Our second day in Seville. The weather forecast was telling us that the day is not going to be as hot as the day before. It was a relieve because on this day we will be walking along the river side.

Not far from our hotel there is a small square by a church that has cafe.  It was teeming with people in office attire having breakfast here. So we know that this will be a good place for breakfast. But it also meant that they do not speak English too!

What is worse, it was self-service. We had to order from a window and then when it is ready we had to pick up our order. Being not particularly sure of the system, we had our eyes peeled to the window afraid that we will miss our order when it is ready. Good thing they beckoned us to the window and we picked up the toasts and drinks. They stopped us and asked that we carry a little bottle along too. It turned out to be olive oil.

The breakfast was simple but very good. Best of all it was about the cheapest breakfast we ever had in Spain. It came up to only €4.20. Sweet!

After breakfast, we went walking along the Guadalquivir River. This river is navigable hundreds of miles with up to Seville. During the days of the discovery of the New World, ships laden with treasures and goods would all unload here.

The Torre del Oro is a watch tower which protects the city of Seville in days of old. It is supposed to be a Naval Museum but when we were there it was closed. What a bummer.

Near the Torre del Oro, we began to see sculptures of Matadors. We were near the Bullfight museum.

One of the things we planned to do in Spain was to watch a bullfight. Bullfighting is very much a popular sport in southern Spain unlike in Barcelona where people do not like bullfighting. Our hotel concierge told us that summer is the off season for bullfighting. It was disappointing to us but at least we planned to just visit the Bullfight Museum.

The tour of the Bullfight Museum was free with the Seville Card. It was an eye opener tour for us. We had never knew what bullfighting really is before this tour.

We first toured the arena where we … (more…)

People told that that visiting Spain in summer is not a good idea because it will be going to be very hot. It was on this first day in Seville that we really felt the heat. After just half a day at the Cathedral of Seville, it became unbearably hot. It was almost 40 C. We had finished off our two bottles of water by late morning.

We decided to stop for a drink. It was a toss up between Starbucks and Haagen Dazs. You know how we decided which one? We walked into both and stayed at Haagen Dazs because their air conditioning is stronger. We each got a real big drink. Suanne got a cake — she can’t resist cakes when she sees that. I felt it was downright expensive which is about $26 Canadian.

Next stop that afternoon was to visit the Real Alcazar. Alcazar is the Spanish word meaning Castle. It phonetically sounds the same right? Actually the word Alcazar is based on the Arabic word al qasr, also meaning castle. The word Real means Royal. So, Real Alcazar means the Royal Castle.

Real Alcazar is still in use by the Spanish royal family as the official residence in Seville. The section is off limits to tourists. We were told that they live … (more…)

It was a lot of travelling from Barcelona to Seville. When we got to the hotel the night before, we immediately hit the sack. We were dead tired. By then we had gotten over the jet lag. We slept at the same time as Spaniards do. That is progress.

We woke up to a beautiful morning in Seville. It was so tranquil and peaceful here unlike Barcelona. There is a small town feeling to it. People walk much slower.

We went to this delightful square the Alameda de Hercules. This square is adorned with columns of Hercules and Julius Caesar and is the site of an ancient Roman temple.

The hotel gave us a map showing where we could go get breakfast. The map was hopeless. It was easier just walking in the general direction.

Unlike Barcelona which is a major metropolitan city, Seville is more Spanish. It is here that we began to have problems with language. In Barcelona, almost everyone speaks or at least understands English but not here. When we landed at the Seville airport, we asked for directions at the Informacion booth which has the words “Informacion/Information” blazonedon it. They don’t understand English!

So ordering breakfast here is a bit problematic. We ordered Cafe Con Leche which is not a problem. The Cafe Con Leche here are served in a glass and all smooth and stirred. This is slightly different from those we had the previous few days in Barcelona. For the first time too, they automatically gave us glasses of cold water even though we did not ask for it. That was nice.

We then tried to order the tomato toast but we had problems. Tostada was about the only Spanish word and cheese was the only English word that got through in the conversation. So we had Cheese Tostada. The toast was nice but the cheese was too dry for us. All these was €7.

After breakfast we went to look for the Seville Card. It was one of those passes that allowed you to visit as many tourist attractions as you like within a time period. We opted for the 72 hour card which costs €36 each. Actually, this is actually costs more than if we had paid entrances to the places we visited.

The card is kind of complicated too. The card we got was the “cultura” card with limited benefits. It does not include discounts to restaurants and shops.

The strange thing is that you cannot buy the Seville Card anywhere else other than this souvenir shop called Iconos. You cannot get it even at the official Information office.

First order of the day was to visit the No 1 tourist attraction in Seville — The Cathedral of Seville.

We had been to many many cathedrals throughout Europe and I often said that if you had seen one you had seen them all. Not true for the Cathedral of Seville. It is so full of history and yet so relatively unknown.

We were surprised to learn that the Cathedral of Seville is the third largest church in the world. This cathedral was built immediately after the re-conquest of the city from the Moslem Moors. It was built on top of the great Moorish mosque. The bell tower used to be a minaret. When it was built they wanted to make this the biggest and grandest of all churches to show off the reconquest of the city.

For many years before the reconquest, Iberia peninsular was under the control of the muslim. I think Spain is about the only country that had successfully re-conquered the country from the Moors and turned back the tide of Islam. In the process, it had made Spain more Christian.

The Cathedral of Seville is huge with soaring roof with pointed arches of the Gothic style. This style allows building of this size without having thick walls to support the structure …

… and thinner walls also meant being able to have bigger windows. The stained windows were well maintained despite its 400 years of age.

There are almost EIGHTY chapels of various sizes here — all of them grand and adorned with art and sculptures.

There were lots of church treasures of precious metals and stones. I can only imagine how much they are all worth.

All these are build because of the wealth Seville once had from the monopoly of trade with the newly discovered New World.

Talking about the New World, the Cathedral of Seville is also where the tomb of … (more…)