Friday, September 9
Today we set off to explore some different areas of Seville, and headed for a public park in a non-touristy area that had 2 big Roman pillars at either end dedicated to Hercules. This was very much an area for the locals and it was fascinating to see the difference compared to the old town we have been walking around for the last 2 days.
We then walked to the Church of San Salvador as the ticket purchased here also enabled us to skip the line to get into the Cathedral! Inside this church was amazing with some of the most incredible altar pieces - the skill in the carving and gilting was amazing, and there was about 6-8 of them!
It was a short walk to the Cathedral but once inside the scale was enormous, and there were so many little chapels and other rooms all with amazing artworks and other religious icons of gold and silver as well as chapels to the saints. The tomb of Christopher Columbus is here and it was certainly attracting a lot of attention due to its size and significance! Again the main altar was massive and the detail in it incredible, as were the choir stalls and the carvings on them.
The other highlight here was being able to walk up the Giralda Tower. This used to be the minaret when it was a Muslim building, and a ramp was installed so the man who called the people to prayer 5 times a day could ride a horse up there instead of having to walk up! When the Cathedral was built the tower was the only part of the old building left, and the bell tower was added on top of the minaret, and then the weather vane was placed above the bell tower. The views over the city were great and we could locate where we had walked on previous days!
Following another delicious lunch we walked to a more modern structure called the Metropol Parasol which was a cleverly designed and built structure, and a complete contrast to what we have seen over the last 2 days here.
It was then time to head back to our hotel to prepare for our trip to Madrid tomorrow. We have really enjoyed Seville and could definitely have filled another couple of days here.
Today we set off to explore some different areas of Seville, and headed for a public park in a non-touristy area that had 2 big Roman pillars at either end dedicated to Hercules. This was very much an area for the locals and it was fascinating to see the difference compared to the old town we have been walking around for the last 2 days.
We then walked to the Church of San Salvador as the ticket purchased here also enabled us to skip the line to get into the Cathedral! Inside this church was amazing with some of the most incredible altar pieces - the skill in the carving and gilting was amazing, and there was about 6-8 of them!
It was a short walk to the Cathedral but once inside the scale was enormous, and there were so many little chapels and other rooms all with amazing artworks and other religious icons of gold and silver as well as chapels to the saints. The tomb of Christopher Columbus is here and it was certainly attracting a lot of attention due to its size and significance! Again the main altar was massive and the detail in it incredible, as were the choir stalls and the carvings on them.
The other highlight here was being able to walk up the Giralda Tower. This used to be the minaret when it was a Muslim building, and a ramp was installed so the man who called the people to prayer 5 times a day could ride a horse up there instead of having to walk up! When the Cathedral was built the tower was the only part of the old building left, and the bell tower was added on top of the minaret, and then the weather vane was placed above the bell tower. The views over the city were great and we could locate where we had walked on previous days!
Following another delicious lunch we walked to a more modern structure called the Metropol Parasol which was a cleverly designed and built structure, and a complete contrast to what we have seen over the last 2 days here.
It was then time to head back to our hotel to prepare for our trip to Madrid tomorrow. We have really enjoyed Seville and could definitely have filled another couple of days here.
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