Sevilla

Villages of Sevilla
The vast expanses of farmland around Sevilla are punctuated mainly by towns, such as Carmona, Ecija and Osuna, rather than small country villages. This is partly because much of the property has traditionally been in the hands of a few wealthy landowners. This part of Andalucia was reconquered from the Moors early on in the 13th century, when Spanish monarchs had relatively little power and were forced to share out the spoils of war among a small number of knights, in contrast to the supreme authority of Isabel and Ferdinand when they took eastern Andalucia three centuries later, and took care to divide the land in small plots among poor farmers from the north of Spain.
Nevertheless, the wooded hills in the north of the province, in that part of Sierra Morena known as La Sierra Norte, are home to charming towns such as Cazalla de la Sierra, where King Philip V was fond of hunting wild boar and deer and which is currently favoured by Seville´s gilded youth for weekend escapades, and Constantina with its ruined castle and poetic vistas.

Carmona

Located on a low hill overlooking a fertile plain, Carmona is a picturesque, small town with a magnificent 15th century tower built in imitation of Seville's Giralda. This is the first thing you see and sets an appropriate tone for the place. Not surprisingly, given its proximity, Carmona shares a similar history to Seville, and was an important Roman city which, under the Moors was often governed by a brother of the Sevillan ruler. Later Pedro the Cruel built a palace within its castle which he used as his royal residence in the country.
At the entrance to the town is the Puerto de Sevilla a grand if ruinous fortified gateway which leads to the historic old part of the city. Within the wall, narrow streets meander past Mudejar churches and Renaissance mansions. Up still further is the Plaza San Fernando which is comparatively small but dominated by splendid Moorish style buildings, behind here is a bustling fruit and vegetable market which, like all markets in Andalucia, appropriately reflects what is in season at any given time.
Close by to the east is Santa Maria, a stately Gothic church built over the former main mosque, whose elegant patio is retained. Like many of Carmona's churches, it is topped by an evocative Mudejar tower and part of the original minaret may still be spied. Dominating the ridge of the town are the massive ruins of Pedro's palace, destroyed by an earthquake in 1504 and now taken over by a gracious if expensive parador. To the left the town comes to an abrupt halt at the Roman Puerta de Córdoba from where the original Cordoba road drops down to a vast plain.
The Roman necropolis is particular noteworthy. It lies on a low hill at the opposite end of Carmona amid cypress trees and contains more than nine hundred family tombs dating from the second century BC to the fourth century AD. Enclosed in subterranean chambers hewn from the rock, the tombs are often frescoed and contain a series of riches in which many of the funeral urns remain intact. Some of the larger tombs have vestibules with stone benches for funeral banquets and several retain carved family emblems. Opposite from here is a partly excavated ampitheatre.

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