Gorgeous Sevilla

We set out for a 2+ hour drive for Seville yesterday morning. It was about 190 km but was on fast motorways almost the whole time.

Seville is the current capital of Andalucia province but was also the historic capital of southern Spain for many years. It was a beautiful city, albeit 41°C when we arrived. That's hot enough to wilt the kids and me (despite all my years in Singapore and Thailand!).We immediately headed to find lunch at Cervecería Giralda, a tapas bar in the shadow of the Cathedral. It's located in a space that was formerly a Moorish bathhouse - so the vaulted ceilings are beautiful, as are the tiled walls. We had tapas (again! I think I'm done with tapas for a few meals) - I've become more finicky about tapas after all the meals. This one was ok, with a tortilla espagnola smothered in some kind of gravy as the highlight.

After lunch, we headed over to the Cathedral - alas, there was a big sign saying that because of a special occasion, the Cathedral would be closing at 15:30 that day. Guess what time it was?! Yes, 3:35 pm. Oops.

So we wandered over to the Real Alcázar, the royal palace where King Juan Carlos still stays when he's in the area. I love Moorish architecture - the complexity and finesse of the arches and swirls, the use of water elements, the fanciful designs. This palace was a joy to walk through.

After we left the palace, we took a walk around the Cathedral (the largest Christian church in the world by volume!) and found a side door open. So we sneaked in and saw a little bit of a concert by a children's choir with some boys in traditional costume doing a dance. It was charming. So we did experience the soaring heights of the cathedral after all, but didn't get to go to the top of the tower or visit Christopher Columbus' remains.

Seville has many pleasant, pedestrian-only streets so we strolled around for a little while and had ice cream and dessert at La Campana, apparently Seville's most famous patisserie. Then grabbed some very good sandwiches and a caesar salad (first one I've found in Spain!) and headed out for the long drive home.