Carmona is a beautiful small town in the province of Sevilla. It is approximately 45 minutes away by bus from Sevilla capital and it only costs 2.22€ each way if you have a bus pass. My friends and I decided to go on a day trip and we left at 11:00am from the San Bernardo bus stop and took the M-124 bus.
Once we arrived in Carmona, we explored the alcazar. The entry was only 2€ and 1€ if you were a student. It was an ancient gate built to protect the city. The interesting part was that the gate's defensive system was built by the Carthaginians and they reinforced the most vulnerable parts. It all began with the arrival of Phoenician traders from Tyre, which is a port city in Lebanon. It is amazing to see how both Lebanon and Spain share a history together. Two of my favorite places in the world overlapping in history and culture.
The symbol of the city of Carmona is a star which can be seen lots of place. I saw it on the ground at a mirador, on the coat of arms, and even on gates. On the coat of arms it reads, " "Sicut Lucifer lucet in Aurora ita in Vandalia Carmona," which translates to "As the Morning-star shines in the Dawn, so shines Carmona in Andalusia." This is a beautiful phrase, but also interesting because in the Latin it says Lucifer which in classical mythology was known as the morning star. Another symbol of Carmona is the griffin which is a mixture of an eagle and a lion.
Later, my friends and I decided to have some tapas for lunch. I ordered a "Tarrito de Queso" which I was not sure what Tarrito means, but I knew there was cheese. I assumed it would come on bread, but it turns out it was a small jar filled with olive oil and cheese pieces inside. Google Translate was not able to help because the word for jar is "Tarro," but since it is a small one, they added the "ito" to it. Overall though, it was delicious. Cheese submerged in olive oil.
After exploring the city some more we decided to sit down and relax with some beers. A famous brand in Spain is called Cruzcampo. We decided to sit right in front of a bell tower. I heard the bell ring every now and then so I decided to figure if the number of times the bell rang coincided with the time, which it did. When I first heard it at 4pm. it rang 4 times and by 7pm it had rang seven times. Interesting to note though is that it rings once at the half-hour mark.