Day 5 Sevilla

Our local guide meets us at the hotel and we hop on the bus with Isadoro to begin our tour of this magnificent Andalucian city. We start at the Spanish Pavillion, built for the 1929 exposition. It is an interesting commentary on the extravagance of the era just prior to the stock market crash in the fall of that year. Many of the city's most impressive buildings were lavishly built by countries of the world to show off their wealth and culture.

Part of a Star Wars episode was filmed here.

The Alcazar gives us beautiful examples of the "mudejar" style similar to the Alhambra in Granada

and has a beautiful garden with remnants of an old Roman aquaduct.

From here we get a glimpse of the cathedral bell tower, previously part of the mosque. Islam does not allow for the depiction of human forms in the arcitecture, so much of the designs are actually scripture and the name of Allah appears as a written design (see the window in this picture).

Sevilla was a favorite of the Catholic Kings, Ferdinand and Isabel after the reconquest of Spain from the Moors. Like in Córdoba, the Muslim mosque was converted and expanded to be a Catholic cathedral. The bell tower was the old "Call to prayer" tower.

It is built with a ramp, rather than stairs to accommodate a knight on horseback to climb to the top. Because Los Reyes Católicos used this city as their capital for some time, the cathedral was built to be very grand and pushed the limits that did not allow any church to be bigger than St. Peter's in Rome.

Sevilla was an important city because its river, also the Guadalquivir, is navigable for the 100 km from the ocean to the city. It flows to the Atlantic Ocean, which made the city ideal for sending conquistadors to the new world and receiving the goods they sent back to the motherland.

Columbus was sent from here and eventually buried here, or at least part of him lies in rest here in the cathedral.

The Torre de Oro now houses a naval museum and a great view of the river

and the cathedral.

Well-groomed horses and carriages frequent the streets. Orange blossoms permeate the air. Looks like a delightful place to spend a year studying! We end our day at a Flamenco dance school for a lesson.

Afterwards we take in the professional show and dinner. Check out the video: