Seville - The Old (Throwback post)

Plaza de Espana, Seville

From Jerez, we moved on to Seville, which is a lovely city, with plenty to see. We set straight off for Parque de Maria Luisa , which is worth a wander around if you have the opportunity, but as we had limited time before it got dark, we went straight to the Plaza de Espana.

Parque de Maria Luisa

This huge semi circular building was created for the 1929 Exposicion Iberoamericana, and is impressive, if in a slightly kitschy way. It has little canals that you can actually hire a boat to row around, pretty bridges and lampposts, and tiled representations of all of the cities of Spain.

We spent a while looking at the tiles for the places that we had visited, to try to understand the relevance of the images to the town or city; some were easier than others.

Plaza de Espana, Seville

Plaza de Espana, Seville

Plaza de Espana, Seville

Plaza de Espana, Seville

Cathedral, Seville

 One of the most famous sights in Seville is of course the enormous gothic Cathedral de Santa Maria de la Sede, which took one hundred years to build after the old mosque was pulled down in 1401, having fallen into disrepair, despite being used as a church after the catholics took the city in 1248.

The Giralda is all that remains of the old 12th century mosque is the 104 metre tall minaret, which was converted into the bell tower. The tower is unusual in that there are no steps to climb up it, but instead they put in ramps, so that the guards could get up and down the tower on horseback.

Seville

The cathedral is home to the tomb of Christopher Columbus, who died in 1506, although it is said that his body was moved so many times that they aren't absolutely sure it is him there.

Cathedral, Seville

Cathedral, Seville

Alcazar, Seville

  Nearby is the Alcazar. There was a fort here from around 913 but most of what you see today was built around the 1300s, and despite the definite Moorish look, it was built for the Catholic King Pedro The Cruel, making it Mudejar architecture.

Overall, there is quite a mix of architectures, with Moorish, Mudejar, Gothic, and Renaissance. It isn't something that I've ever seen (I know, I am about the only one), but others may recognise some of it from Game of Thrones.

Alcazar, Seville

There are quite a lot of different parts to the Alcazar, and a number of gardens that are worth taking a stroll through, so if you visit, do give yourselves a good few hours to look around.

Another building well worth going to see is the Casa de Pilatos, which is still home to the Medinaceli family. Dating from the 15th ad 16th centuries, it isn't huge, but it does have some beautiful decoration, and a very impressive tiled staircase. It also has the interesting feature of a flagellation chapel, complete with whipping post. That's not something you find in the average home.

Sadly, this is another victim of my problem with missing photos, but if I manage to retrieve them, I will add them later.

Alcazar, Seville

Alcazar, Seville

Alcazar, Seville

Alcazar, Seville

Alcazar, Seville

Alcazar, Seville

Alcazar, Seville

Alcazar, Seville

Alcazar, Seville

Alcazar, Seville