Seville.

Seville is one of Spain’s best-loved cities. It has history, art and culture. Seville golden age was when it was the gateway to the Americas. By decree, it was the only Spanish city allowed to trade with the New World. Today, with the modern large vessels unable to travel up the river, the main trading port has become Cadiz. You can still travel up and down the River Guadalquivir from Seville to Cadiz.

With only a day to sightsee we made our way to the famous Plaza de Espana and the Maria Luisa Park. This park is the largest in Seville and one of the most beautiful in Europe.  Specifically for the 1929 Ibero American Exposition, the city of Seville hired the famous French landscape architect Nicolas Forestier to redesign the gardens, now named after Maria Luisa Fernanda.

The Plaza de España is one of the park’s most popular attractions and was the centerpiece of the expo. The architect was Anibal Gonzalez, from Seville, and it is a mixture of Art Deco and Mudejar. The Plaza has been used as the centre in several feature movies. There is a moat that has four bridges across it. The palace has two large towers and there are sections with benches with beautiful tile work (azulejos) that represent each of the provinces of Spain. In the center of the plaza is a very large and beautiful fountain. The Spanish like to be photographed at the benches of their provinces. The park has many orange trees, palm trees, elms, and Mediterranean pine trees. There are also many ponds and the people of Seville enjoy this park everyday.

Our next visit was to Real Alcazar the oldest European Royal residence and is not one building but group of buildings from different time periods and each building has its own architectural style. From the Moors to the Christian societies today you can visit the Mudejar Palace and the Gothic Palace by its side. The Mudejar Palace has the most beautiful patio, the Patio del Yeso with its reflecting pool and sunken gardens. It is surrounded by columns supporting Moorish arches. The pillars support a very decorative mesh of stucco. The tile work in the palace has some of the most beautiful tiles in Andalusia and the stuccowork on the walls is impressive. The Mudejar ceilings also call attention for their beauty and color. There is a three-tier gallery that is on the southern side. There is an impressive hall called the Chamber of Justice. The ceiling is made of wood and is very elaborate. There is elaborate stuccowork on the walls and the ceiling of the hall. On the floor is a small round fountain with a shallow channel that goes to the garden outside. The Monarchy of Spain still use it today and parts are cut off to visitors when they are in residence.

We now had just enough time to visit the Seville Cathedral and the Giralda Tower before it closed at 5pm. We were all hungry but, hey, this would be the last visit of the day.

Beside the Cathedral is the Giralda Bell Tower. The symbol of Seville.
It used to be the minaret of the old mosque and was designed by Abou Yakoub and built in 1184. The Christians topped the minaret with a five-story bell tower in 1568. On top of the bell tower is a weathervane in the form of a statue of Faith, called the giraldilla (something that turns), since it turns with the wind, it is 4 meters high. The statue has a standard and a palm frond in his hands. That is how the tower got the name of La Giralda. The platform is 70 meter high and is reached by a ramp that two horsemen could pass abreast. One can go up the tower and get a bird's eye view of the city. The total height of La Giralda is 93m. The tower has 24 bells. The ramp to the top was surprisingly easier than steps and we were soon up there to take in the panoramic view of Seville it did not disappoint.

We entered the magnificent cathedral from the bottom of the tower.
The cathedral has 7 naves, Flemish altar screens, 75 stained glass windows one of which now shows Pope John Paul after his visit there in 1980. There are sculptured portals, wrought iron grills, marble floors and bronze candelabras. There are 500 priceless pieces of work of art by famous artists Murillo (the Immaculate Conception and Saint Anthony), Zurbarán and Francisco de Goya. Kings and queens are buried here. At one corner in the front of the church, in the transept, is the tomb of Christopher Columbus, held aloft by 4 big statues of soldiers. Recent DNA analysis by scientists show that the remains in this tomb belong to Christopher Columbus, as they were compared to the bones of his son Fernando Colon, whose remains are in in a tomb at the west end of the nave. Hernando Columbus, son of the great navigator, bequeathed his collection of thousands of illustrated manuscripts and codices to the Cathedral. These documents form the bulk of the Columbus Library are housed within the Cathedral. The library was founded in the 13th century, but the majority of its manuscripts and documents are about the discovery of America. We thoroughly enjoyed the cathedral but it was a lot to see in the short time we had.

We now all needed food!
We went to the main square and had tourist food. Mine was just edible but Cathy had ordered a spinach dish, which came out still half frozen the first time. The second time it still came out cold.
They even charged us for it. 
Never mind it was the only disappointment of the day and the only bad meal we have had in Spain.