Seville

So we said goodbye to Granada and arrived in Seville for only two days and then we would get a rental auto and start the road portion of our trip. We expected an easy two days. Boy were we mistaken! The first day was a tour of the cathedral. This cathedral is the third largest church in Europe (after St. Peter's in Rome and St. Paul's in London). We were totally unprepared for this church. The high altar is the largest altarpiece (65 feet tall) ever made. Unfortunately for us, and a lot of other folks, it is currently being renovated so it was behind scaffolding and screens. My curiosity was killing me so I bought a postcard of the altarpiece - just had to know what it looked like. It took us well over 1 ½ hours to tour this church. Construction on this church started in 1401 and continued for another 100 years. It is said that the Reconquista Christians announced their intention to build a cathedral so huge that anyone who sees it will take them for madmen. The Guinness Book of Records has certified that Santa Maria de la Sede in Seville is the cathedral with the largest area: 414 ft. x 271 ft. x 100 ft. high.

The side chapels were enormous and so beautiful. The treasury consists of several rooms holding gold and silver reliquaries. I can't even begin to put a value on all the gold and gems in those pieces.

Of course that night was the requisite tapas crawl. The next day had us visiting Alcazar which is a 10th century palace built for the governors of the local Moorish state. This building still functions as the royal palace, the oldest in Europe that is still in use. It was very reminiscent of the Alhambra in Granada but not as grand in size and decoration - or so we thought until we visited the upper royal apartments. That is the area that the royals live in today. Fifteen public rooms were available for our viewing.

While in Seville, we took a hop on/hop off bus and saw some amazing architecture. There is a bridge that, to me, is an engineering marvel. I'll let you decide what you think of it when you see the picture.

After all this, in two days, the most fu. Thing we did was go to a flamenco show. Not one of the tourist ones with dinner and wine and all the schmaltz but one that solely focused on the three elements of flamenco - the guitar, the song, the dance. It was an hour show that left us totally exhausted watching the dancers and wishing we understood the language so we could understand the lyrics of the songs. There was so much emotion on the face of the singer, not pain but sorrow and almost tears. It was so great!

Ok so now it's picture time again. With is crazy app (Heather suggested a different blog app that appears to be much better when dealing with photos and I pads) I'll give that a try when I have a little more time in Portugal). I. The meantime, bear with me.

This is one of the procession floats with the fabric skirt removed. Just to give you an idea of what these folks are carrying

One of the chapels in the cathedral

Another chapel

This is one of the. Semana Santa floats

The artistry on these floats is amazing. A lot of these were built in the early 1900s

Yet another chapel

One of the doors into a chapel

Just to give you an idea of the size of the door

The major reliquary in the treasury

This is. Ernie against one of the columns in the cathedral. I told you it was massive

The gardens of the cathedral and the bell tower

This was the exit from the gardens

Don't quite understand why this crazy face but this is what was on top of the exit from the garden

This is the brickwork in the garden. All the channels were for irrigation. Quite fascinating!

Another view from the gardens

Ernie bringing some sangria to take care of our terrible thirst

The bull fighting ring

We had tapas in this bar and they wrote the price of our order(s) in chalk on the bar. Too cool!

Cathedral at night

Entry gate to Alcazar

This silk covered wall obviously need some loving care!

The tile work least us breathless

Cool reflection pool

Ernie being silly!

Love the lighting on this window in Alcazar

You can't really make out this map but it is a tapestry of the world upside down. THAt is Africa is on the top and Spain is to the bottom right. It considers how the world looked with. Barcelona being the center of focus 

This is an amazing reflection pool in the Alcazar

A closer shot of the pool

An even closer shot

One of the outside walls of the gardens at Alcazar. While the palace is a pay for attraction, the gardens are open to the public.

The gall on this tree was quite impressive

This water spout fed the Pool of Neptune in the garden. It is quite ingenious

The family crest of the royal family

This is the bridge 

Ok so you've seen photos of the different brotherhoods and the processions. This is what we saw in the window of a pastry shop

This was also in the pastry shop - candy penitents! Go figure!

Flamenco sow

This dancer was amazing- 

Also quite good looking

Iberico ham is fantastic! Enough said. But to be true Iberico ham, it must come from the black hoof pig that feeds only on acorns. When they serve Iberico ham, the whole leg is held in a vice so the meat can be cu, that way you can see that it comes for. A black hoofed pig. I think this guy needed a shave!

Beautiful bougainvillea 

This was the second floor of our hostel. Our room was  around the corner from Ernie. Remember in Europe that the ground floor is 0 and the next floor up is the first floor. We were on the second floor and Ernie was not very happy that they did't have an elevator

This is the altar piece in the cathedral.

Looks like I was able to caption everything - will wonders never cease! Hope y'all have a good night.