A home cooked breakfast in very fancy china ( advantages of living in a apartment with friends, we found a department store chain that is also a supermarket like target but better...)
We walked to the palace. Our apartment is five minutes walk from the palace and where all the action is ( advantage number two of living in a apartment) . The palace is the oldest living palace in Europe and the best preserved one. It is huge and ornate and has a museum in it too. It looks and feels like the Alhambra palace because ii is built by the same workers and in the same Moorish style but is built by a Christian king. So, even though it has the feel of the Moorish designs, the Moorish gardens, it does have a chapel and has pictures of animals carved along side the Muslim geometrical patterns and Koran's sayings in Arabic.
The Tapestry room has these large tapestries depicting the war, the daily life and the map of the world ( 15th century perspective) with Africa on top and Barcelona in the center. Look at the size of the tapestry compared to Don's and Jagdish's head. We have to marvel at the time and talent it took to weave such intricate and large designs.
Just to remind you about the inquisitions: After the Christians took over, they gave Jewish people a choice. Either leave the country or convert to Christianity. Once who converted , were questioned in the court till they were proven of faking the conversion and then were tortured to death... :( ( the same process was repeated during the McCarthy period in USA about communism, in south and north America with natives...)
I loved this electric train twisting and turning through the city. It is smooth, noiseless, has pretty paintings all over and it just slithers around like a serpent
After the lunch at 2pm , we went home for an afternoon siesta. ( third advantage of renting an apartment ) We are finally learning to have a saner pace and do what locals have learned over thousands of years :) Even the kids were lying around and resetting their bodies in the shade of the Cathedral.
When we came out in the evening, there was Flamenco lesson going on in Plaza Nuevo 9 5 minutes form our apartment)
Tapas..we are eating them for every meal...
We went to see the cathedral. it is massive and pretty. it was built after the Mosque was destroyed and the king made sure that the cathedral was more impressive and imposing than the Mosque. There are many alters in the Cathedral each more elaborate than the other and has more gold than the other. If one did not know about Christianity, she will assume that it was some sort of a pagan religion worshipping so many statues and people...
Some reason, the Mineret of the Mosque was spared and tourist can climb 165 feet to the top. Of course we climbed all the way and saw the beautiful view of the city and huge bells. I tried to imagine the Mullah climbing all the way up, five times a day to perform the daily Azan ( call of prayers) ..
An evening stroll towards the river, brought us to this Bull Fighting ring.
River stroll and the university area
Girl's night out. We saw many groups of women just hanging out...
Seville was one of the most prosperous cities during Muslim rules as well as during King Fernadin;s rules. It was the port city. Columbus sailed from here to discover India ( it has his tomb in the Cathedral. Today ) it is a nice mixture of new and old. In a very small walkable area, it has the latest fashions and brand names as well as 7th century monuments that are very well preserved.
With that..Good night...
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