Triana

Triana is a neighborhood in Seville that wants to keep their independence from Seville.  They pride themselves on not being in Seville and really want people to know they are separate. 
A friend of ours from church spent an evening with us in Triana to show us around and introduce us to Andres Dominguez, the most famous Classical and Flamenco Guitar maker in all of Spain.  (Easily one of the best makers in the world).  We walked into this court yard of old buildings that no longer have tenets, the buildings were all falling apart, we walk up some steps that made me a bit nervous to get to his shop.  When you walk in there was no where to go (not a very kid friendly place).  His shop had wood pieces hanging every where, an inch of sawdust masking the floor, wood shavings everywhere, smelled like varnish and glue.  Andres makes the guitars entirely by hand, no power tools what so ever.  There are some pieces of wood that have been hanging for 2-4 years to get the wood dry enough to use.  We learned that a simple guitar will take him 2 months to make.  The end or head piece of the guitar has signature curves at the end.  Each master maker has his own signature so people can recognize who made the guitar quickly.  Andres has been making guitars for over 30 years.  We were able to get a private viewing of all this because a gentleman in our church ward has been Andres' apprentice for 17 years. (Yes he's still considered an apprentice, not sure when he's considered a master, but apparently it's a long process.)  Andres' master he learned from was one of the best in the business they carry a pedigree chart of craftsmen ship and when you make your signature head piece it has some markings that identify your master as well.  Thus divulging the pedigree of the guitar.  Andres also showed us his prize possession, a guitar he made that is absolutely stunning.  The back of it is inlaid with individual pieces of wood to create a picture of a guitar player. (Honestly I thought this was painted on there until he told us they were pieces of wood, and upon closer inspection you can see it.)  It's also signed by a very famous Flamenco guitar player.  He said he'd never be able to sell it because no one would ever pay what he would ask.  We learned his most simple guitars will go for about $2500 US dollars. He has one for sale on his website right now for over $7000 US dollars.  He was a very quiet and humble man, works in meek and lowly conditions, but turns out some of the most beautiful guitars in all the world.  So grateful we were able to meet him.

This is a picture of our two friends from Church and the kids looking

at the table where guitars are made.

This is Andres with his guitar he never thinks he will sell.

Every different color is a different type of wood. (There is at least 5 colors).

Beautiful.

We also took a walk down to the Triana bridge played with the ducks and took a nice little walk.  We stopped at a church it was small, but it was neat to see it's statues that are used during Semana Santa "Holy Week" (Easter Week).  Most churches here also have a float that you can see on display.  These floats are very heavy and they are carried by men.  They place a statue in the middle of the float and parade it around during Semana Santa.  All of Spain celebrates Semana Santa, but Seville is the largest of them all.  I'll post more about this in the weeks to come.  We will hopefully be visiting Seville during Semana Santa in April! 

The kids looking at the ducks under the bridge.

Way in the background you can see the Tower de Oro (Tower of Gold)

It is an old tower they used to watch the river.

The Triana Bridge

A pretty picture of a tunnel with old cobble stone steps.

There is  a marker at the top of the steps about 3 feet higher than the top step

that shows how deep the water was during a flood, the water came up from the river.

After our little trip we went back to our friends house for a lovely Mexican dinner.  He's from Mexico and she's a local of Spain.  We were pretty excited and the food was great!  Best part of the night was we learned how to make sour cream!  (You can't find sour cream any where here to buy.)  There is a cheese you can mash up and then add cream and it makes a nice cream that is similar to sour cream.  We were pretty excited.

A special thank you to our friends for taking the time out of their busy lives to give us a tour of Triana!