SPRING VISIT TO ANDALUCIA, SPAIN
 DAY 1 AND DAY 2

For our Spring vacation we chose to visit Andalucia in Southern Spain spending a week in Seville and a week in Cordoba plus a week visiting family in the UK.

We left home in late March, flying from Comox to Vancouver on Air Canada where we connected with the overnight Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt.  We had a short time at the airport before we completed the journey with another Lufthansa flight to Seville.

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DLH 493 to Frankfurt

We had no glitches on any of the flights.  No baggage problems as we travelled light and only had cabin baggage.

We took the easy way from the airport taking a taxi that took us to our home for the week, an apartment in the centre of Seville booked through the VRBO organisation. The booking online had been easy but getting into the apartment was a bit of a problem.  We arrived when we said we would but we found out later that the owner thought we were coming an hour and a half later, so we stood around wondering what to do.  We befriended a local supermarket manager who managed to make contact and eventually the owner turned up and all was well. A little troubling until it was all sorted out.  It was here that we learned that English is not commonly spoken and our Spanish was less than minimal.  We found out that the reason for little English goes back to the Franco era when English wasn't taught in  the schools.

The apartment was excellent.  It had all one could need, a living room combined with a well equipped kitchen, a bedroom and a bathroom.  All rooms were of reasonable size. Like many Spanish apartments it was situated around a central courtyard.  We were on the ground level and had nice neighbours, some local and some visiting like us.  It was well located on useful bus routes and near the only tram route in Seville.

Our Courtyard

There was a local supermarket very close by and we used it quite a bit to return the favour shown us by the manager.

DAY 2 IN SEVILLE

In our plan for the day was a visit the Cathedral (the Catedral de Santa Maria de la Sede).  We had done our home work and had read that there can be long queues for any of the major sights in Seville.  For the cathedral the trick is to go first to the El Divino Salvador Church as soon as it opens and buy a combination ticket.  This church was just a very short walk away from the apartment and there was only a small queue waiting for it to open.  This church is worth seeing in any event.  It gives you a chance to see just what Spanish baroque church architecture is all about.  Very elaborate and dripping with gilt.

 

The main altar

One of many lesser altars

As in many places we visited there was an audio guide, many were very good.  This one was a little harder to use as a number of the things we were asked to see weren't numbered.  It was a bit of a puzzle at times.  

As is the case of many churches in Spain there was a mosque built earlier on the same site sometimes with remnants of the original mosque present.  In this case there was a bell tower that was the minaret of the original mosque. 

The next port of call with our ticket was the immense Cathedral, one of the largest Christian churches in the world. It stands on the site of the 12th century Almohad mosque with the mosque's minaret (the Giralda) still towering beside it.  Seville fell to the Christians after Moorish rule in 1248 and it was used a a church until 1401 when it was decided to build a new gigantic church.  It took 100 years of hard labour to complete. It is the largest Church by volume in the world and defines "Gothic".  It is a veritable art gallery.  Almost overwhelming.

The main entrance, newly cleaned

This gives an idea of the size

The organ

 

 Detail of the main altar

One of many side altars

The tomb of Christopher Columbus

The tomb contains what were long believed to be the great explorer's bones, brought from Cuba in1898.  Columbus died in Valladolid on Northern Spain in 1506.  His remains lay in La Cartuja monastery in Seville before being moved in 1536 to Hispaniola (now divided into Haiti and the Dominican Republic).and finally to this location, perhaps).   Confusion reigns as it is possible that his bones are here but also still in Hispaniola.

Details of one of the many stained glass windows,

The Giralda is the bell tower of the cathedral and was the minaret of the original mosque.  It is located in one corner of the cathedral and can be climbed, not using stairs, but up a series of short inclines.  It was designed to allow the guards to ride their horses to the top.  It is 104 m tall and was built between 1184 and 1198. The upper parts, where the bells are situated, was built in the16th century.  As one can imagine it provides a great view over Seville.

View over Seville from the Bell Tower

Outside on one side of the cathedral is a patio, the Patio de los Naranjos, that was originally the courtyard of the mosque. It is planted with 66 orange trees (naranjos).

And yes, there are bells

 

Another view over Seville showing the Bull Ring

Another view of the Cathedral

It was time to get back to the apartment and dinner time.  We had a glass of sherry courtesy of the owner who obviously felt bad about our poor start. We found many local restaurants and never had a bad meal.  Over our time in Spain we tried many of the local delicacies, oxtail for one.

NEXT PAGE: DAY 3 - IN SEVILLE