November 30th A Cathedral day

Today we went to see the main cathedral of Seville, as I mentioned earlier it’s the largest Gothic cathedral in the world and second only to St. Peter’s in Rome and St. Paul’s in London in square footage.   Did I mention it’s really big?   The main things to see in this cathedral are the tomb of Christopher Columbus and the Giralda bell tower.   One small disappointment of our visit was that the main altar piece is being restored and therefore is behind a curtain.  It’s interesting that Columbus tomb is above ground, evidently at some point he became quite disillusioned with Spain and did not want to be buried in Spain.  So in the typical fashion of governments and lawyers they have his remains propped on the shoulders of four kingly statues representing the four major kingdoms of Spain at the time so he’s not technically buried. 

The Giralda bell tower is truly impressive, it was originally the minaret for the grand mosque of Seville when the Moors ruled over Spain, but after the re-conquest of Spain it was converted to the present bell tower.  It is 98 meters in height (approx. 300 ft) and was designed by the Moors such that a man could ride a horse to the top, so you walk up a ramp.  All along the way are openings in the walls that allow you to see out over the tops of the city and close up views of the church architecture.  At the top is arguably the best view in all of Seville, at least until a new office tower being constructed to the west is completed.  

 

After viewing the cathedral we went back to El Patio St Eloy and had the assortment of tapas and a plate of grilled gambas, and like yesterday it did not disappoint.  We walked back to the hotel along the river walk and watched a literal flotilla of sculls, kayaks, and racing canoes plying up and down the river.  Tomorrow we will visit the Alcazar and the river again.