Carmona y Italica

My study abroad program does a great job of providing us with a surplus of opportunities to learn more about Seville.  Since the study center classes end on Thursday every week, a trip is planned every Friday to a part of Seville (in or outside of the city center).  The trips are 100% free!  On my first excursion, I went to Carmona, a small town just north of Seville.

A statue from the "Elephant Tomb"

Carmona was an important city during the Roman rule of Julius Caesar because of its location.  It served as a defense and the protector of Seville.  When the Romans lost Carmona, it was not long until they lost Seville as well.  Part of the Roman city is still standing and with our tour we were able walk down and explore the ruins.  A lot of what were explored was the underground tombs of the Roman Necropolis.  We also saw the old Roman Amphitheatre which was discovered along with the underground tombs in 1881.  After we explored the ruins outside, we were able to go into the museum and learn more about the artifacts that were discovered with the discovery of the chambers.

After we explored the ruins we took a walk through the old Moorish walled city.  We climbed up to the top of one of the fortresses and had a great view of the Iglesia de San Pedro, Carmona’s most famous church.

Carmona is a great city for exploring.  We spent the rest of the afternoon walking through the city and enjoying the views.

On my second Friday excursion with CIEE, we went to Italica, another small town north of Seville.  Italica houses one of most prevailing archeological site of Roman ruins in all of Andalusia.  There are remains from Royal Palaces that are still in great shape.  Most of the floors are designed with mosaics.  Here is one of the “salas” (rooms) with a tile floor depicted the seven gods who are represented in the seven days of the week:

We learned a lot about the Roman emperors and the politics of the Empire because our tour guide was very knowledgeable.  He taught me a lot I had never learned about the history of Rome.  For example, I never knew that instead of building new statues of a new emperor, the head of the old emperor would be chopped off of the statues and replaced with a sculpture of the new one! 

After we explored the palaces, we took a walk down to the ancient amphitheatre.  Although we were told that the amphitheatre was once four stories high and it’s now only two, it was incredible how much of the structure was still standing. 

I am lucky to be a part of a program that plans such great activities every week for no cost and I am happy that I chose to study abroad with CIEE.