‘Secret Baths’

These  Secret Baths of Maria de Padilla were one of the highlights of our visit to the Royal Alcazar in Seville today. Built in a large room underneath part of the palace, they are not baths but cisterns built to supply water for the palace in the 12th Century. They were given the name following a legend that the mistress of King Pedro the Cruel walked naked in the palace to bathe in there in the 14th Century.

Whatever the truth, it is a magnificent sight, which has a very special atmosphere!