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. 

Sevilla Day #1

Our bus left at 8am so we were up early and on the metro at 6:30am to get to Estación Sur where our bus left from. Madrid having the night life that it does, we saw quite a few people on their way home from Halloween parties as we were on our way to the bus station. Some of the costumes we saw were quite interesting!

It took about 6 ½ hours to get to Sevilla. Along the way we saw various hunting parties along the side of the road in some of the fields we passed by! We couldn't see what they were hunting though.

We stopped part way through for a bathroom/food break. Ben and I came back out to get on the bus but it was gone! At first we thought, “There is no way it would’ve left without us!” but then we saw it over at the gas station so all was good.  Once we arrived in Sevilla, we only had a 10 minute walk from the bus station to the hotel we were staying at. It was called Pensión el arenal. When we found the address we were a little confused because it was a bar, not a hotel. I walked in and asked where the hotel was and he said it was there. Ben later told me he found the hotel under the ‘bed and breakfast’ section. The rooms were above the bar. It turned out to be quite convenient because the tortillas españolas were quite cheap and they were absolutely delicious!! A tortilla española is not anything like a tortilla in the States. It is more like a cross between an egg casserole and an omelet but so much better!

As we were checking in, the man who was helping us didn’t talk much and used very limited English with us. After he finished giving us the keys, I asked him what time breakfast started, in Spanish of course. His face lit up and he asked why he had been talking in English all this time when I spoke Spanish?! He proceeded to answer my question and then pulled out a map and began to mark all the good stuff to see and good places to eat. It just goes to show that when you make an effort in another culture to learn the language, they will be that much happier and willing to help you.

Anyhow, after we got settled into our room, which was quite small and cozy (we had a balcony so that made up for it), we walked along the river for a bit. We saw the Plaza de Toros and the Torre del Oro. We also walked past the cathedral and the castle. Our destination was Plaza de España and as we walked in that direction, we walked through a park that was having a Festival de las naciones.  It kind of reminded me of Pig Out in the Park in Spokane, WA. There were tons of different stalls with different kinds of food from all over the place. There was also a list of events going on that had something from different cultures or countries each night. It was pretty fun! We found the American stall and of course they were serving hot dogs and hamburgers.

We finally made it to Plaza de España. It is by far the most beautiful plaza we have ever seen! First of all, it is huge! There is a building that is built in a half circle around the plaza with two big towers on either end. The river runs through the plaza and there are bridges that

We thought the bus had left us!

 

It took us awhile to figure out that this was the bathroom!

 

Our hotel room. It was so tiny!

Hanging out on the balcony. 

Our room is the one on the right.

We watched these guys for a good 15 minutes before the owners finally came!

Plaza de toros.

The festival in the park.

There was a really pretty walkway along the river. 

It was so bright out! We forgot our sunglasses in the hotel so Ben used the map to shade his face. 

Torre del oro.

There are orange trees everywhere!

I thought the roots on this tree looked really cool. 

Many apartment buildings' apartments are built around a centro patio. This comes from Muslim influence. Some places take great pride in their patios and they leave the main door open into the patio so that people can look in.

 We saw the new Audi R8!

This dog is wearing sneakers on all of his paws!

Plaza de Espana:

We found Madrid's scene. It is a battle scene. I believe the significance comes from May 2, 1808. French troops occupied a large part of Spain in 1808. On May 2, 1808 the people of Madrid rebelled against the occupation but the French brutally repressed them. This event began the Spanish War of Independence which they gained in April 1814.