Sevilla

Although by our fourth week we were tired of travelling from hotel to hotel, it was worth it to see the splendors of Sevilla and Córdoba. The Alcázar of Sevilla was definitely a highlight of our trip.
One of the reasons we loved Sevilla was that it was a large, modern city. and we were getting tired of the small mountain towns. In searching of our hotel in the old part of the city, we stumbled across The Metropol Parasol, a huge, city art work around a mall.
Old Town, where our hotel was, was hard to drive to, but worth it, since it was quite wonderful. Our hotel looked out onto the plaza with the cathedral and orange trees (which were everywhere).
The cathedral was enormous, one of the biggest in the world, but I couldn’t help thinking of the gold stolen from So. American Indians that built it, and the Mosque that was destroyed for it’s foundation, and the Inquisition which it honors. Christopher Columbus’s tomb was interesting.
Columbus’s tomb
We took a bus to the outskirts of the city to see a pretty good Contemporary Art Museum housed in an old Convent. It used the juxtaposition of the old architecture and the modern art well.
The definite highlight of Sevilla is the Real Alkázar (the Royal Palace). It was the palace of the Islamic rulers, and after they were thrown out of Spain, it became the palace of the King of Spain – and it still is. Because of this, it never went to ruin, like the Alhambra, and is absolutely magnificent.
The huge gardens.
Click here for many more photos Of the Alcázar and Gardens Go to the Cordoba page Go to the SPAIN homepage