Day 78: Sevilla, Spain

After our very fun, but rather late-night outing, we ended up sleeping in a bit late... Once we got underway, our first stop was the beautiful cathedral and the attached ex-minaret/bell tower La Giralda, the most famous monument in Sevilla. Here are two photos of the outside:






One of the first things we saw inside was the Monument to Christopher Columbus, which is actually his tomb although there has been some controversy over the years as to whether those are really his remains. The four figures holding up his coffin represent four Spanish kingdoms.




In the Capilla Mayor (main chapel) of the cathedral is this Gothic retablo composed of 45 carved scenes from the life of Christ. It was the lifetime's work of a single craftsman and, according to our guide book, is the largest and richest altarpiece in the world.




This is a photo of the ceiling of the cathedral taken via a mirror they have installed on the floor to make the ceiling easier to view. I left myself in because I thought it made the photo more confusing/interesting. :-)




Our exercise of the day was the climb up La Giralda, which involves walking up 35 inclined ramps that were built to accommodate two mounted guards passing each other. Although the best part of La Giralda is seeing it from outside, climbing to the top does give you some beautiful views of the cathedral and the city below.




Our next stop was the Alcazar (which means Moorish fortified palace), which was built by the Moors and later mostly destroyed/added to by the Christian kings (as is the case with all of the major sites in Andalucia). This is the main facade of the Moorish palace, which is from the 14th century after the Reconquista, and is an example of Mudejar architecture - which we have learned means built by Moors in the Moorish style but during the era of Christian rule.




This is the Capilla de los Navegantes (Chapel of the Navigators/Mariners) which is where the explorers (including Magellan) used to come and pray after coming back safely.




This is the Patio de las Doncellas (Patio of the Maidens), a name that refers to the annual tribute of 100 virgins that the Christians made to the Moorish rulers. The lower level of the patio are restored to the fourteen-century original state and the upper level were later added by Carlos V.




We then went through the gardens behind the Alcazar, which are relatively big and have a variety of areas including a maze and an English garden. I am including this particular photo expressly for Nadja and Angie, the purple lovers.




Our Sevilla tour continued with a walk down to the river, where we got a good view of the Torre del Oro, originally built by the Moors 1220 as part of the Alcazar fortifications. It was later used as a place to store gold brought back from the Americas, hence its name.






We felt like we had to visit the Plaza de Toros (ring for bullfighting) because Frank had never been in one. We took a guided tour that included a visit to the ring and to the museum inside one area. Neither of us are particular fans of the concept of bullfighting, but it was interesting to learn some of the history and the plaza area itself is beautiful. Sevilla's Plaza de Toros is one of the oldest and most famous bullrings in Spain.




On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at the adorable clothing shop (Lapitusa) owned and run by our friends Dani and Lucia. Here we are with Lucia:




In the evening, we had reservations at a flamenco show not too far away. Although the audience was completely filled with tourists, the show was relatively authentic and was a lot of fun.




Afterwards we met up with Dani and Lucia again and went to a great vegetarian restaurant where we sat outside and chatted for hours. Dani then invited us to see his apartment which has an incredible two-level terrace with amazing views of the Cathedral and La Giralda.

This is a photo Frank took on the walk to Dani's:




And this is the view from Dani's terrace:




A fabulous day, made even more special by the fact that we got to hang out with locals. We are extremely grateful to Dani and Lucia for making us feel so welcome and taking such good care of us while we were here.

ILM