Seville

From Cordoba we caught a local bus to the bus station, the intercity bus to Seville and then a short walk to our Hotel. Another lovely building with internal courtyard. This one was apparently a Convent.

Our first stop for the day was to be the Seville Cathedral, however I got us a little lost ( wrong end of town completely) and we found this pretty little church with its gorgeous madonna and child and several sweet smelling floral arrangements.
A nearby tourist office soon had us sorted with a proper map and onto the round town bus to the tourist end of town.
Here we decided to start with the Cathedral as its tower would give us a good overview of the city and hopefully we would be able to figure out where we were and how to get home.

Seville cathedral... a small sample of the ornate gold inside.

Tomb of Christopher Columbus, who ¨discovered¨ South America.

Tomb of Christopher Columbus.

The Cathedral treasury included this stunning crown, encrusted with precious stones and pearls and adorned with these beautifully crafted cherubs. When you see all the Cathedrals, and all the gold and silver treasures it is hard to forget that a large part of this wealth was brought back from South America.

View from the Giralda looking over the Cathedral including the orange courtyards, ingeniusly watered by a moorish system of canals and pools.
The Seville Cathedral Bell tower or Giralda, is unusual in that it was originally a muslim minaret. Instead of steps up it there are stone ramps... so that one could get up there by horse?!

View from the 78 m high Giralda of the Seville cathedral. What I want to know is how do I find those swimming pools?

Back to the hotel (with a few more wrong turns and much interaction with the locals as we asked yet again for directions) to shower and change before heading out for our orientation walk in the cool of the evening...40 degrees!
Inset plate from the doors to the Bull Ring.

A famous Matador out side the Bull Ring in Seville... a word of warning, before touching a metal statue like this one, check the temperature.. this one was REALLY hot! I had a burn on my finger that hurt for a couple of days!

Plaza de Espana, highlighted with a graceful semi circle of mosaic tile scenes representing every region of Spain. There are 50 of them. No I did not photograph them all!!! This is Barcelona, where we will end this trip.

We finished the walk with dinner by the river... a great place to watch the world go by.

And with views of the city lit up at night. This is the golden tower where riches brought in from South America were sorted, counted, stored, unloaded... what ever you do with Aztec gold!