Saturday in Seville

We got up in the morning and I immediately started pre-purchasing tickets for places we want to go to. I got the Toledo cathedral tickets last night, and this morning I got some for the Prado in Madrid.  Unfortunately I couldn’t get on-line tickets for the Royal Palace in Madrid. Should have done this before leaving Canada I guess. Oops! 

We walked back down to the old part of the city admiring all the buildings,parks and fountains. A very beautiful walk. 

We visited the Gold Tower which was built in 617 and located along the river. It has been renovated over the years after earthquakes etc. One interesting note is that Magellan left from here for the start of the first circumnavigation of the world.

We got to the cathedral very early to try and get tickets for today or tomorrow. We were told at the entry gate there were no tickets however we did manage to get tickets on-line for late Monday afternoon ( which means we are not going to the town of Ronda as we thought we might)

The bar by the green can in the photo above is the oldest bar in Europe.

The cathedral tower wi teh sun behind it. It is very ornate.

We  (meaning Caro) watched a lady doing Flamenco dancing for tips. Caro thought she was pretty good. 

We booked a 12:30 walking tour. The guide was very knowledgeable and interesting. Seville has amazing history and at one time was one of the most important centres of learning in the world ( in the Arabic times). According to our guide Europe as we know it started here.

The tour ended after 2 1/2 hours and we needed a refreshment break big time. We stopped at a park cafe and had a beer (me) and a Tinto de Verano ( Caro) and a small plate of tapas. It was 4 PM by this time and was 42 degrees. The photos below are at Maria Luisa park

We decided to try the tram home. Contactless tap on the tram and it took us to a station only 7 or 8 minutes from our hotel. There was a shopping Centre at the tram stop so we stopped in as Caro was looking for something. While Caro was shopping I enjoyed the air conditioning!!

Another stop at a grocery store and we picked up some meat and buns for supper. 

Tonight Caro heard a band starting up so she went out to see what it was. Turns out to be a yearly religious “procession” where a heavy parade float holding this area’s version of the Virgin Mary is manually lifted and moved by men underneath.The float is proceeded by men and boys with some religious batons and the float was followed by a mixed band with drums, brass instruments, and flutes, clarinets etc. Caro followed the procession around the area for over an hour and then called me to come out to see it (by now it was dark). I am glad I did because it was quite the experience to see and hear.

Caro has always wanted to see one of these religious processions so she is ecstatic tonight! 

One thing I noticed was that some of the music was very  similar to the movie “Godfather” (which had scenes from a Sicilian town)

Seville

Our train tickets to Seville gave us a scheduled departure time of 9:46 AM so with that we had time to visit a nearby coffee shop for our morning breakfast. 

A photo of me from yesterday that I really like

The train station was very close so we arrived in plenty of time for security etc. Turns out our train was delayed until after 10 AM so we had a small wait. 

The train ride was wonderful (250 km/hr). Good seats with big windows to see the Andalusian countryside. 

Arrival in Seville and finding our hotel was easy.

I don’t remember why I picked this particular hotel as it is a little further to walk than we would prefer. Oh  well, can’t change it now.

We walked down to the centre of the old city. Wow, what a difference from Cordoba. This place is extremely busy ( and I had to take a pill because of all the horses- they are for taking tourists around).

We found the location for our entry into the Alcazar for Sunday morning (pre-purchased tickets).

The cathedral is absolutely magnificent and we tried to get in but you really need to pre-purchase and  I don’t know why I didn’t :(

Note:When we got back to the hotel later we  attempted to get tickets but no luck (all on-line tickets sold out for the next three days) however we will try to buy at the official ticket office tomorrow morning at 11 AM (fingers crossed! )

Below are some photos of the cathedral

We decided to walk quite a ways to what is called “a hidden gem”. It is the Palace de Las Duenas. It is the home of the Duke of Alba and his family (and they still live there). A famous family for many centuries , this place has been visited by MANY famous people throughout the years. It really is beautiful and the self-guided tour was worth the entry fee.

After our usual nap/break in the afternoon (after walking multiple hours in 36 degree heat ) we went back to an area that had restaurants very busy earlier in the day when we went by. This is a huge lesson relearned from yesterday where we got lousy overpriced food in a touristy part of Granada. The place we chose tonight gave us much better food and more of it along with our usual “liquid refreshment” at a much cheaper price.

We still haven’t heard anything from ATB as they trace the transactions in Morocco where we had two ATM withdrawals that failed to complete the withdrawal transactions and I didn’t realize there was an issue until I checked my ATB account later. 

Caro used her sandals today but that didn’t go so good. Her feet hurt quite a bit tonight. Back to shoes tomorrow!

