Sevilla Sightseeing

June 8, 2016

Today was a whirlwind of sightseeing activity conducted in 100+ degree heat. There were a couple of times I thought Rich and Jerry were going to give it up and head back to the relative coolness of the apartment, but they hung in there with us.

Our first stop was Sevilla's Royal Alcazar, originally built in the 10th century by the Moors inhabiting the area and then rebuilt in the 14th century for the Christian king Pedro I by Muslim artisans. The palace reflects both Christian and Islamic elements in a distinctive style called Mudejar. Take a look at the pictures below and draw your own conclusions.

First glimpse of the Alcazar

Courtyard of the Maidens

Check out this Moorish influence

After spending a couple of hours in the Alcazar, we had a quick lunch and then headed across the plaza to tour Sevilla's Cathedral, the third-largest church in Europe (only St. Peter's in Rome and St. Paul's in London are larger). This is a huge Gothic structure and took us at least an hour (if not more) to take it all in. One of the most interesting sights was the tomb of Christopher Columbus.

Sevilla's majestic cathedral

Tomb of Christopher Columbus - his pallbearers represent the regions of

Castile, Aragon, Leon and Navarre

By the time we finished at the cathedral it was late afternoon, but we still wanted to walk through the Barrio Santa Cruz (Sevilla's old Jewish Quarter). I really thought the guys would mutiny at this point due to the stifling heat and aching feet, but again they were troupers. We did go back to the apartment for @ 30 minutes before we had to head back out for a quick dinner followed by a flamenco show at 8:30. The dancing was fascinating to watch and the guitarist accompanying the dancers was awesome, but the singing was more like a wail than a song. We all agreed we could have done without that. All in all though, it was a very good day despite the heat!

Navigating the narrow streets of the Barrio Santa Cruz