular with gardens have been established over many centuries throughout this date on different levels  which has created a maze like garden plan.  Where are several gardens within the Palace precinct. These have a have a variety of names   And styles which reflect the fashions of the days that they were developed.   In fact tourists are encouraged to explore the garden by following a map because it's very easy to get lost in the maze of pathways, hedges,  orchards, ponds, pools and highly perfumed colourful garden beds. Originally, the gardens were developed to provide food for the palace and its workers. Today horticulturists still cultivate vegetables and fruit trees that are used in the kitchens of the palace.  

Part of the ancient Roman wall in Seville surrounds a side section of the palace gardens. The palace gardens are well established and are spread out on different levels with maze-like pathways and even some secret garden areas which are hidden behind neatly trimmed hedges or lattices of climbing roses. Many of the gardens have different names which refer to romantic Spanish names or carry the name of the person whom the King was honouring at the time of a particular gardens' development.

Today was a very warm day and many tourists were resting in various sections of the gardens. Some were wandering from level to level, smelling blooms or reading the names of the types of trees or shrubs that they were captivated with. The perfume of the many varieties of colourful blooms was intoxicating and added to the atmosphere of this series of relaxing and beautiful gardens.

The palace gardens were first established to provide an abundance of vegetables, grains, fruits and animal products such as pork, beef and basic dairy products like butter, cream and milk supplies for the royal family and their manny visitors. The number of workers needed to carry out the horticulture and animal husbandry was huge in earlier times and provided work for the peasants, the Jews and other foreign inhabitants eager to make a living. Today vegetable and fruit gardens are still maintained for fresh produce. There are also mature orange and olive groves which have grown here for hundreds of years. In recent years some exotics fruits from other different parts of the world have been introduced from various countries. 

Some of the established trees are huge and they provide the necessary shade needed for the floral gardens to survive during the summer months. The many pools and ponds scattered throughout the garden are fed from aqueducts and water channels which have been devised over the centuries of the garden development. Throughout the garden many carved marble statues, huge Grecian urns and metal sculptures have been artistically placed amongst the greenery and floral gardens to create a fairytale aura about the Alcazar gardens. We really enjoyed the sanctuary and coolness we felt when resting under the shade of the palm trees, tall ferns and orange trees. We were so pleased that we'd visited this special historic palace for we'd also learnt much about the history of the palaces metamorphosis over centuries. It sort of "blows our minds" to think of how young Australia's history is in comparison. 

So we were not surprised to learn that the Alcazar Palace of Seville has been used as a location for several movies. In 1972 the Alcazar Palace was used as a set for "Lawrence of Arabia". Part of Season five of "Game of Thrones " was filmed in the water garden of the palace and the TV series "Emerald City" based  on "The a Wizard of Oz" was also shot  here.