Seville

On Saturday morning we said goodbye to Granada and caught a bus to Seville. We dumped our bags at the hostel and organized ourselves a little bit before heading out into town. 

Our first stop was the largest gothic cathedral in the world, built between 1402 and 1502 on top of what had been the Almohad mosque. We didn’t get there quickly enough, though, and had to rush through the place in an hour before it closed. The visit included the Giralda tower, which is a minaretcum-bell tower that is over 100 meters tall. Alan and I had both read Dan Brown’s Digital Fortress in the last week, which takes place in Seville and highlights the cathedral. We were disappointed that there were several instances of incongruence with reality in the novel. However, it is true that Christopher Columbus is buried here. Well, his scrotum anyway.

Christopher Columbus’ tomb

Less than one block away from the cathedral is the Real Alcazar. To me, the Alcazar seemed to be a miniature version of Granada’s Alhambra, but I wasn’t sore about visiting both, especially since we hadn’t been inside of the Moorish palaces the day before. On the other hand, I did not feel obligated to walk through all of the endless gardens here. Have I mentioned that Andalusia is hot? It is.

More mudejer architecture

A bath below the gardens. Oh how I wanted to jump into this. 

The last Seville site that I insisted on seeing was Plaza Espana.

Plaza Espana

Alan in front of the Granada bench area in Plaza Espana. There are azulejo scenes of all of the large cities circa 1929 inside the walls of the Plaza building.

We tried again to find a semi-authentic flamenco bar recommended by a travel book. I think we found it; the name was slightly different than the book listed, but the address was the same. Unfortunately, Sala Mandre or Salamandra had its doors closed when we walked by. Flamenco attempt strike two.