Monday
My parents wouldn’t arrive until the afternoon (or so we thought…) so we decided to do some of the walking-intensive activities they wouldn’t care about as much. We started with the Catedral de Santa María de la Sede, known as the largest gothic cathedral and the third largest church in the world. It is massive, quite hard to see the whole thing from any viewpoint.
Christopher Columbus’ tomb
just a simple crown; Justa + Rufina, patron saints of Seville, by Goya
The large Girona bell tower dominates one end of the building, and you can climb the 34 ramps to the top for some nice views over the city.
Altogether we probably spent >2 hours exploring the cathedral space, and it was well worth the 9€ admission price.
After noticing a sign at the back of the Cathedral advertising a free visit to El Divino Salvador with your ticket, we decided to walk up and check out that church as well. One word: bling! Lots of ornate redredos and Virgin Mary’s.
From there we also checked out the unusual Las Setas De Sevilla
We walked up to the Palacio de las Dueñas, but thought 10e was too expensive to be worth it after the cathedral. On Alameda de Hercules we people watched for a bit and saw flocks of monks parakeets. After all that standing and walking it was back to the apartment for a siesta for Leandra while I took a walk along the river at sunset.
Tuesday
With my parents now in town our goal of the day was the Real Alcazar. We couldn’t buy tickets online, possibly because we were trying to get senior tix? Thankfully the line wasn’t too bad at 9:30a and went just as fast as the line for people with pre-purchased tickets!
The buildings are not as ornate as the Alhambra, but the gardens were landscaped beautifully and were the highlight of our visit.
After lunch we walked down the Paseo de Catalina de Ribera to the Plaza de Espana – wow! Bigger than expected, and so ornate. Views in abundance…
Each niche represents a region of Spain.
Just as we were finishing here a light drizzle started up, so we took that as our cue for a rest and grabbed an Uber back to our apartment.