Tonight we went up to the pool area and just vegged. We really enjoyed it and I imagine we will go tomorrow.

Last day in Cordoba

We got up and headed down to the 8:30 AM opening of the Mezquita/cathedral that we toured last night. 

We were able to take photos this time except the cathedral itself was roped off so we couldn’t see much of the magnificent craftsmanship ( although we got some partial views from various angles). I wish we could have taken photos last night as this church is stunningly ornate. 

In the light of day I realized how much of the building has been converted to Catholicism. This was not apparent last night due to the way the tour went and the lighting provided during our visit. 

We were able to get near the mihrab niche where the Iman would lead the worship when the building was a mosque. The decoration is beautiful ( which in reality I can say for virtually all parts of this UNESCO World Heritage Site ).

The top photo above is the roof above the Imans mihrab niche, with the niche itself immediately above this comment.

Probably my favourite photo from inside the Mezquita

After about 45 minutes everybody was kicked out of the building as a church mass was about to happen in the cathedral. Caro wanted to participate so I went for a walk along the path up on the river bank.

I got a great shot of the Roman bridge with its reflection in the river.

Later I waited for Caro in the main courtyard and was amazed to see HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of people lined up for entry once the mass was completed. 

Caro said the service was beautiful and uplifting. 

Afterwards we needed brunch so there is a very famous stand up bar that has great food.  All the times we have wanted to try it out there were lineups but not this morning, so we had a couple small plates of delicious food typical of this area

Next stop were the Royal gardens. They were quite nice and this is where we sat in the shade, listening to the fountains and chatting. 

By 12:30 we were walking in 36 degrees heat and had to stop for refreshments. Tinto de Verano (red wine and lemon pop) for Caro and ice cold cerveza for me. As is typical here the server gave us a tapa (yummy)

We meandered our way through narrow streets and alleyways up to the Archaeological Museum which I really liked. Caro is not a big fan of museums but she “took one for the team” and wandered around while I admired much of what the museum had. 

As we headed back to the hotel for our afternoon break (7 hours of walking so far) we stopped for ice cream. Yummy yummy!

We had a much needed nap, then went to the pool for a while before going back into the old district where we had some supper. 

A walk back through new streets for us brought us to the plaza we always seem to arrive at.

The photo  was from a roof top bar and while we anticipated having a glass of wine the service was so bad we just walked out and came back to our room. Incidentally the temp right now is 39 degrees.

Only 20,000 steps today LOL

Wednesday in Cordoba

 Another blistering hot day (39 degrees)

We were lazy this morning as there was nothing really planned until the evening.

We walked over to the original Roman part of this city which we hadn’t been to before and while at the archeological site we noticed another walking tour company. We inquired and found out about a tour starting in 20 minutes so we booked it.

This tour was, in any ways, the same as yesterday’s tour however our guide this time was much more to our liking and his approach to telling us about his city was much more to our style. Needless to say, we loved it!

The following are two photos from one of only three intact synagogues in Spain from the time before the Catholics came (the year 1236 in this part of the country); at least that is what I “think” I remember him saying. Over time it had been covered up and forgotten until less than 100 years ago when rediscovered during some renovations.

On the wall behind me as I took the photo above is a Catholic cross ( showing that that the synagogue was repurposed after the Jews were evicted ( or forced to convert to Catholicism). This had been covered up as well so the cross this shows its’ original colours.

With the finish of the tour at the Roman bridge ( in which I was sad to learn that only the bridge support pillars are original) we walked across for better photos of The Mezquita.

After a small lunch we walked back to our hotel for a nap and later a dip in the hotel pool which incidentally felt like ice berg water due to the extremely hot day we experienced.

Supper was at the same place we ate last night simply because their kitchen was open  I was surprised that many restaurants open for supper after  7 PM ( and we were eating at 6).

Tonight was a hi-light night. We had a night tour of The Mezquita,

OMG does not describe the beauty of this massive mosque/cathedral. We were told in no uncertain terms that no photos were allowed.We go back tomorrow morning to get some.

The building was “so” incredible. As we entered the old mosque both Caro and I got goosebumps! The mosque was built and enlarged three times over the centuries of Muslim rule and could hold 40,000 worshippers.

The architecture for all the different cultures and the influences of all of them together in one gigantic building is something we are both happy to have seen. The end of the tour was inside the cathedral which is inside the old mosque. The craftsmanship was outstanding throughout and as we sat in the pews of the cathedral they played recorded music with choirs singing. Terrific sound quality!

It was 29 degrees as we walked back at 10:30 tonight and my phone says we did over 23,000 steps today.