A RELAXING DAY IN SEVILLE

We had a surprisingly good nights sleep, considering our scary cockroach incident right before bed last night!  We are very happy to have a good, soft bed instead of concrete hard like we had our first week.

We finished our laundry this morning, after drying it overnight the "European way".  The description of this apartment mentioned a dryer--I guess this is what they meant!

After a nice breakfast of scrambled eggs and fresh fruit, we were off to our first site--The Cathedral de Seville.  Armed with our trusty map, we found it without too many wrong turns.  We were surprised to see a line for tickets stretching about half way around the huge cathedral.  The line moved fairly quickly, and within 30-40 minutes we were inside.

The Cathedral is the largest Cathedral in Spain, and the second largest in the world.  Construction of the Cathedral began in 1402, it was built on the site of an 10th century Mosque.  It's built in the Gothic style, complete with flying buttresses.

This is the entrance we went in, it's not the original main entrance:

This statue is a replica of the weather vane that's on the top of the bell tower:

Although this side entrance was not very elaborate, there were some interesting elements--like this

dragon:

A rather gruesome looking gargoyle:

A view down the aisle--you can see that the chapels on the side are all closed off:

The columns are massive:

Sections of the vault are highly decorated.  The colors look strange--there was an odd combination of natural light, and warm and cool spotlights.  Makes for some difficult photography!

Close up of pretty detail of the vault:

The stained glass windows are gorgeous:

Rose window

Detail of center of Rose Window:

Several other windows:

This is the outside back of the choir--the marble work was absolutely stunning:

The Choir:

David at the entrance to the Chapter House in the Cathedral

Semicircular hallway leading to the Chapter House

The beautiful dome--oval instead of round:

Close up of dome:

The elliptical design of the floor was my favorite part--just incredible:

We took a brief walk through El Tesoro-The Treasury.  This crown definitely caught my eye:

This altar piece was near the treasury--it was beautifully done.  16th Century

But the coolest thing in the Cathedral was this tomb:

This is the tomb of Christopher Columbus---we paused for a moment to say thanks!

After a couple of hours in the Cathedral, we exited into the "Courtyard of the Oranges"

There are some pretty views of the bell tower from the courtyard:

And a good view of the flying buttresses:

This tower was over the main entrance (now used as an exit)

This is a close up of the odd and creepy looking decoration:

Looking back through the entrance to the Cathedral:

After the Cathedral we wanted to go the the Mercado Treina, a permanent covered market across the river.  It wasn't too far from the Cathedral, but considering the fact that we'd probably get lost, we chose to take a taxi--for a big $4.

Interior of the market:

As usual, beautiful produce.  Why we can't get produce this wonderful at home?

After a brief walk around the market, we wandered a few side streets looking for a spot for lunch.  Of course, we chose a cafe with outdoor seating.  The menu did have a few English translations--so we thought ordering would be a breeze.  Wrong!  They didn't have everything on the menu--so the nice waiter tried to help with our selection.  We knew we were getting chorizo, and the spinach with chickpeas, but we didn't have any idea what the third dish was (left of the bread basket). It was definitely red meat, and melt in your mouth tender and delicious!  We are enjoying the tapas--with the small portions we can try different dishes and still have just a small meal or snack as they are usually just a couple of bites each.

We relaxed for an hour or so, enjoying the beautiful sunny skies, our lunch and a glass of delicious sangria.

After lunch we wandered back across the river, this tower with the pretty tiled dome is on one end of the bridge.  The date is 1927:

Pretty views looking down river--this is the bell tower of the Cathedral de Seville:

There's a pretty park with a nice wooden bike path along the river:

Lots of boats on the river--everything from big tourist boats to paddle boats to kayaks:

We poked along, no destination in mind really.  We came to an ice cream shop, and stepped in just to look at the flavors.  We really had no intention of ordering…..but we both thought the cappuccino flavor sounded too good to pass up.  We shared a small cup, and it was delicious!  There seems to be at least one ice cream shop on every block--these Spaniards like their ice cream.  Dad--you would love it!

Our plan for dinner tonight was to cook at our apartment--so we stopped in a grocery and picked up some ingredients for spaghetti--quick, easy and cheap!

After a few wrong turns, we found our way back "home".  We relaxed for an hour or so, then decided to cook dinner at about 6pm.  What should have been a quick and easy meal turned in to quite a challenge.  With 3 burners, the fan and lights on the breaker kept popping!  After several tries, we gave up and cooked in the dark!

We enjoyed our spaghetti with albondigas de pollo (chicken meatballs!),  sautéed zucchini, a glass of nice red wine, and a few of those pickled veggies from the market in Cordoba--pretty yummy.

Our plan was to go out for a nice evening stroll and possibly a glass of wine at a cafe after dinner--but we are now both feeling quite content to be lazy and just stay right here in our little apartment.

Good night from the Lazy Lundburys!