Day 4:Seville

Today we went to the Alcazar and the cathedral. We woke up and started with the Alcazar. The Alcazar is a former Moorish palace that was taken over by the Christians and has been used by the Spanish royalty ever since. After waiting outside the gates for ten minutes, the huge wooden doors opened and we joined the mass of people scrambling to get tickets. We saw the main court yard with the main entrance to the palace. We went up to the royal apartments where we saw, among other room, Queen Isabella's bedroom which had tile covered walls and a shrine made using, at the time an innovative technique in painting tiles.

It is the most beautiful building we have seen in Europe. It has beautiful tiled ceilings and geometric designs.

The Alcazar gardens are beautiful and extensive. There are hedge mazes, water features, some with fish and a wide variety of plants. 

There was one specific pond that caught our attention because someone fed the fish and they were all clumped together in a boiling mass.

Next we went to the Cathedral.

This cathedral is special for two reasons; it holds the tomb of Christopher Coloumbus and it is the largest gothic cathedrel in Europe.  Before it was a cathedral, it was a mosque.

The tomb of Christopher Coloumbus.

Christopher Coloumbus's son is also buried in the cathedral because he gave the cathedral 6000 precious  books.

We walked up 34 floors to get to the top of the bell tower. When the cathedral was a mosque the muezzin had to ride on a donkey up the bell tower five times a day and ring the bell when it was time to prayer.  That is why they installed a ramp up to the bell tower to make it easier to get up.

After a long and fun-filled day we finished with another meal of fabulous tapas and are now headed off to bed.