Our last stop in Spain was Sevilla. It is perhaps quintessential Spain: bullfights, flamenco, stifling heat. The weekend we were there pushed 100 degrees on all three days despite being into November.
Because there was yet another holiday, the city was surprisingly busy. We had a hard time finding accommodation and were close to settling for paying more and being farther away than we would have liked, but then I stumbled on Puerto Catedral Studios on hotels.com. For a little over $100 a night, we ended up with a recently redone, large, and immaculate studio apartment just steps from the Catedral. We had a kitchenette and air conditioning. The building even had a rooftop deck and offered access to a rooftop deck at another property around the corner which had an unimpeded view of the Catedral. A great find. (Another great find was Taberna Coloniales which was recommended to us by reception. We ate at least one meal at the bar there everyday and were never disappointed.)
Sevilla's Catedral is the third largest church in the world and the largest Gothic cathedral. It's also another example of a converted mosque as you can tell by the architecture leading to an open patio in the picture below.
We took some time to explore the large interior. Some protesters had turned the church into a staging ground and had been living there for at least six months. I'm not sure what they were protesting and they were apparently on a break while we were there, but I wish them luck.
Last we climbed the giralda (bell tower) which I remembered fro my last trip there. It was the former belltower for the mosque and rather than stairs it is ascended on a series of ramps which enabled the bell ringer to ride a horse to the top.
We learned some things on the way up:
The bells started chiming almost immediately after we got up there. Ali got a video of the bells doing full 360s. I'm not sure they are the original bells though.
The views from the top were impressive. I especially liked seeing all the rooftop patios and pools the residents use to beat the heat.
We could also see the bull ring which was out of season (I'm not sure Ali would have enjoyed it anyway).
Walking along the river one day we passed a tower. I'm not sure what exactly the tower was, but Ali wanted to climb it because it was climbable. The heat was too much for me though. I persuaded (read whined) her not to. So pictured below is the only thing in Western Europe that we didn't climb.
On our last day we went to Plaza de Espana which is a big half circle of governmental buildings with a big fountain and a moat. It was also a filming location for Star Wars Episode I (which makes it either more or less cool depending on your perspective).
The plaza also contains a little design and map for each province in Spain.
We walked around looking at the picture for each of the places we had been in Spain. We had to wake up early the next morning to move onto Portugal and we were both a bit sad to be leaving Spain behind. Spain remains my favorite country, and I think it won Ali over too.
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