Sevilla Day #2

On the second day we visited the cathedral and the Giralda which is an Islam tower in the cathedral where they used to go to do the call to prayer. When the Moors were kicked out of Sevilla, not all of their religious buildings were destroyed and the Christians would add onto them to make the buildings what they are today. The cathedral is in the Guinness World Records for having the largest area of any one cathedral in the world. It is 126.18 meters long by 82.60 meters wide and 30.48 meters high. The cathedral takes up at least an entire block! It is also famous because it houses the remains of Columbus. It was pretty neat to see where he was laid to rest. The kings holding the casket, where his remains actually are, represent the four kingdoms of Spain during Columbus’ life. The four kingdoms were Castile, Aragon, Navara and, León. The one on the right is holding an oar that represents the kingdom of Castile. The oar represents the Castilian respect for Columbus’ expedition. The one on the left represents the kingdom of Aragon. He is holding a spear. The top of the spear is pointed down and piercing a pomegranate which is an allegory for the city of Granada. At the other end of the spear is a cross with a crescent moon below it which represents Christianity’s conquest over the Muslims. Not only did Columbus sail the ocean blue in 1492 but the Spaniards united the country under one kingdom and pushed the Moors out of Granada, the last Moor occupied city in Spain.

After the cathedral we headed to the Alcazár, or the castle. At first I wasn’t too impressed with the castle. The one in Segovia seemed way more impressive but then we got out into the gardens surrounding the alcazár. They are beautiful and very expansive. We saw some peacocks and many of the ponds had fish in them. There were also a lot orange trees which Ben was quite tempted to pick. I kept telling him not to and that he would get us thrown out when I turned around and he was holding an orange. He shrugged his shoulders and said he couldn't help it. We also saw an old bath house. One of the king’s mistresses requested it be built for her personal use.

After the alcazár we went to a tapas bar called Las Columnas on the recommendation of the man who checked us in. It was so good! Sevilla is known for their tapas and while they are not free, they are super cheap. We tried something called pringa.  I am not sure exactly what it was but it was so good! It is some sort of meat sandwich that they put in a Panini maker. They were so good that we were walking by the bar the next day on our way to a different tapas bar that we decided to pop in real quick to buy one to eat on the way. I would go back to Sevilla just to go have some pringa.

After tapas we got some ice cream and we were going to walk to Plaza de España to see it lit up at night but is started raining so we just headed back home. 

The cold water handle on our sink was stuck so we had to use the shower to fill up the Camelbacks. 

The cathedral. 

The Giralda is on the right.

Columbus' resting place.

Altar de Plata (Silver)

Columbus' son's tombstone.

The cathedral is one of the starting places for el camino de santiago

The Sacristy. 

In the middle of this surrounded by the gold circle is a thorn from Jesus' crown of thorns donated by the Vatican. 

The treasury.

The crowns for the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus. The Virgin's crown is on the left and has the world's largest recorded pearl on it. 

Capilla de San Antonio.

Capilla de San Andres. The saying at the top "Miserere Mei Deus" means "Have mercy on me, oh God."

Capilla de San Francisco 

Capilla de San Jose

Adoration of the Shepards

The Nativity scene

Capilla de scalas

Walking to the top of the Giralda

The Orange courtyard

Certificate stating that the cathedral has the largest area of any cathedral. 

The Alcazar and the castle gardens. 

This is the bath house.