Solitary in Sevilla

So the weekend of March 12th I headed off to Sevilla.  Sadly no one wanted to come with me or already had other plans so I went solo!  Nothing would stop me from visiting Sevilla because it is my favorite city in Spain.  It is just an Andalusian beauty that has a gorgeous historic center and wonderful weather.

Well the weekend that I was planning on going to Sevilla there were heavy thunderstorms forecast....goody right?  Luckily someone was looking out for me and knew that I was having a lonely weekend and there was barely a drop of rain all weekend, only at night and while I was at a covered table at a restaurant.  It was LOVELY!

I took the bus from Madrid at arrived around 5pm on Friday.  Plenty of time to do some wandering.  I walked through town. around the outside of the Cathedral and the bullring, over along the river, and to my favorite building in the world.

 The Arab designed bell tower along the catedral.

 One of the beautiful entrances to the cathedral.

 Plaza de Toros!

As I was saying.  After walking around outside for a while I visited Plaza de España.  My favorite place in the world.  We had visited it on my last trip to Spain with school four years before and I had been dreaming about returning.  I finally got to.

 Amazing right?!  It was actually used in Start Wars I: The Phantom Menace.

 Once again loving the Panorama setting on my camera!

 The entire plaza had white and black stones in designs along the ground and blue ceramic along the bridges and columns.

 There were also these little ceramic sections along the building.  They each had a picture of a region in Spain with small shelves that used to be bookshelves for an outdoor library when the building used to be a palace.

The Madrid section!  Each section had an illustration on ceramic with a ceramic map of that ancient region on the ground.

After spending a LONG time wandering the plaza I headed back to my hostel for the evening and got ready for the next day!

Saturday began with a visit to the Cathedral.  I walked inside to find a mass going on because Saturday was a special children's mass.  The Sevillan cathedral is just as large and stunning as the other cathedrals of Spain so I won't spend too much time on it.

 One of the special things about the Sevilla cathedral is that they have the tomb of Christopher Columbus!  Now this has a bit of controversy to it because a few places claim the remains of Columbus.  Sevilla says that he rests here, Barcelona claims some of his remains (a finger I think?), and others say he is actually buried in the Dominican Republic.

Later that day I returned to the cathedral when the mass was over so that I could climb the Giralda (bell tower).  The climb was easy because the tower was built with a series of ramps so that the guards could ride all the way to the top on horseback.

 The Giralda gives the most amazing views of the city and of the orange tree grove housed by the cathedral.

 Another panorama!  In this you can see the Plaza de España in the back to the left, the Alcazar slightly in front of that, and the rest of the cathedral to the right.

 Here is a view of the roof of the cathedral and the beautiful orange tree grove.

Here is a beautiful areal view of the Plaza de Toros.  I visited that later in the day.

After visiting the cathedral I hopped over to the Alcázar to take a tour.  This building was the residence of many kings and caliphs and has similar architecture as the Alhambra in Granada.  Over the centuries all Caliphs and monarchs have set up court in this building and others added the beautiful gardens that are around back.

 Here is the front entrance to the Alcazár.  The entire complex is surrounded by either buildings of the palace or this medieval like wall.

 This is the first patio at the entrance to the palace.

 This is one of the courtyards that contains a garden that had been buried and is surrounded by ceramic tile and the same style stucco molding that adorns the Alhambra.

 This is the doorway of the Peacocks.  Even though they are only one of the multiple types of bird on this doorway, it has taken their name.  Peacocks are actually a pagan symbol of immortality because it was thought that they did not die.  They are replicated on palaces and other important buildings to signify the importance of the royalty who resided there.

This is a video I took while in the gardens as my camera had chosen that moment to die!  So sad because the gardens were BEAUTIFUL!

After the Alcázar I took a tour of the Plaza de Toros!  It is the only bull ring in the world that is not perfectly circular due to a small engineering mistake that left it slightly ovular.  It is also the site of the last bull fighting fatality in the world: two Toreros died here in 1992 while fighting.

 This is the box where the royal family sits when they attend a fight.  If no one from the family comes then that box is empty as they do not permit anyone who is NOT from the royal family to sit there.

Finally this is the entrance where the bulls come from.  Each entrance has a specific use: one for the Torero to enter, one for a victorious Torero to exit, one for the bulls, and one for the emergency staff if they are needed.  Every bull ring is mandated to have an on site hospital equipped with a a surgeon.

After this I sat outside at a restaurant and had a lovely dinner before returning to my hostel for the night.  My weekend in Sevilla was just wonderful and I am SO glad I made time to go!!!