Seville, Hasta La Vista

We Needed a Week

What a fabulous day in Seville. After days of rain, today was beautiful. Everyone back home talked about how much they love Seville. Now we know why.

We took in two major sites: the Real Alcazar (royal palace) and the Cathedral. Rather than write a lot, I'll just show pictures.

Real Alcazar

This palace was originally a Moorish fort and later the palace for Spanish royalty. It is the official home of the Spanish king and queen when in Seville and is the oldest occupied palace in Europe.

Ceiling Detail

Ceiling Detail





 

Courtyard Details

Garden Pool, one of many.

Garden Sculture - John calls it "Touchdown Baby"

Doña Maria underground bath

Tapestry depicting conquer of Tunis.

Taking a Tapas Break

Cathedral of Santa María de Sevilla

A stunning cathedral, it is the 3rd largest in the world, behind St. Peter's (Vatican) and St. Paul's (London). It is the largest Gothic cathedral.

Replica of the Giraldillo atop the bell tower. The tower was once the minaret of a mosque.

17th century wood carving of the head of St. John the Baptist. I was struck by the sheer gruesomeness.

Detail of the Gothic architecture

One of my favorite stained glass windows, depicting the annunciation of the shepherds. In the lower center is a dog (lab-like) and in the upper center, sheep - two of my favorite domestic animals.

No trip to the cathedral is complete without paying homage to Christopher Columbus. His remains have been in many places around the world. Theory has it they (or at least some) are now in this tomb.

The Cathedral After Dark

Barrio de Santa Cruz

We ended up in what was the Medieval Jewish ghetto at the time school was ending. The area is a labyrinth of narrow winding streets with beautiful Sevillian homes and we came across school children and their parents at play.

These two girls passed us a couple of times, appearing deep in important conversation.

This group of girls was in, what I think, a group guitar lesson. A couple of younger girls (in plaid) were watching them closely.

Headed Back to Portugal

We head to Evora in the morning, but Seville is a favorite place. We will definitely be back for a longer stay. In just two days, our Spanish improved and I even found myself understanding French spoken around us.

One interesting observation - while Portugal is full of British tourists and ex-pats, we saw/heard very few here. Most of the tourists right now are German and Asian. Besides students, there were few Americans and almost no French.