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Seville

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SEVILLE Sevilla After living up to some wonderful moments at Granada, the birthplace of the renowned Spanish poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca, we decided to further our coadventure through the heartland of the southern Iberian Peninsula, composed of lowlands, mountains and valleys. You’ve got it right. To arrive at Seville, we traversed the fascinating Spanish heartland. The landscape presented some vistas composed of rustic plains, lowlands, winding roads through the Sierra and then vast stretches of olive orchards. About 200 years back, a couple of decades after Napoleon’s army plundered and destroyed parts of Alhambra, an American diplomat and writer, Washington Irving and his Russian counterpart traversed the path from Seville to Granada. It was highly adventurous then, because of the fact that the transport system at that time was horse-drawn carriages and muleteers. It was such that they could ‘wander among the romantic mountains of Andalusia’ (Tales of Alhamb...

FONTAINEBLEAU

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The Charm of Fontainebleau   It is indeed charming. This small town about 50km by road from Paris has the appearance of a cute and quiet French Hamlet. Fontainebleau town is on the left bank of the river Seine. Ensconced between the laid-back town square and the surrounding thickly forested areas is the famous Fontainebleau Chateau, which has now been converted into a museum after being declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1981. The origin of this cute chateau dates back to the twelfth century when a Royal Hunting lodge was set up for the Kings of France. It was enlarged by Louis IX (known as St. Louis) in the thirteenth century. Later it was entirely rebuilt by some famous French architects in the sixteenth century. From Louis VII through Napoleon III, this palace was used as the residence of French monarchs for over eight centuries. Among the impressive list of people who resided in   this palace are King Louis XII, the Russian Czar Peter the Great, ...