May 19, 2011

First of all, Mario says that I was venting yesterday. That is what a blog is all about-reporting the immediate.  Last night we did have a nice dinner after all in Miguel Angel, right next to the hotel.  Today was much better but we walked for hours.  It will be impossible to communicate the opulence, grandeur and magnificence of everything we saw today, but I will give it a try. Just to give you an idea, we took over 500 pictures TODAY only!  We have a lot of editing and choices pending when we get back.

We signed up for a tour in the morning which included lunch.  Our first stop was the Cathedral of Seville.  It is the third largest in the world, after St. Peter's in Rome and St. Paul's in London.  Christopher Columbus' remains are located there.  There is so much silver and gold that you realize how much Spain pillaged Mexico and Peru.  In one monstrance (to hold the Holy Eucharist) the Spaniards used 3 and 1/2 tons of silver from Guanajato, Mexico.  We were considering asking to take some back but thought better of that idea.  It is really a magnificent structure.  The architecture is unbelievable but we were hurried due to the tour.  One detail that I thought was interesting is that the front door of the Cathedral is only opened for the Pope or the King and Queen of Spain.  Oh to be a member of the privileged class.

Our next stop was to the Macarena Basilica.  There is an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe there as soon as you come in on the right.  It is another very beautiful but much smaller church.  We also walked around the typical neighborhood of Santa Cruz in Seville.  There are tons of little cafes and restaurants, shops and boutique hotels.  The streets are super narrow and I will try to find a photo (of the 500) that clearly shows the intimacy.  We went back in the afternoon when we were on our own. There is also a Jewish neighborhood of the Sephardic Jews who made Spain their home.  There are flamenco and gypsy
souvenirs everywhere. Seville is the most famous for the flamenco and there are shows nightly.

Our last stop after lunch (on our own) was to visit the Real Alcazar, which is the summer "home" to the Spanish royalty.  It is an unbelievably grandiose example of Arabic and Spanish architecture.  It took us an hour and a half just to walk through the many rooms.  This is a place that you would really need to see, so again, we bought the DVD and with luck, it will not be stolen!  The intertwined history of the Arabs, and the Catholics in the south of Spain is evident throughout this site.  I thought that Connie and Ajaz would find this place absolutely fascinating.

Tomorrow we will take the train at 9:45 to Madrid to spend our last weekend with Pepe, our former neighbor, from Mexico City.  We are excited to see him and it will be a nice way to finish our trip.